1S2 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



September, 



of the year had to come it is safe to 

 estimate a very big cirop. 



Uiie must uot attempt to treat tliese 

 bees like Italians, for instance, for 

 though they are a smaller bee, they re- 

 quire larger hives for a brood nest. 

 They -will require either a 12-frame 

 Langstroth hive cf an eight-frame one 

 with a half story above and the frames 

 in this half story should be put the 

 narrow way across the box. This one- 

 and-a-half-story stack hive will nevek- 

 need touching and all one will used to 

 do is to put on plenty of room above 

 and take oft" the surplus honey — no 

 feeding if there is any honey above. 

 These small narrow frames should 

 have no bottom bars: they will be 

 found very handy in making up nu- 

 clei, as tl'.fee division boards put in 

 one of these shallow boxes will make 

 four nuclei with an entrance on each 

 side and by being put across the bot- 

 tom frames there will always be the 

 best kind of winter passage ways. 



There is this other peculiarity, viz., 

 the (jueens never attempt to mate till 

 al>out 20 days old, but t-.ey Avill mate 

 all right at ovtn- three months old, 

 hence they will not be favorites with 

 queen l)reeders who use a split on'e- 

 pound section for a nucletis. It is htce 

 that the value of the short, shallow 

 frame will come in. 



There is another startling peculiar- 

 ity. If you c-emove a queen and then 

 on the iotli day cut out every (pieen 

 cell, fertile workers will at once fill 

 all the combs with eggs and they will 

 begin qtieen cells on these eggs and 

 develop and hatch (pieens from them, 

 which will duly mate and a-epopulate 

 the hives. I do not place much value on 

 fills fact, except to prove that nature 

 has a wise use for fertile workers, i. e., 

 to l)e able to requeen a stock when a 

 queen is lost in mating. Ho^v the bees 

 do this, i.e., produce both males and 

 females from unmated Avorker bees, I 

 leave to someone else to .find mit. All 

 who have these bees can verify the 

 fact for themselves. 



Sheffield. Engh:ind. 



The article in "Field." September o, 

 100:5. liy Major Smith, is quite interest- 

 ing and we theu'efore present it in full, 

 as follows': — Editor FVee-Keeper. 

 ENGLISH BERS IN INDIA. 



The experiment of introducing the 

 Punic l>ee at Ootacflmund, South In- 

 tlia. was due to the enierprise of ^Major 

 G. de Heriez Smith, of the Central In- 



dia Horse, who, in January, l'J02, im- 

 ported a nucleus, sent out by Mr. .JohD 

 Hewitt, of Sheffiield. In the following 

 month Mr. George Oakes, after having 

 for some yeafs kept stocks of the In- 

 dian bee (Apis Indica), also imported a 

 nucletis of I'unic bees from Mr. Hew- 

 itt. In both instances the bees were 

 brought to India liy friends travelini 

 with the mails, and were eighteen tc 

 twenty days on the journey. Thej 

 were well packed on four frames 0I 

 heather honey, re-Avired, and securec 

 in an cfdinary Hollands gin ease. Yen 

 tilation Avas provided at the door anc 

 the top of the case by means of per 

 forated zinc. The bees Avere flowi 

 three times en route — at Port Said 

 Aden, and Bonil)ay. From Bombay 

 they Avere lirought by mail train direc 

 to Ootacamund. 



On arrival the frames Avere at onC" 

 tfansferred to clean hives, and the beei 

 fed Avith stimulating syrup. .Within i 

 Aveek the queen Avas busily laying, am 

 the stock rapidly increased to tei 

 frames. So rapidly did the stock Id 

 crease that on May 12, 10b2. fou 

 frames of capped brood Avell coverei 

 with bees Avere placed by ^lajor Smiti 

 in the traveling box and formed a nv 

 cletis. the ([ueeii bee of which at one' 

 started queen cells. The first SAvan 

 ffom the first imported lot Avas throAV 

 ofe on July 20, ino2, and four casts fo 

 loAA'ed — on July ;^(),the first Aveek in At 

 gust. Se]itember ]0, and September 1." 

 The first sAvarin from the lot inqiorte 

 later (kept by Mr. 'Oakes at Walpol 

 House) Avent off on S<"ptember 12, an 

 Avas successfully hived, and two fo 

 loAved — on September 1.^ and 19. Th 

 last tAvo casts Avere united, (me (piee 

 being secured. 



Major Smith and :\Ir. Oakes eventi 

 ally joined forcesi and located the bee 

 on the DoAvnham estate (coffee) of tb 

 latter. By the end of the year tb 

 joint stocks ntimbered nine (six froii 

 Major Smith's, three from Mr. Oakes') 

 but only one of Mr. O's Avas reall 

 strong and carried a doulde broo 

 chamber). The honey yii'lded amounte 

 to about 2.« pounds, but it Avas prove 

 that the Irees Avould store surplus hoT 

 e,y in sections, Avhich was a very grai 

 ifying thing, never before done in Ir. 

 dia. Tavo sert^ons Avere taken off Ms 

 jor Smith's original stock from Ma 

 hn, 11t02. 



The sejison of lOOf?, from January t 

 June 1, records a yield of seventy-thre 

 sections and 234 pounds of extracte 



