808 



GLEANINCiS IN BEE CULTURE 



ni!(l the traveler is in the Stone Age. Since 

 the coming- of the Spaniards, a tribe lias 

 lived there against whom has been and still 

 is the hand of every man. Some say they 

 are a tall race, others a dwarfish one, and 

 the men ai'e bearded. Their arms consist 

 of a stone roughly shaped into the form of 

 an ax-head. This stone is inserted in a 

 split sapling of the right size. So rapid is 

 tile growth of wood that in a short time the 

 head is firmly imbedded, so that when cut 

 down the ax is provided with a handle that 

 will not come off. 



Now, these jieople are very fond of hon- 

 ey, and are, consequently, great bee-hunters. 

 Without a stitch of clothing, and armed 

 with their stone hatchet, they climb the 

 bee-tree and hew their way into the coveted 

 stores. Sometimes the native Paraguayan 

 hears the tapping-, comes up with his gun, 

 and shoots the poor Indian dead,* giving as 

 a reason that the skins of this particular 

 tribe are very good for making- bags for 

 carrying- Paraguayan tea (yerba mate). 



The native bees of Paraguay are many, 

 and of the stingiess variety. Some of them 

 make up for want of a sting by furious 

 biting and frantic buzzing- on every part 

 of the body on Avliich they settle, snipping 

 off every hair on the hands and face by the 

 roots as if they considered themselves ani- 

 mated depilatories. They gather only a 

 small quantity of honey ; but this is much 

 esteemed by the natives as a remedy. 



About a quarter of a century ago Italian 

 bees were first brought to the country. At 

 various other times Carniolans and Caucas- 

 ians have been introduced, and the bee com- 

 monly met with is a hybrid of the three 

 varieties. Some are very gentle; but those 

 that show any trace of yellow are very 

 much the reverse. Besides my own, there is 

 only one other apiary in the country run 

 on modern scientific lines. 



Our principal source of nectar is the 

 forest-trees, chief of which are the many 

 varieties of laurel. The lapaeho (Tecoma 

 ciiriaUs and T. varia of the family of the 

 Bignoniaccae) yields a very strong- aromatic 

 honey, which, from description, seems to be 

 something akin to that of basswood. The 

 l)alo bianco {Exosteitima of the family of 

 the Ihihinceae) yields a large amount of 

 beautiful white honey. I had a large sur- 

 plus last year from sangre de drago (Cro- 

 ion sucdruhrus) , a widely distributed tree- 

 shrub Avhich produces a red resin yielding 

 the dye known as dragon's blood. This 

 honey was almost as dark as molasses, and 

 very bitter when first extracted. After 

 standing in the tanks for about ten days 

 tlie bitterness went away and it became very 



sweet, i liad no diriicuUy in disposing of 

 it. Orange and banana are also good yield- 

 crs. 



Our honey-flow begins about August, and 

 lasts till the end of October. About Janu- 

 ary the banana begins to yield, and there is 

 a fall flow from various flowers till the end 

 of April. Only extracted honey is produced 

 here, and the honey is put up' in second- 

 hand kerosene-tins, as a rule. I tried bar- 

 rels one year, but they were not a success. 

 Kerosene-tins are cheap, and, when well 

 washed with soda, and exposed for a week 

 or so to the tropical sun, tliere is no danger 

 of contamination. I use factory-made Hoff- 

 man frames, but the hives I made myself, 

 some out of rosewood {Machepiaeum Sp.), 

 and others out of " female '' mahogany 

 (Cfdrela hrnsiliensis). The latter is far 

 and away the best material, being light and 

 durable. Rcsewood hives sound very lux- 

 urious : but their weight in handling soon 

 humbles one's pride. 



DRONE-CELLS ON ONE SIDE OF COMB. 



Some time ago Dr. Miller mentioned hav- 

 ing received a specimen of such, and Avant- 

 ed to know if any one else had seen this. 

 Oil going thru my extracting-combs I found 

 no fewer than five with a patch of drone- 

 cells on one side, all the other cells being 

 worker. Four were small iiatches of about 

 one to two square inches; but one was about 

 four. As these combs had been stored away 

 I am unable to say whether they all came 

 from the same hive or not. 



WHICH MILE IS AVHICH? 



In Gleanings for April 1, 1915, J. A. 

 Heberle discusses this question with refer- 

 ence to observations made in Germany. 

 About two miles seems to be the limit there, 

 and Mr. Heberle quotes Mr. Goeken as say- 

 ing that if American bees can fly six to 

 eight miles it would be well to introduce 

 such into Germany. There is evidently some 

 confusion here. When an American writer 

 speaks of a " mile " he means the English 

 mile. German writers naturally mean a 

 German mile. Now, the German geograph- 

 ical mile is more than four and a half times 

 longer than the English mile, and therefore 

 the bees fly the same distance. 



Villarica, Paraguay. 



Sure, It's Love at First Sight. 



The, honey method of introducing- queens, 

 page 525, July 1, is a good and sure way. I 

 have introdneed several with the best of 

 success. The bees lick them dry, and then 

 fall in love at first sight. And it is perma- 

 nent too. J. P. Lockwood. 



Owen Sound, Ont., Can. 



