Live Stock. 



342 



f April 1908. 



APICULTURE IN CEYLON. 



(2nd Series.) 

 By An Amateur. 

 (Concluded from page 262.) 



IV. 



The question of the sale of honey is 

 naturally one of importance; audi pro- 

 pose to deal with this shortly, together 

 with a few suggestions on the subject 

 of bee-forage. One is apt to imagine 

 that it is possible to keep an unlimited 

 number of hives within a fixed radius 

 without detriment to the amount of 

 honey secured by individual hives. 

 There are, I believe, eight bee-masters 

 in the United States that own more 

 than a thousand hives in their parti- 

 cular locality, which seems to bear out 

 the supposition. But it must be recol- 

 lected that these grandees live in dis- 

 tricts abounding in honey-producing 

 plants, and they never lose an oppor- 

 tunity of increasing the amount of bee- 

 forage in their neighbourhood, Thus, 

 certain parts of the Northern States 

 contain whole forests of linden-trees, 

 which probably yield ten times as much 

 honey as any other kind of tree in exist- 

 ence. And again, California boasts thou- 

 sands of acres of such arid land, that 

 nothing will grow there but the famous 

 sage-scrub —a honey-producer of the very 

 first rank. And bee-keepers in these 

 districts will generally distribute to 

 neighbouring farmers seed of other 

 nectar-yielding plants free, on the un- 

 derstanding that the farmers shall sow 

 up great tracts of arable land with these 

 seeds. And those of us that know the 

 Scottish moors and have heard the 

 huge areas of heather humming with 

 millions of bees will hardly be surprised 

 to learn that such districts will support 

 an almost unlimited number of hives. 



But in most districts the case is other- 

 wise. A certain number of hives 

 can be kept with profit ; but beyond 

 this number the average weight of honey 

 per hive decreases. It is, therefore, all- 

 important to find out what plants and 

 trees in the apiculturalist's environs 

 yield honey, at what seasons they are 

 in flower, and what number of hives 

 can be kept in a certain area. When this 

 is known, then the bee-keeper can set to 

 work, and by judicious planting increase 

 the honey-yield of his neighbourhood. 

 Some jungle-trees he will find to be 

 absolute non-producers of nectar, while 

 others, at certain seasons, positively 

 hum with bee-life. He should, there- 

 fore, endeavour to spread the latter at 

 the expense of the former. Huge areas 

 of the hill country will permit the 

 growth of European plants. Mustard 



we know will grow well there ; and 

 twenty acres of this will yield a very nice 

 crop of honey, and later on a further 

 crop of seed, which always has a 

 market value. The same applies to rape. 

 White clover and alsike (Trifolhcm 

 hybridum) afford the very finest cattle 

 fodder, while their nectar fetches a very 

 high price on the European markets. 

 Then, again, we know that gorse grows 

 freely above 5,000 feet ; and I am con- 

 vinced that great tracts of the ugly and 

 comparatively useless patana-grass could 

 be gradually replaced by heather, which 

 is a valuable sheep-fodder. I can fancy 

 the Horton Plains, for instance, not 

 only made immensely valuable, but 

 also considerably beautified by the in- 

 troduction of heather— and the experi- 

 ment could be tried there of turning 

 down grouse and thereby increasing the 

 value of Ceylon as a sportsman's coun- 

 try! 



The famous buckwheat would almost 

 certainly thrive and yield a double 

 profit in honey and grain in the hill 

 country. And I suppose every English 

 lady out here has a little mint in her gar- 

 den. The native mint appears to bear no 

 flowers ; but the English variety flowers 

 well and yields a delicious nectar — be- 

 sides having a more delicate flavour. 

 The ordinary thyme should be replaced 

 by the larger variety found in South- 

 ern Europe, or by the large-flowered 

 and intensely sweet marjoram. Ugly 

 and dry patches of gardens can be 

 filled in with the graceful shrubs of 

 rosemary. Hedges of the glorious New 

 Zealand fuchsia can take the place of 

 the uninteresting Madras thorn, yielding 

 an almost endless supply of flowers for 

 table-decoration ; and an unsightly cor- 

 ner of the garden can be filled with 

 borage, which flowers unceasingly for 

 three months together. 



But in addition to nectar-yielding 

 plants, an eye should be given to those 

 yielding pollen. Mignonette, Job's Tears, 

 sunflowers, schizanthus, poppies, tree- 

 tomatoes, Cape gooseberries, and various 

 grasses will be found of value. And all the 

 citrus family yield pollen as well as honey 

 in great store. If it is desired to plant 

 shade trees along roads, why not put in 

 oranges, lime, pomeloes, <fcc, ? We know 

 that these do well between 2,000 and 

 5.000 feet. Below that wo could put 

 in some of the sweet-scented trees so 

 abundant in the streets of Kandy 

 and Colombo ; and above that 

 elevation we have the handsome and 

 valuable golden wattle. The blue-gum 

 gives a honey of peculiar, but not un- 

 pleasing, flavour, valuable for the anti- 

 septic properties contained in it. 

 Passion-fruit and its^allies, and cherries, 



