168 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CtlLTUKE. 



Apr. 



you have a bottle complete, that can be filled 

 on our plan with the oil-can, which will al- 

 ways keep the water pure and sweet, and 

 will never leak, although it lets the bees sip 

 at their pleasure. Two quills, pointing in 

 different directions, will make the water al- 

 ways accessible. 



jSTow, friend C. has another very ingenious 

 idea, and I opine it will be of great value for 

 other purposes besides making queen-cages 

 or boxes. Suppose you have a block ]ix2ix5, 

 for this is tlie dimensions of the one he sends. 

 S\ ell, we will first make the block in two 

 pieces by making two saw-cuts on the dotted 

 lines as follows: — 



BLOCK OF WOOD FOR QUEEN-CAGE. 



After A is removed, place B on the saw, 

 and cut out the center so as to leave D. 

 Place A and D together again, and nail with 

 slim wire nails ; now dress off, and you will 

 have C, as shown below. 



CASE FOR THE CAGE. 



BLOCK FOR CAGE. 



If B does not slide nicely into C, dress it a 

 little until it will. Now 'by boriug a large 

 hole near each end of B, with one of our ex- 

 pansive bits, and cutting out the wood be- 

 tween, we have a nice little sliding box for a 

 queeji-cage, or other purpose. To make a 

 queen-cage of it, friend C, with suitable cut- 

 ter-heads, cuts shallow grooves on each one 

 of its four faces, as belcrw. 



CAGE PARTLY MADE. 





CAGE COMPLETE, READY FOR THE CASE. 



Wire cloth is tacked on one of the faces, 

 and the tin slide on the other, as given last 

 month, and the narrow slits have a ventilat- 

 ing hole run in with a saw. This last slot 

 will also hold a quill for water, on each side. 

 To hold the cage up against the brood comb, 

 wires are put in that lie in the side grooves, 

 when the cage is pushed into the case. This 

 makes a very strong, safe shipping-cage, and 

 is also very easy to open and close ; in fact, 

 much easier than the form we gave last 

 month, although it is somewhat more expen- 

 sive; yet where a great quantity are made 

 by machinery, I think they can be sold at 

 the usual prices. The candy is held at one 



end, and a thin slip of w^ood, almost a shav- 

 ing, in fact, keeps the candy from touching 

 either the wire cloth or tin slide. 



LETTERS FROM FRANK BENTON, FROM 

 THE ISLiE OF CEVLON. 



APIS DORS ATA; A SINGLE NEST OF BEES 



FURNISHING HONEY ENOUGH TO 



LOAD THIRTY MEN. 



fpIE following letters were forwarded me 

 by the kindness of friend Jones, to 

 whom they were written, by our friend 

 Frank Benton. I presume more tlian one 

 heart wall be stirred by an ambition to go 

 and explore too, by reading over the accounts 

 of his adventures. Hold steady, boys; it 

 takes "a mint o' money" to do this work, 

 and I presume friend .Jones will have it done 

 pretty thoroughly. We can help him bear 

 the expense, if we choose, by buying his 

 queens. 



I have made every effort to secure bees here, but 

 none are kept in hives in those parts I have visited, 

 and I do not think in any part of the island. Of 

 those found in trees, few can be secured, because 

 the trees are valuable cocoanut palms, and the en- 

 trance holes are in the trunk, and are, of course, 

 very small. I have gathered three hives only of the 

 small bees, havins? also spent some time fixing up 

 the bees I brought with me, and trying to iiod the 

 largo bees, to say nothing of searching for some 

 place where bees could be purchased in hives or 

 pots. These natives are far worse than Cypriotes to 

 get along with and accomplish any thing. They 

 seem to tell lies simply for the sake of giving an an- 

 swer, even when no pecuniary gain could come to 

 them. Again, they seem to wish to avoid, in all in- 

 stances, saying, " I do not know," when the Lord 

 knows it would be the most appropriate thing for 

 them to say in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. 

 The result is. that it is hard work to sift the state- 

 ments made by natives and Europeans. Nearly all 

 the English know absolutely nothing of value to us. 

 The new bees, which I think are also found in India 

 and many of the East India Islands (in which case, 

 East-India bee would seem to me to be an appropri- 

 ate name), are real beauties. The workers are % of 

 an inch long, and build worker comb fi of an inch 

 thick, 36 cells to the inch (that is, 73 on both sides;) 

 the drone comb is exactly like worker comb made 

 by the bees already iu Europe and America. The 

 workers are brown, with a very ringed abdomen, 

 the bands to the tip of the bodies being broadly 

 marked with yellow, and the thorax very fuzzy, 

 with a large shield between the wings. The drones 

 are black, inclining to a blue black, and are 54 inch 

 long; queens leather-colored, and large, compared 

 with workers. These bees are very active, wonder- 

 ful brood-rearers, regular little beauties, and can be 

 handled without the least smoke, scarcely ever offer- 

 ing to sting. It is a pity I can not get more of them 

 in the time I have here. 



I am bound to find out whether Apis dorsnta Is 

 found here or not, if time will permit, and if two 

 more races I have heard of here really exist or not. 

 I am now where a few shillings' railway fare will 

 bring me to the interior of the island. More by next 

 mail, with samples of bees and combs. I had one 

 horrible time, getting stung with lai'gc hornets while 



