BEE MANUAL. 13 



kindly sent me the following : — " The following figures are as 

 near correct as possible of the number of hives, extractors, and 

 smokers we have supplied : Hives, 4,500 ; extractors (single 

 and double), 300 ; smokers, 750. These are the principal 

 items : sections are a very large item ; last season we sent out 

 about 100,000." Of comb-foundation, since I first commenced 

 making it, I have supplied nearly eight tons. I think we 

 shall not be very far out if we allow a like number of hives and 

 half as much comb-foundation as being home-made and supplied 

 from other sources. Presuming this to be correct, we have, 

 then, about 9,000 hives and twelve tons of comb-foundation 

 distributed through Australasia — not at all a bad showing for 

 so young an industry. On the whole, there is the gratifying 

 prospect that New Zealand and Australia, before many years 

 have elapsed, shall have taken an important station among 

 honey-producing countries. 



INTRODUCTION OF BEES AND BEE CULTURE INTO AUSTRALIA 

 AND TASMANIA. 



The black or' German bee was introduced into New South 

 Wales in 1822. The following extract is from Haydn's 

 Dictionary of Dates, for Which I am indebted to the kindness 

 of a correspondent in Sydney : — 



" Bees were first imported by Captain Wallis, in the ship Isabella, 

 into Sydney, in April, 1822, and from these original hives the stocks 

 were propagated into the interior by the colonists." 



Mr. Thos. Lloyd Hood, of Hobart, has very kindly furnished 

 me with the following information concerning the introduction 

 of bees and state of apiculture in Tasmania. He says : — 



" Bees were first introduced into Tasmania by Dr. Wilsan, R!N., in 

 the ship Catherine Stemart Forbes, in the year 1831. Great interest 

 was taken in their arrival, and there was a general expression of 

 gratitude to Dr. Wilson for the disinterested benefit he had conferred 

 on the colony at considerable trouble and cost to himself. 



" Beei-keeping here is carried on on the most primitive principles, 

 frame hives and other appliances are only known by repute. Bees are 

 generally kept in some handy sized' boxes (gin cases, etc.), and at the 

 end of summer these boxes are lifted, and the heavy ones mercilessly 

 put over the ' sulphur pit ;' or by the more merciful bee-keepers, the 

 bees are driven into another box, and so on from year to year. Very 

 great interest is now being taken in the improved system and modern 

 appliances since I introduced them last year, and I hear of many who 

 intend taking up bee-culture as a commercial industry. " 



