426 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Apis Melliflca in Java and Ceylon. 



The followiug article concerning 

 the bees taken to Ceylon and the is- 

 land of Java, by Mr. Frank Benton, 

 was written tor the Biemnzeitunq, by 

 Mr. A. Schroder, of Trieste, Austria, 

 and translated by Mr. A. Neighbour, 

 of London, England, for the Journal 

 of Hofticulture, and it will be read with 

 interest by the bee-keepers of America: 



The gentleman in charge of the 

 Imperial (ierm n Consulate of iiaia- 

 via, who has lor years pasl been kind 

 enough to keep lue mlormed of all 

 that Lakes place iu the island of Java 

 as regards bee-keepiug, sent me re- 

 ceull> a cutting from a native paper 

 which contains some notices of the 

 bees introduced lulo Java by my 

 friend Mr. i" . Benton. Thinking that 

 any inlormation on the acclimatiza- 

 tion 01 bees in Java may be of interest 

 80 tar as the history of bee-keeping is 

 concerned, 1 have translaied the 

 article referred to, of which the fol- 

 lowing is an extract : 



'• Au American bee-keeper, Mr. F. 

 Benton, who visited Java in order to 

 study Apis dorsaia, and, if possible, 

 to introduce this bee into Cyprus, and 

 theuce into Kurope and America, 

 brought 9 colonies of bees with him, 7 

 being from Cyprus and i; from Fales- 

 tine. -New h"ives were procured iu 

 order to try once more to acclimatize 

 bees in Java after the Hist attempt to 

 introduce the i^uropean bee, which 

 was made in IbTs. had proved a fail- 

 ure. The trial was made at Tjikeu- 

 meuh under the direction of Mr. 

 Messink. 



•• The bees were placed in the 

 Botanical Gardens under the superin- 

 tendence of Mr. Benton, who looked 

 after them personally tor ii days. 

 When he left,! queens had commenced 

 to lay eggs, and the other colonies, 

 incluuiug their queens, were in tol- 

 erauiy good condition considering the 

 long voyage they had made. During 

 the hrst tortuiglit alter their arrival 

 the bees were ted with sugar dissolved 

 iu water. After this time the workers 

 from four hives began to Uy out and 

 returned laden with honey. The 

 queens continued depositing eggs for 

 about the three months alter their 

 arrival in Java. After that, egg 

 laying diminished, and at last tne 

 bees quite ceased to leave the hive. 



■■'ine number of worker bees be- 

 came smaller and smaller, and hnally 

 some of the colonies dwindled down 

 BO much that only the queen and a 

 tew worker bees were lelt. With a 

 great deal of trouble one colony was 

 kept alive till the end of the year. 

 But wlieu the western monsoon set in 

 iu lasl, the population of this colony 

 also uwiudled away, and the workers 

 flew out no longer, probably on ac- 

 count of the dampness of the atmos- 

 phere. 



" it is to be regretted that the sec- 

 ond attempt to acclimatize the bee in 

 Java has also turned out a failure, in 

 spite of all the precautions that had 

 been taken to make the experiment 

 a success.' The loss of all the colo- 



nies was probably caused by the 

 worker bees not finding sufficient food 

 during the hot season, the conse- 

 quence being tliat the queens did not 

 receive the proper amount of food, 

 and, therefore, discontinued laying 

 eggs. 



■' The experiment to domesticate 

 tlie East Indian bee (Njiroean) has 

 given a better result than a previous 

 attempt in 1877 and 1878. For the 

 last eight months tliere have been 

 two colonies of these bees in Tjik- 

 eumeuh with very large populations. 

 The bees fly out and collect a great 

 deal of honey. Eggs are deposited 

 regularly, and without interruption. 

 The honey of tliis bee is generally 

 considered inferior in flavor, while 

 the wax is said to be of excellent 

 quality. 



" A swarm given off by one of tlie 

 colonies a short time ago has been 

 secured, but it was no easy task. In 

 Europe a swarm generally settles on 

 a branch of a tree near the apiary, 

 from which it is easy to remove the 

 bees ; but the Indian bees fly high up 

 into the air, and do not settle till 

 some time after.*" 



Mr. Benton's attempt to acclima- 

 tize Apis mellifica in Java has un 

 fortunately proved a failure, and I 

 fear there is but little prospect of this 

 bee becoming domesticated there, 

 although I consider it quite possible 

 if the bees, after tlieir arrival in Java, 

 are made to rear young queens, be- 

 cause the vitality of tlie imported 

 queens becomes impaired during the 

 long voyage. It would be necessary 

 in that case to increase the popula- 

 tion of the colonies and their stores 

 quickly by feeding. 



In Ceylon the bees that were im- 

 ported by Mr. Benton have been more 

 successful than those in Batavia. 

 During the rainy season from May 

 till September, the colonies were sup- 

 plied with food, but in the remaining 

 months of the year the bees collected 

 sufficient honey from the flowering 

 palm trees and other tropical plants 

 for their own wants, and had even 

 some to spare for their master. One 

 colony swarmed three times, but, un- 

 fortunalely, during the absence of 

 the bee-keeper, the bees had been left 

 in charge of the servants, who neg- 

 lected to attend to them, so that all 

 the three swarms flew away and 

 settled in the jungles, where they 

 probably perished during the rainy 

 season. , 



For the last few years, experiments 

 have been made to acclimatize the 

 Vanilla in Ceylon, but only by arti- 

 hcial fertilization was it found pos- 

 sible to get these phints to produce 

 mature fruit. The Tropical Agricul- 

 turist calls special attention io the 

 numerous visits of Apis melliflca to 

 the Vanilla blossoms, and adds that 

 the owjier of the plantation has for 

 this reason entirely discontinued the 

 fertilization of the Vanilla flowers by 

 artihcial means. In case the culti- 



"* It may be assumed that Apis indlca Is the bee 



referretl to above. 'I'he IndiKenr.us Apie indica of 

 .?avK was dearrii ed by l-mreille ("Annutesdu 

 Muaeuiii d' H 1st, Nat.. ' v.. p. 17o, No. 4) as Apis 

 Peionii. Itifthardlyto be supposed tbat expcri- 

 njents should have been m ido to domesticate the 

 small East Indian bee. Apis floreB.-EjJlTOK." 



vation of Vanilla in Ceylon should 

 prove successful, the importation of 

 Apis melliflca will have largely aided 

 to bring about this result, and it 

 would be quite worth while for this 

 purpose alone to keep bees in Ceylon, 

 even if they had to be supplied with 

 food during the rainy season. 



^ Prof. A. J. Cook, who each 

 summer during several years has 

 worked in the Michigan Agricultural 

 College apiary, with a class of from 20 

 to 40 students, all entirely unused to 

 bees, says he has found no proof of 

 the statement that bees know their 

 master, and are more likely to sting a 

 stranger. — Exchange. 



Bee Convetion at Toledo, 0. 



The next annual meeting of the 

 Tri- State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will be held ©n the 12, 13 and 14 of 

 next Sept., during the week of the 

 Tri-State Fair at Toledo, Ohio. It is 

 customary to say that Messrs. So and 

 So, " and other prominent bee men 

 will be present," etc., etc. Well, we 

 have quite a number of " prominent 

 bee men " (prominent at home) in this 

 region, and they know how to raise 

 the bees, get the honey, cure foul 

 brood, and winter the bees too ; but if 

 Mr. Heddon is well enough to be at 

 the meeting and the fair, we will 

 pump him on wintering, and Mr. 

 Muth on foul brood, and Novice, if 

 here, on general principles, and the 

 the editor of the Bee Journal to 

 fill in where the rest lack. We do 

 not expect to have any long essays or 

 speeches. It being the week of the 

 fair, we expect the great attraction 

 for bee-keepers will be the Bee and 

 Honey Show, and such bee-keepers 

 and their friends as desire to stay 

 several d<»vs can bring their " eat- 

 ables" and blankets with them, and 

 camp on the fair grounds. One or 

 more tents will be provided for such 

 as make application to me a few days 

 before the fair, at a cost that will pay 

 for the use of the tents, but we hope 

 to be able to borrow tents and so save 

 expense. 



A premium is offered for the foun- 

 dation machine making the best foun- 

 dation for the brood-chamber on the 

 grounds, and two mills have already 

 arrived for that purpose, and the 

 makers of three other machines have 

 promised to be here if possible. 



A premium list with entry blank 

 rules and regulations, railroad fares, 

 and freight rates, etc., will be sent 

 free to all applicants. 



Dk. a. B. Mason. 



Wagon AVorks, Ohio. 



1^" The Northwestern Illinois, and 

 Southwestern Wisconsin Bee Keepers' 

 Association, will hold its next meet- 

 ing on Sept. 4, 1883. at John Swan- 

 zey's, 2 miles South of Ridot, Stephen- 

 son County, III. There will be facilities 

 to take persons from the station to 

 Mr. Swanzey's. 



Jonathan Stewakt, tSec. 



