255 



position. This tree was evidently topped at about four feet from the 

 ground and threw out three branches, which are now to great size. 

 It is grown in the open in low swampy soil. It gave fourteen pounds 

 of rubber on being tapped by the spiral system and would probably 

 have given more under any other system of tapping. 



The growth of this tree in the last few years in girth has been: 



1904 109i 



1905 lllf 



1906 113! inches 

 1907 



1908 120 inches. 



H. N. B. 



BEE CULTURE. 



The honey or hive bee (Apis mellifica) is of great value to the 

 Agriculturist and Horticulturist in Europe because of the important 

 part it performs in the conveyence of pollen from flower to flower and 

 thereby securing by cross fertilization the production of healthy seeds. 

 The presence of the honey bee in Malaya is equally important to the 

 Agriculturalist and for this reason planters and others would be well 

 advised to encourage the cultivation of honey on their states and gardens. 

 Often we hear of crops of seed being poor and partly failing. This is 

 probably due in some measure to the improper fertilization of the flowers 

 by insects and when we remember that the honey bees perform by far 

 the most important part in cross-fertilization it appears surprising 

 that so little thought is given to these little creatures. 



The honey bees are a numerous group of insects with a general 

 similarity of aspect and agreeing in many of their social customs. Of 

 the several species found wild in the Malay Peninsula the small Apis 

 indica is the only one which lends itself to domestication. 



It is somewhat smaller than the European species but in 

 appearance and colour is almost identical. It is found in India and 

 China and most parts of the east. All the honey-bees have the habit 

 of building cells for the storing of eggs and larvae. They also collect 

 the pollen and nectar from flowers and , plants and feed themselves 

 and their larvae on a mixture of these substances. A colony of bees 

 is comprised of males or drones, perfect females or Queens and 

 undeveloped females generally called workers. 



The Queen (generally one in each nest) is the largest and is easily 

 recognised by its long graceful body. The drone is of an inter- 

 mediate size and is thick and clumsy looking. The worker is the 

 smaller of the three and is well known to everyone. The function of 

 the drone is to impregnate the Queen and here its functions cease and 

 it is killed off by the workers. The Queen's share of the work of the 

 hive is confined to laying eggs. The bulk of the work falls to the workers 

 who collect food, attend to the young brood, etc., etc. Should a queen 

 leave the hive with a swarm the workers have the power of producing a 

 new queen from one of the undeveloped female larvae by enlarging its 



