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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 20, 



Almost the whole of the native timbers yield large quanti- 

 ties of nectar, of which the eucalypti form the largest family. 

 These are all hardwoods, and grow to a height of 150 and 

 2U0 feet. Some kinds will not throw out abrani'h until about 

 60 feet high, with a straight, slighlly-tapering trunk to the 

 top. These trees grow into a very dense forest (called here 

 " the bush"). The nectar in some of the blossoms is so great 

 as to be easily tliniwii on the hand if it is struck with a bunch 

 of blossoms. The blossom is very weighty, causing the 

 branches to bend very much. 



There is really no systematic nomenclature of our timbers, 

 each district calling trees by different names. Some of the 

 trees in different districts seem to vary a little in appearance 

 according to the kind of soil. There is also a great difference 

 In the qualities of the timbers in different districts. Among 

 the best honey-producing timbers may be mentioned spotted 

 gum, ironbark (three kinds), striugbark, mahogany (three 

 kinds), blue gum, red gum, grey gum, bloodwood, apple, 

 water gum, etc. There is a very large variety of scrub plants 

 producing excellent honey; grasses add a little. The gigan- 

 tic lily has about a teaspoonful of nectar in each flowerlet, 

 about 8 or 9 being open at one time, forming a head not un- 

 like a clover flower, but about 12 inches in diameter, and red 

 in color. Besides indigenous plants there are clovers, lucern, 

 buckwheat, etc., which yield large quantities in some seasons. 



In associations there are a number, the representative 

 body being the National Bee-Keepers' Association, which is 

 yet in an experimental stage in New South Wales, but holds 

 an annual convention with an attendance of from 75 to lUO 

 bee-keepers. The Victorian Bee-Keepers' Association and the 

 South Australian Bee-Keepers' Association are doing good 

 work. There are many district associations, viz.: Hunter 

 River, New South Wales, Muswellbrook, Wellington Valley, 

 Murrurundi, Hawesbury, and there may be others which have 

 not come to my knowledge. There is one paper publisht, the 

 Australian Bee-Bulletin, that is entirely devoted to bee-keep- 

 ing, issued monthly, in West Maitland, N. S. W. Many of 

 the agricultural papers devote a space to bee-keeping, all 

 helping the industry more or less. 



There are several firms manufacturing appliances, some 

 few having quite an extensive business, using steam power, 

 and some of the most modern all-iron machinery. 



The business of queen-rearing is not neglected, and 

 through the energy of breeders a strain of leather-col- 

 ored Italian bees has been produced that are excellent 

 honey-gatherers, prolilicand hardy. A large number of yellow 

 queens have been imported from America, but those who have 

 bred them largely are mostly inclined to go back to the 

 leather-colored bee. The yellow bees lack in hardiness and 

 as winter honey-gatherers. The methods mostly adopted for 

 queen-rearing is the Alley plan, or some modification of it. 

 In some few cases Doolittle wax-cups are used. 



Of bees that are native very little may be said, as all ex- 

 cept one kind are solitary bees, of which there are very many 

 varieties. The only bee that stores any honey is the " native 

 bee" — Apis trigona. It is smaller than an ordinary fly, and 

 slingless. It is numerous in certain districts all along the 

 eastern part of Australia. It may live in other parts, but I 

 have not heard any reports about them. As they are of no 

 value for commercial purposes, vory little attention has been 

 paid to them, the quantity of honey stored by them being but 

 small — a gallon would be an extra large yield. They are kept 

 by several bee-keepers, more out of curiosity than fur any 

 advantage to be gained from them. Their honey-cells are an 

 irregular mass of cups built about without any regularity, in 

 size about S.'IO inch in diameter, and shaped like an in- 

 verted queen-cell stub, which is sealed over when lilled and 

 another built on top or to one side of it. The honey is thin, 

 of a peculiar acid taste, very like ordinary honey mixt with 

 vinegar. Their " wax," if I may call it by that name, does 

 not seem to be wax at all, being in color brown or nearly 

 black, and, when melted, just like slicky propolis. I cannot 

 describe the brood, not having had a chance to examine their 

 brood-nest, which is said to be under the shapeless mass of 

 hcney-cells. I extract the following from the Australian Bee- 

 Bulletin, page 1 17, Sept. 25, 18'J3: 



"They do not build comb in the usual sense of the word ; 

 secondly, the shapeless mass of tiny cup-shaped cells which 

 constitutes iheir brood is not divided Into layers In any way, 

 but simply tuiuiellcd with passages in all directions. When 

 they wish to enlarge their brood-chamber they simply build a 

 bunch of cells anywhere against the mass already built ; in 

 them the queen lays, and when the young brood is a certain 

 age they seal, not each individual i:ell, hut the whole bunch 

 by covering it over with papery material, very similar to the 

 brood-capping of the ordinary bee. The young bee hatches 

 under this covering, but it is easily recognized as It is quite 



white, and remains so for some days, gradually growing 

 darker till It reaches the bronzed green shade of the matured 

 insect. The brood-cells would just hold one grain of No. 1 

 shot." 



I am sending a sample of the bees in a small bottle of 

 their honey, and a small piece of their wax. The queen is 

 very long, about ?«' inch, the head and thorax being similar to 

 the bees. Out the body very long, of a light brown color. I 

 could not see any signs of drones in the nest, tho they may 

 not be any different from the ordinary bee. I have now two 

 nests working in observatory hives; when I wish to see the 

 queen I draw the wooden slide and allow the sun to shine 

 through the glass on their nest. In about two minutes the 

 queen will make her appearance, quietly crawling over the 

 cells. W. S. Pender. 



Drumfin Apiary, W. Maitland, N. S. W., Sept. 1, 1894. 



N. B. — The statistical register for New South Wales, 

 18'J3, states that there are 44-, (393 productive colonies. 8,790 

 unproductive ones, yielding 1,139,557 pounds of honey 

 (being an average of 255 pounds per colony), and 39,242 

 pounds of beeswax. 



From the Registrar General's Report, Queensland, 773 

 bee-keepers reported 11,997 colonies producing 028,051 

 pounds of honey. The Government Statist, Victoria, reports 

 3,356 bee-keepers, 27,483 colonies yielding 725,233 pounds 

 of honey, and 24,214 pounds of beeswax. 



Statistics from other colinies have not come to hand. 



It should be remembered that the above reports include 

 all sorts and conditions of hives. W. S. P. 



Mr. Benton— I should hate to have it get out that I was 

 present and permitted some of the statements in this paper to 

 go by without criticism. First and foremost, the bee is not 

 " Apis trigona " at all. It is not an Apis. Our hive-bees be- 

 long to the Apis, which is a Latin word meaning " bee." This 

 bee comes under the Trigona, but is not an Apis. There are 

 40 or 50 species of the Trigona. I have had some of these 

 bees under my care at one time, and took one little colony 

 with me to Java from the forests of Ceylon, and carried them 

 back into the interior of the Island of Java, and they workt 

 as tho they were giants. They carried in loads of pollen that 

 were very large Indeed. I was able to observe their brood- 

 nests very carefully, and Mr. Pender is positively in error in 

 stating that they don't keep individual cells. They are groupt 

 together as grains of wheat stood on end. You have all dug 

 out Bombus, and they are about the same. The individual 

 cells are sealed — that might be called an envelope of wax en- 

 closing the brood-cells. Those overlap, and there are passages 

 for the bees to pass beneath. When they wish to enlarge the 

 brood-nest, they tear down the covering and add other cells. 

 Outside of this are the honey-cells or honey-cups, like an in- 

 verted queen-cup on the edges of the comb. The feed is placed 

 in first, and the queen lays the eggs on the feed. They lay 

 the egg on a mass of pollen and honey mixt. It is not quite 

 as dense as pure pollen would be. The egg is laid in this, and 

 before it hatches it is sealed into the cells. The pupa or imago 

 state is short. I have noticed that the Melipona of Brazil do 

 the same thing. Oue thing of interest, which Mr. Pender has 

 not mentioned is this, that for their protection, as they are 

 stingless, they build from the center of the brood-nest a tubu- 

 lar passage that will lead up the inside of the hive, which 

 seems to be composed of propolis, a resinous gum. This is 

 built so that it usually hangs down, allho sometimes they omit 

 it altogether. I once observed a nest in an iron pillar, and the 

 opening only admitted one bee at a time, and they built no 

 tube for they seemed to understand that it v/as not necessary 

 to defend themselves. I have never seen a swarm of them. 



Pres. Abbott — They could be clast Apis if they do swarm 

 in a body, for the word Apis comes from a Greek word mean- 

 ing " cling " — " hapto." 



Mr. Benton — I beg leave to differ from you. These names 

 have been given to Identify a certain insect. Apis having been 

 applied to a certain genus. These names have been given by 

 ujen who have studied the subject, not mys.jlf, and have es- 

 t.iblislit them, and we cannot take this bee out and call it by 

 another name. 



(Cjutinued next week.) 



BacU Numbers Since Jan. i.— Wo are able to 



supply complete sets of the Bee Journal since Jan. 1, 1897, 

 to any who niiiy di.'siro, at two cents per copy. There are a 

 number of new" readers who perhaps would like to got some of 

 the llrst numbers of this year, to complete their volume for 

 1897. We shall be glad to furnish them as long as they last, 

 at two cents each. 



