1028 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1882. 
chanics, Book-keeping, Land-surveying, and Mensur- 
ation, in their relation to Agriculture. That, con- 
sidering the curriculum of studies pursued in the 
college, it would be reasonable to expect that the 
local University would patronize the institution and 
take under its fostering wings a science, the study 
of which, your petitioners submit, is no less im- 
portant than that of Civil Engineering and Medicine. 
"That, seeing the primary importance which the 
profession of the husbandman occupies and must occupy 
in this country in the face of a rapidly-increasing 
population, with the arable area already pushed almost 
to its extreme limits, your petitioners feel sure that 
you will think it necessary and desirable that the 
intellect of the country should be directed to the 
study of scientific agriculture which alone can prevent 
the results which such a condition must bring about 
if unchecked. That, from the improvement of agri- 
culture, as great benefits will accrue to the people 
of this country as from the study of Civil Engineer- 
ing and Medicine which have been patronized by the 
University. That your petitioners hope that, if the 
University affiliates to it this institution, and grants 
Degrees in Agriculture, the art now so degraded will 
rise in the eyes of the people, and its true import- 
ance as "the most useful, the most noble employment 
of man," will come to be better recognized. That 
Agriculture is a recognized part of the University 
curriculum of many American, Scotch and German 
Universities, Cornell, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Edin- 
borough, Halle, Gottingen, Munich, Leipsic, Berlin, 
Bonn, Vienna, Eldena, Giesen, Kiel, and that dis- 
tinct Degrees in Agriculture are now granted in some 
of them. That your petitioners believe that the Agri- 
cultural prosperity of these countries is, to a consider- 
able extent, owing to the encouragement afforded to 
the study of Agriculture by their respective Univers- 
ities ; and that your petitioners hope that a similar 
encouragement heie will be attended with similar 
results. That the course of study which your pet- 
itioners undergo extends over a period of three years in 
which time they would be able if undergraduates of the 
Bombay University to proceed to Arts and Civil En- 
gineering Degrees, and if undergraduates of the Madras 
University to have nearly completed the necessary 
course of study for similar Degrees. 
"That, regarding the nature of studies whioh your 
petitioners undergo and the test of application to 
them, your petitioners humbly beg that the Principal 
of the Agricultural College and the Director of Public 
Instruction may be consulted, who, your petitioners 
trust, will testify those studies to be no less arduous 
than those required for uudergraduates to proceed to 
Decrees in the Faculties already established in your 
University. That in Medicine two Degrees are open 
to undergraduates of Universities, one to Matriculates, 
and the other to those who have passed the First Ex- 
amination in Arts. Your petitioners therefore pray that 
they may be admitted to the privilege of proceeding to 
Degrees in Agriculture, as other undergraduates are 
alh' wed to do in Medicine and Civil Engineering, and 
that if the Senate do not deem it fit yet to open 
special Degrees in A griculture, a Degree in Science 
may be inaugurated having 'Agriculture' as an optional 
subject." — Madras Mail. 
INTRODUCTION OF THE HUMBLE BEE TO 
NEW ZEALAND. 
Without those beautiful and interesting insects, our 
humble bees (Bombus terrestris), whose first booming 
hum on a still spring day coming forth from their 
winter's hiding place, bo grateful to the ear of every 
country resident as the harbinger of balmy growth, 
it, may not be generally known that without the aid 
of Uieirlong proboscis the red clover plant cannot 
be fertilized ; hence at the antipodes a very large sum 
is annually expended in the purchase of imported red 
clover seed, which with that insect climatized could 
be grown in the colonies. 
All attempts at their introduction alive, however 
anxiously longed for, have hitherto signally failed, 
even under the direction of so distinguished a natur- 
alist as the late lamented Mr. Frank Buckland, and 
even under the patronage of the Prime Minister of 
New Zealand. 
The present writer was consulted last autumn by 
Messrs. Geo. Neighbour & Sons, of London, who had 
been commissioned to endeavour to collect and despatch 
fertilized humble queens to New Zealand, and sug- 
gested that as previous failures were in all probability 
due to the qneens having been aroused from their 
winter dormancy on entering the tropics, like the 
imprisoned bird, dashing themselves to death on the 
wires of their cage, the better plan would be to pack, 
while dormant, in moss, and place the package for 
the voyage in the ice room of the steamer. 
To carry out the recipe, first thing to be done was 
catch the queens, not quite so easy a feat as ' the 
hare,' when it is remembered that humble queens 
altogether abandon their summer nests and hybernate 
singly deep in woods at tree roots, mossy banks, turf 
dykes, hay ricks, &c, &c. To go abroad to prospect 
on a December day to the uninitiated is somewhat 
akin to searching for the proverbial needle in the hay 
stack. But thanks to their abundance, due to the 
by past hot summer, and enlisting the services of 
Mr. Duncan Keir, the intelligent foreman of the Cross- 
flat Nurseries, Paisley, who went into the matter con 
amore, the writer succeeded, after much painstaking 
labour, in unearthing no fewer than eighteen fine 
specimens, which were duly despatched by the steamer 
'John Elder,' from London to Melbourne, on 9th 
December last. Through an unfortunate delay in tran- 
shipment to the ' Arawater ' for Canterbury, on deli- 
very of the package there only two queens remained 
alive. According to the Timaru Herald of 7th Febru- 
ary, just received, the following extract is given : — 
'Humble Bees. — The two queens, the survivors of a 
shipment of eighteen, were turned out on Mr. Bristol's 
farm on Saturday morning (5th February). They were 
strong and healthy, and flew away briskly against the 
wind, being liberated amongst clover fields, there is 
every chance of their doing well. Not being aware 
of any successful attempt at the acclimatization being 
made heretofore, we believe that the pair of queens 
set free on Saturday have the honour to be the 
first of their kind in this country,' &c, &c. 
A further shipment of three humble queens, from 
same source, was despatched direct from London to 
Canterbury, New Zealand, by the steamship 'Nor- 
folk,' on 20th January, in same manner. As there 
will be no disturbing transhipment in this instance, 
it is to be hoped all may arrive in safety, but as 
yet no intelligence has reached this country. — A Ren- 
frewshire Bee Keeper.— Scotch Paper. 
FOREST AND STREAM CONSERVATION IN 
MAURITIUS. 
A correspondent in Mauritius furnishes us with par- 
ticulars of the projet d'ordonnance recently introduced 
by the Government for consideration by the Legis- 
lative Council, which has caused so much excitement 
in the Colony, and to which our special correspond- 
ent's letter, published last week, drew attention. 
We have already described the judicious measures 
which have lately been adopted in the Colony for pre- 
veuting the further destruction of forests throughout 
the island ; and the attention of the Government is 
now turned to the no less important matter of the 
"protection of mountain and river reserves." The 
