366 The Honey-Makers 



with all sorts of impurities, a condition which is partly or 

 perhaps wholly the result of carelessness in handling. It is 

 consumed mostly by the natives. The wax, however, is 

 excellent and valuable, and is produced by the bees with 

 great prodigality. 



The size of the honeycomb cells corresponds to the 

 size of the bee, which is much larger than our honey-bee. 



These strange, wild, tree and rock building bees of India 

 have a peculiar interest for us, as an attempt has already 

 been made to bring them to this country, and the time 

 may come when from the trees of our Southern States will 

 depend these large combs. 



Mr. Frank Benton, in 1880-81, made a trip to India on 

 purpose to get swarms of the big bees. Although they 

 never have been tamed by the natives of India, the enter- 

 prising American succeeded in inducing them to live in hives 

 and found them no more difficult to handle, by using proper 

 precautions, than other bees. 



The climate defeated the enterprise, however, and a long 

 illness on the part of Mr. Benton, while trying to transport 

 the bees, resulted in the loss of them. 



The presence of Apis Dorsata is desired by the bee- 

 keepers of this country because of its large size and conse- 

 quently long tongue. Undoubtedly it could collect the 

 honey from the deep flowers of red clover, which are, as a 

 rule, inaccessible to our honey-bee. At present a great 

 part of the delicious honey in these flowers goes to waste 

 for want of gatherers, only the bumble-bees being able to 

 profit to any extent by the luscious store. 



It is not improbable, however, that the red clover may 

 be replaced before long by the new clovers which have 

 been developed by careful experiments and which com- 

 bine the excellent qualities of both the red and the white 

 clover as forage-plants. Experiments in producing new 



