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. Wilson, R.N., in 
the ship Catherine Stewart Forbes, in the year 1831. Great interest 
was taken in their arrival, and there was a general expression of 
gratitudé to Dr. Wilson for the disinterested benefit he had conferred 
on the colony at considerable trouble and cost to himself. 
‘“Bee-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.” 
