420 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



July 6, 1899. 



puted to be very vicious ; but unless disturbed it does not 

 attack, and could be handled by some of the measures 

 usually emploj-ed by bee-keepers. 



Habitat. — Apis dorsata is found all over India, but not 

 at great heights above sea-level. It is said to be found at 

 2,000 feet or more in Bhutan, but may justly be termed a 

 tropical insect indigenous to the plains. 



Economic Information. — The large size of the comb 

 and bee has excited hopes of this insect proving, under cul- 

 tivation, of great economic value, and European bee-keep- 

 ers have endeavored to obtain colonies of it. Mr. Benton, 

 a dealer in foreign bees, went to Ceylon for the purpose ; 

 but he was unfortunate in his efforts, for the queens died. 

 He states he does not consider them so vicious as reputed, 

 when once hived, but he gave up the attempt to cultivate 

 the species. Several years previously, the writer undertook 

 to obtain colonies, if likely to prove useful in Europe, but 

 did not hive any, as it was considered better first to investi- 

 gate the economic value of other Indian species. The rea- 

 sons against any attempt to cultivate Apis dorsata in hives 

 are : 



1. It builds naturally in the open. 2. It builds normally 

 only one comb, so that the honey cannot be removed with- 

 out removing the brood also. 3. Altho it builds a very large 

 comb, this one comb is not so great in cubic capacity, nor- 

 mally, as the combs built by a colony of Apis mellifica, 

 which is readily cultivated and well understood already. 4. 

 It is found onU- in a tropical climate, and in this respect 

 diifers from Apis mellifica and Apis Indica, the most pro- 

 ductive varieties of which are apparently indigenous to 

 localities having more or less severe winters. 



Apis dorsata probably might be cultivated in a semi- 

 wild state in the forests, and the produce largel}' increast 

 by this means. The present practice of indiscriminately 

 robbing every colony found of all its comb, stores and 

 brood, might be replaced by a more rational mode of pro- 

 cedure ; for, altho not hived, many of the processes applied 

 in the economic management of Apis mellifica might be ap- 

 plied to the semi-wild Apis dorsata. The bees might be fed 

 to stimulate breeding or to prevent starvation. Excessive 

 swarming might be interfered with. Certain colonies 

 might be selected to breed from, as in the old stj'le of bee- 

 keeping. It might be found practicable to remove only por- 

 tions of the comb, and the bees might be induced to build 

 on or in artificial structures more accessible than the 

 branches of trees. 



Large quantities of both wax and honey are taken in 

 the forests from Apis dorsata. This wax appears to be 

 bought by dealers, and some is exported. The honey is 

 sold and mostly consumed locally, but is commonly of very 

 inferior qualit}', being contaminated with pollen, the juices 

 of larva;, etc. It is also commonly thin, and liable to fer- 

 mentation. The use of a simple extractor, care being taken 

 to ripen when necessary, and to grade it instead of mixing 

 good and bad together — these and other simple improve- 

 ments would greatly increase the value of the honey. 



It appears highly probable that most of the honey 

 produced by bees building in open air is thin, and requires 

 ripening by evaporation to remove its liability to fermenta- 

 tion. Out of 60 to 70 specimens sent to the Calcutta exhi- 

 bition, very few were free from fermentation. 



Should a Laying Queen be Given the Parent 

 Colony ? 



BY G. M. D00LITTI,E. 



A CORRESPONDENT wishes me to tell the readers of 

 the American Bee Journal whether I think it advisable 

 ■ to give a laying- queen to the parent colony immediately 

 after it has cast a prime or first swarm, as is advised by 

 some. 



This is a very interesting subject, and one which has 

 much to do with our honey crop, if we are situated in cer- 

 tain localities. The whole matter of profit, resting on 

 whether we should g-ive such a queen or not, must be de- 

 cided by our location. If the locality gives a continuous 

 yield of honey, then the 'giving of a laying queen imme- 

 diately after the first swarm issues will prove a profitable 

 investment ; but if the location is one like the average 

 location, which gives a good yield of honey at one or two 

 stated periods during the season, then the giving of a lay- 

 ing queen at the time of swarming- will generally prove 

 decidedly unprofitable. 



Among my earliest recollections in bee-culture was the 

 storj' that the bee-keeper who wisht to secure the best re- 

 sults from his bees should have on hand, and give to colo- 

 nies, queens as above, and the reason advanced for so doing 

 was that the time lost by the parent colony in rearing 

 another queen to take the place of the one going with the 

 swarm was equivalent to another swarm of bees. I have 

 experimented largely along this line, and the truth of the 

 statement — that the time lost by the bees in rearing a 

 queen in natural swarming is equivalent to a swarm of bees 

 — is the first reason that it will not prove successful in loca- 

 tions similar to ray own, which gives, at most, only two 

 honey-flows each year. 



If it were bees I was after, the case would be different. 

 With me. white clover j-ields only enough honey to keep 

 the bees breeding nicely, and prepares them so that they 

 swarm mainly from June 15 to July 1. Our honey harvest 

 is from basswood, which blooms from Jul)' Sth to the ISth. 

 Now all who are familiar with natural swarming know that 

 the bees are comparatively few in numbers in spring, and 

 increase by the rapidly-increasing brood produced by the 

 queen, which, in due time, hatch into bees until a swarm 

 is the result. By giving a laying queen to a colonj- imme- 

 diatel)- after it has cast a swarm, we bring about the same 

 result (swarming! as before, for we place the bees in the 

 same condition. The only difference is. that having plenty 

 of brood the)' build up quicker, and are prepared to swarm 

 in a shorter time. As this second prime swarming, brought 

 about by giving the laying queen, comes right in our bass- 

 wood hone)- harvest, it cuts off the surplus honey ; for it is 

 well known that bees having theswarming-fever do little or 

 no work in the sections, and if allowed to swarm, the object 

 we have sought after (section honey) is beyond our reach. 

 If this laying queen had not been given, and we had workt 

 so that no after-swarms had issued, we would have found 

 that the young queen, which was to become the mother to 

 the colony, would have emerged from the cell, as a rule, in 

 . eight days after the swarm issued, and in ten days more 

 she would be laying, which would bring the time of her 

 first eggs at about the time basswood would be yielding 

 honey nicely. 



During the period between the time when the swarm 

 issued and the young queen commenced laying, the bees, 

 not having any brood to nurse for the last half of the time, 

 consume but little honey ; hence, as fast as the young bees 

 emerge from the cells they are filled with honey, for bees 

 not having a laying queen seldom build comb, nor take 

 willingly to drawing out foundation in the sections. Thus, 

 when the young queen is ready to lay she finds every avail- 

 able cell stored with well-ripened honey. At this point the 

 instinct of the bees teaches them that they must have 

 brood or they will soon cease to exist as a colony. A gen- 

 eral rush is now made for the section ; the honey from be- 

 low is now carried above, so as to give the queen room, and 

 in a week to ten days we have,asa result, the sections nearly 

 filled with honey, and fully completed a day or two later, if 

 the season is not unusually unfavorable. 



In this way good results are obtained in such a location 

 as this, while, if a laying queen is given, the basswood 

 honey season is nearly or quite used up by the colony be- 

 coming "sulky " with the swarming-fever, if they cannot 

 have their own way. 



After basswood we have a honey-dearth, hence the bees 

 from the introduced queen are of no practical value, but, on 

 the contrary, become useless consumers. On an average, 

 it takes 21 days from the time the eg:^ is laid to the perfect 

 bee ready to emerge from the cell. Then if the colony is in 

 a normal condition, this bee does not commence labor in 

 the field till lb days old ; hence the egg for the honey-gath- 

 ering bee must be deposited in the cell 37 days before the 

 honey harvest begins, or else they are of no value as gath- 

 erers from the fields, altho they may do some inside work in 

 the hive near the end of the basswood harvest. As bass- 

 wood is all gone before the eggs of the introduced queen 

 become honey-producing bees, and as the larger part of 

 them die of old age before buckwheat or fall flowers yield 

 honey, a great gain is made all around by letting each old 

 colony having cast a swarm rear its own queen, for thereby 

 we do away with the desire to swarm in the midst of the 

 basswood honey-flow, and the expensive feeding of the 

 larvae, which are in turn to become expensive consumers of 

 the honey of the hive. 



These things are well worth looking into by every per- 

 son keeping bees, for if brood-rearing is used advisedly, 

 with an eye on our location, we shall find that great profit 

 will result therefrom. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



