NOVKMBKR, 1922 



O I. K A N T N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



707 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



disturbing the packing, and in this way I 

 shnll eliminate the handling of all loose 

 packing, with the exception of that which 

 goes inside the hives and underneath. It 

 was the work of only a few minutes to re- 

 move the inside packing and the division- 

 boards, and add the six frames to each col- 

 ony. The colonies were then ready for the 

 honey flow. Geo. Harrison, Jr. ' 



College Park, Md. 



NATIVE BEES IN AFRICA 



Excessive Swarming, Small Colonies and but Little 

 Honey Among Wild Bees 



I have been spending some months at 

 Choma, North Rhodesia, just a little nearer 

 the equator than latitude 17 S. There is 

 always blossom in the bush and, I should 

 think, a good honey flow three or four times 

 a year. If bees could be induced to work 

 for us as the negroes do (though they work 

 very little for themselves), a lot of honey 

 ought to be gathered in this country. As 

 it is, a Avild bees ' nest is not worth robbing. 



The native bee is considerably smaller 

 than the European, and the cells of its comb 

 are of course in the same proportion. I 

 noticed them in two colors, brown like the 

 German bee and with several yellow rings 

 like the Italian. The brown I never ob- 

 served at home, all the nests I saw being 

 yellow. They inhabit small cavities in the 

 trees or in ant hills, and when these are 

 full they swarm out at all times of the 

 year, only a handful of bees, to start similar 

 unambitious colonies. 



The honey that the natives bring in is 

 always lamentably thin. Probably the colo- 

 nies are not big enough to ripen it properly, 

 though the process ought to be easy enough 

 in this dry climate. Is it likely that the 

 Italian bees in a big hive would make a 

 much better product from the same raw ma 

 terial? 



I saw several nests chopped out, after 

 the honey guide (bird) had led us to the 

 place by flj'ing backAvard and forward chat- 

 tering like a stonechat. I found the native 

 bee-hunter acting on a bit of bee wisdom 

 that I have never seen utilized elsewhere. 



Have .you ever noticed that when a bee 

 comes out from the back of the hive at 

 the time you begin to uncover the frames, 

 it is only moderately angry and after a turn 

 or two goes in again at the front? Well, do 

 you know what happens if it finds the 

 front entrance closed? The native does, and 

 he begins operations by closing the front 

 and chopping at the back. Soon, the bees 

 begin to come out at the back hole, wing 

 round to the front and there stick on the 

 closed entrance in a cluster like a swarm. 

 By the time the honey is reached, there 



are few bees in the nest, and those are 

 young ones not very likely to sting. Just a 

 little smoke is used, by pushing in a burning 

 stick, and I believe it is almost unheard of 

 for the operator to get a sting. 



The three or four nests 1 saw chopped 

 out yielded literally not a drop of honey. 

 The time was quite near midwinter. Swarms 

 were still flying; but, on days that in Eng- 

 land would be accounted superlatively fine, 

 few bees would be flying from established 

 nests. The nests we chopped out had ap- 

 parently been established a bare three weeks. 

 There were just enough bees to cover the 

 brood. The queen had practically ceased 

 laying and was awaiting the birth of the 

 first batch of nurses, when all Avould soon 

 get lively again. Meanwhile the colony was 

 literally living from hand to mouth, col- 

 lecting each day only nectar enough for 

 the needs thereof. 



Only a few days after midwinter, so near 

 that you could say only a few hours, a big 

 and varied bloom of flowers appears. Some 

 of these are very nectariferous, for example 

 the sugar bush covering thousands of acres. 

 About September the bigger trees blossom 

 tremendously, and from October to Christ- 

 mas the veld is covered with flowers. The 

 drawback of the tropics seem to be that 

 nectar is so abundant and easy to get that 

 the bees do not trouble to gather it in ad- 

 vance of the week's requirements. New 

 bees of whatever strain would probably 

 soon tumble to the same argument and cease 

 to accumulate the store that only winter 

 makes necessary in our work-provoking cli- 

 mate. G. G. Desmond. 



Sheepscombe, Stroud, Gloucestershire. 



HOW TO SELL MORE HONEY 



Canvassing the Consumer for Orders to be Filled 

 Through the Retailer 



I have been reading, with a great deal 

 of interest, different articles on marketing 

 honey. All these articles are good, that is, 

 all tliat have been in Gleanings; but there 

 is one thing I have not noticed yet in any 

 article on marketing honey, and that is, can 

 vassing the consumer through the retailer 

 with an organized force of canvassers or 

 salesmen. 



There is not any surplus of good table 

 honey and never will be; all that is needed 

 is to get this good honey to the consumer, 

 not the retailer, but the people who eat it, 

 through the retailer. This will advertise 

 honey far more and better than advertise- 

 ments run in any periodical, and at the same 

 time dispose of the honey and make new 

 customers. Of course, it must be packed 

 right, and I find that the 5-pound pail of 

 chunk honey, is coming along mighty fast. 



