774 PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETIXG 



long, in the honey season it is obtainable very cheap, being in many places 

 hawked abont and sold at the rate of about eight lb. or even more per 

 rupee. 



Besides the hawkers there are dealers in almost all towns who stock 

 large quantities of this thin fermented honey, not for export, but for 

 meeting the demand in the country. The dealers in Calcutta alone sell 

 every year about sixty to seventy thousand pounds of such honey, 

 gathered principally fi'om the combs of the Rock Bee in the Sundarbans. 

 The entire quantity finds its way to the village grocers' shops for retail 

 sale. When good honey is available people are willing to pay and actually 

 pay a very high price. The granulated hone5r produced in the Hills 

 usually sells at the place of production at the rate of eight to ten annas 

 per jjouud. The honey produced at the Darjiling Jail sells at the high 

 price of a rupee per pound, because it is guaranteed by the Jail authorities 

 as pure and untouched by hand. The imported honey usually sells at a 

 rupee per pound, although the imported stuff cannot always be taken 

 as pure honey. 



Prospects of Bee-keeping in India. 



Although the quantity of honey produced by the indigenous bees under 

 existing conditions is considerable, it probably represents but a small 

 proportion of what is secreted by the plants and is possible to be gathered 

 but is wasted because there are not enough and proper bees to gather 

 it. The bee-keejDing experiments at Pusa have forcibly demonstrated 

 this. The neighbourhood of Pusa is not apparently very rich in 

 honey, as one would infer from the behaviour of the Indian Bee 

 {Apis indica), colonies which never produce more than about six 

 pounds of honey on the average. The maximum quantity yielded by a 

 very large colony worked with very great care was sixteen pounds. 

 But it has been found by keeping Italian Bees that the quantity of 

 honey the locality is capable of yielding is very great. 



One year the indigenous bees were allowed to work in the locaHty 

 and gather hone}^ as they do every year and the approximate number 

 of their colonies would be at least about 500, viz., about 200 colonies of 

 the Indian Bee (Apis indica) and about 300 colonies of the Little Bee 

 (Apisfiorea). In addition to what they gathered, two out of three Italian 

 colonies, although worked under certain drawbacks, yielded a surplus 

 of 90 lb. each and the third colony yielded 60 lb. It seemed that if 

 there had been several more colonies the}' would have gathered similar 

 quantities. Similarly high yields were obtained from the ItaUan colonies 

 every year during the period they were kept at Pusa. It is probable 

 that every place in the Plains in India, except probably the desert tracts,. 



