GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



that city, in December, and he will find many 

 swarms for study; or, if he will apply to the 

 missionaries at Toungoo he will getguides who 

 will take him to the bees, and secure swarms 

 for him if he wishes them to do so. 



Bro. Root, I prize your Home Papers very 

 highly. They are practical; and religion, if 

 not practical, i.e., reduced to practice, is not 

 worth much. Long live Gleanings. Its ed- 

 itor, A. I. Root, ivill live forever, because Jesus 

 lives. A. Bunker. 



54 Willow St., Providence, R. I., June 24. 



[I believe there is no one in the world who is 

 more competent to speak on the subject of the 

 general characteristics and habits of Apis dor- 

 sata than is Mr. Bunker. Both he and Mr. 

 Sladen, as well as others, express strong doubt 

 that these bees can ever be domesticated. It 

 is claimed they could be, and t% kept in com- 

 mon hives in this country. It looks as if this 

 claim w^^re made in the interest of a fat govern- 

 ment job for some one; and if so, bee- keepers 

 all over the land should enter a most decided 

 protest against the use of public funds for this 

 purpose. The missionaries already in or about 

 to be in the field. Mr. A. Bunker and Mr. W. E. 

 Rambo, can conduct experiments, an :,if neces- 

 sary, ship the bees to this country, at a merely 

 nominal cost — a cast so low, in fact, that the 

 expense can be borne easily by private enter- 

 prise. 



We had lost sight of Mr. Bunker; and had I 

 known where I could have written him I would 

 have asked his opinion long ere this. Now 

 that we have got hold of him again, we shall 

 hope for his advice and co-operation, in con- 

 nection with the proposed efforts on the part of 

 Mr. Rambo, in securing these bees. 



I am sure our readers will deeply sympathize 

 with Mr. Bunker in the loss of his son. At the 

 same time, we shall also rejoice over the grand 

 and noble work that he has done through 

 Christ. The self-sacrificing work of such a 

 missionary leaving home, family, and friends, 

 to carry the gospel to heathen lands, to express 

 it mildly, commands our admiration. Could 

 any work be more noble and unselfish? — Ed.] 



THE MONGOOSE IN JAMAICA; WOULD THE IM- 

 PORTATION OF APIS DORSATA BRING 

 DIRE RESULTS? 



I send you a clipping from the American 

 Field, in reference to the mongoose in Jamaica. 

 I fear Apis dorsata might prove to be a similar 

 curse to bee-keepers in this country. I for one 

 am satisfied with Italians. 



The introduction of the mongoose into Jamaica 

 marks one of the standard instances of unexpected 

 results following- upon an attempt to artiflcialize 

 the process of natural selection, and takes rank as 

 a warning with the plague of rabbits and thistles in 

 Australia, says the Academy. The mongoose was 

 introduced from India, in 1873, in order to abate the 

 pest of rats which infested the sugar-canes; and 

 after performing this salutary duty it increased and 

 multiplied to such an extent that not only the rats 

 and mice but most of the living species of the 

 island were threatened with extinction. Poultry 

 suffered first; but the depredations extended to 

 young pigs, kids, lambs, newly dropped calves, 

 puppies, and kittens. Game of all kinds was attack- 

 ed, both living and in the egg. The marauder ate 

 even fish, and made such a specialty of snakes, 

 ground-lizards, frogs, turtles, and land crabs, that 

 many kinds of these entirely disappeared. Finally 

 the mongoose developed a ravenous desire for 

 bananas, pineapples, young corn, avocado pears, 



cocoas, yams, and the sugar-canes, which it had 

 been called in to protect, winding up its tastes with 

 an appetite for salt meat. The result was a whole- 

 sale disappearance of species. A few birds, like the 

 ground-dove, had the sense to shift their breeding- 

 places to the tops of the prickly cacti, where they 

 were safe; but other animals, and the reptiles in 

 particular, suffered so severely that many kinds 

 were believed for years to be extinct. As a conse- 

 quence there arose yet another plague Insects like 

 the ticks and "jiggers" (or chigors), whicn used to be 

 kept down by the snakes, increased so overpower- 

 ingly that men and cattle were grievously infested. 

 One could not walk without being covered with 

 them. The victory over the island remained with 

 the tick and the mongoose, until, within the past year 

 or two, a fresh stage set in. The mongoose sudden- 

 ly began to be less plentiful, and it was found that 

 he had fallen victim to the tick. The results of the 

 diminution are shown in a gradual reappearance of 

 other beasts, birds, and reptiles. Among the snakes 

 there is a very marked increase; and even the 

 ground-lizard, supposed to be quite extinct, has 

 become common again. The balance of life has 

 begun to reassert itself, and naturalists will watch 

 with curiosity for a complete reinstatement of the 

 previous fauna. The renewed depredations of rats 

 are hailed as an advent of salvation, and, odd as it 

 may sound, the increase in numbers of the croco- 

 dile is taken as a.happy omen. The Jamaicans are 

 not likely to make further experiments in this 

 interesting domain of natural history, but will ad- 

 here in future to such present evils as they have. 

 For them, at any rate, it has been no "imaginary 

 mongoose." 

 Chambers, Ala., May 24. J. M. Cutts. 



' ANSWERS TO 



BY G.M.DOOLITTJ.E.BORODINO.N,Y. 



CLIPPING queens' wings. 



Question.— Do you believe in clipping queens' 

 wings? If you do, will you tell us in Glean- 

 ings all about it— how you clip, why you clip, 

 etc.? I am told by a neighbor that it is too 

 much bother to hunt up the queen, and that it 

 is a delicate job to clip her wings when she is 

 found, and that there is more harm than good 

 in doing it, anyway. Is this neighbor right? 



Answer. — While there may be a grain of 

 truth in what your neighbor tells you, yet 

 when we come to " count noses" the greatest 

 weight of evidence from the "dollar and cent" 

 apiarists of our country is in favor of clipping 

 queens' wings; and as I believe in so doing I 

 will give some of the reasons for such a belief. 



By having the wings of all queens clipped 

 you have the bees perfectly under your control, 

 and can handle them as you wish, separat- 

 ing them with pleasure when two or more 

 swarms cluster together, and hive them with- 

 out climbing trees, etc., on the returning plan, 

 when they come singly, they virtually hiving 

 themselves. In using this plan all you have to 

 do when the swarm issues is to step to the en- 

 trance of the hive with a little wire-cloth cage 

 into which the queen is let run, when the 

 cage is stopped and laid in some convenient 

 place. The old hive is now moved to a new 

 stand, and a hive fitted for a new colony set in 

 its place. In from a few minutes to half an 



