THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1894. 
wonld betbe price thkt the meaiiue would eut&it on 
» pottioo of tbe inbabitantt of tbe native State of 
Mysore on tbis single uticleof export.— i>ai/yC7(ro»tWe. 
♦ 
PERUVIAN COLONISATION. 
Tbe Peruvian Corporation, Limited, b«8 iiQderlaken 
kQ intereBtini; ezperimeot in planting eoterpriBe. 
It baa obtained poggesBion, for the porpoge, of a tmot 
of country in Central Peru, east of the AudcH. It 
extendtfor kdistftnee of about 40 miles alone the couree 
of the Perene river, a tributary of the Amazocs, trom 
the River Eneno (1,700 feet) to the C«tc»de8 (1,050 
feet), and to a diatanoe of 30 miles on either side ol 
tbe Perene. Tbe laod was reported on to the Corpora, 
.lion by Mr. P. D.G. Clark, » member cf the Garden- 
ing staff of tbe Boyal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, io 1891. 
West of tbe area is the Chanohamayo Valley, tra- 
versed by tbe Biver Chaochamayo, which rnoB into the 
Perene. Au account of its products will be found in 
the " Beporta from the Consuls of tbe Uoitcd 
States " for Jane 1893. Tbe railway from CalUo 
nod Lima has been now oompleted to Oroya, 136 miles 
from Oallao. Mr. Daogberty, tbe United States 
Consul reports : From Oroya to tbe head of tbe 
valley of Cfaanchamayo, one of tbe moiit fertile districts 
of Peru is a distance of abouc 4U miles and the pro- 
dnots of this valley that find their way to the coast now 
come on tbe backs of muler, donkeys end llaiiits to 
Oroya over rough mountain roadi, which for most of 
Ihe distance are mere paths." Tbe enterprise is etill 
in ita infancy. Tbe following papers are published for 
general information. They have tbe merit of avoiding 
too roseate a picture of recognising difficulties, aud of 
fairly indicating the conditions which will eioue com- 
mand snooeea. 
THE PHRUVIAN COKPOEATION, LIUITBD, TO BOTAL 
GAEDENS, KEW. 
66, Old Broad Street. London, E.G., 4tb Oct. 1893. 
Dear Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, — I think you know that we 
are doing a little plantiug in the Aiidea in Peru near 
the Perene river. Onrman there says he lia^ got 80,000 
seedlings of coffee ol>ta)ned do doubt from his own 
district* He expresses a desire now to have a quantity 
say five bushels of Blue mountaia seed, dm you 
kindly tell me tbe best person tu write to iu Jumuioa. 
The idea of having two classes of cott'ee growing is, I 
believe, that by this meios be hopes to avoid tbe 
difeases which did so muoh barm in Ceylon and (else- 
where, from propagatinjf too closely from one jat. I 
f»i ulose you copy of a letter from Mr. Robb, dated 27tb 
J. ily lasi giving a gi neral report for the year ending 
KOth June, vifhich may interest you, and perhaps you 
ii.uy ihiuk fit to iacorporate some of It iu your Keiv 
Bulletin. Mr. Mackenzie is in charge of the Colony 
np there, and Mr. Robb, the writer of the letter, is the 
man who baa been in special charge of the nurseries 
—Yours, &c. (Sigued) Alfked Dent. 
W. T. Tbiselton-Dyer, Esq., c.m.g.. Royal Gardens 
Kew, — Kew Bulletin 
[Mr. Bobb's letter, we have already published. — 
Ed. T.A.i 
» 
IMPROVED BEE-KEEPNG. 
(n) The methods adopted by our peasantry with 
regKid to tbe management of bees, and the produo- 
lioii of honey, are of so crude and unscientific a nature 
bud are indeed bated rather more upon superstition 
than on a knowledge of the habits of the bees; that 
unless snch bee-keepers can be persuaded to adopt a 
more modern and scientific system tbe industry of 
bee-keeping in Jamaica will still iu general remains 
stagnant, and all but unremanerative, as it has been 
for years past. 
(b) The common plan for removing tbe honey 
from tbe hive is quite barbarous ; tbe bees are made 
to leave the hive by tbe use of smoke. Many of 
them get signed and burnt by the careless way in 
which the smoke is applied, and the flavour of the 
houey is spoilod ; the combs are then scooped out 
without regard to the different grades of honey which 
« hive always contains. These combs are then placed 
upon a sieve and chopped up; the prodMt belai 
caught in a reeeptaeU below. 
(o) The honey thus obUiued it a miitor* 
of bee bread,— cr poUea— the juices of yoaii| 
bee.s (or larvaj aed exuvi* aud eroerts, 
—which if known of by tbe g«'nerai pnbUe, they 
would be more cirefal to ascertain from what sourcci 
they get their hooey. Indeei. I ba»e b^en informed 
froiri good authority, that a shipment of honey of this 
kind WHS onoe made from herr, and on arrival at 
ito destin>tion it was found to be f f gucb bad quality 
that It was sold to a firm of blacking manufacturers 
at the r»te of 6d per fallen. 1 he b ea tbua depnved 
ol all th' ir honeycombH are again returned lo the 
empty hive ti get ou as best they may. 
(J) A muoh better plan would be to make aeveral 
holes in the top of tbe hive and plaoe upon it 
another box of somewhat smaller dimengions, in tho 
roof of which there has been previouhly fixed a piece of 
comb aH an attraction for the bees to ascend. A< the 
hive increafei in wealth and population an>) tbe honey 
ceaiou edvauce!, the bees will ajon turn their atteution 
to the upper box or " super" and aa their instinc'e 
always lead them to etorc their honey in the upper part 
of the hive it will be speedily filled with dainty white 
ocmbs which will couUin tbe most beautiful honey. 
It will bo seen that by this arrangement not alone 
is the 8»ore-ho •se kept separate from tbe nur»i»ry, 
or lower boi, with its pollen, brood-foods, aud larvc 
and exuviaj which are always a'soeiatcd with the 
honey when tbe nursery and larder are not separate ; 
but on the improved plan the honey can be removed 
without disturbiog tbe hive proper, and if tbe 
" super" be again prepared as mentioned above and 
replaced, the operation may be performed two or 
three times during tbe honey season, and perhaps 
at each remoral as muoh as a gallon of good honey 
will bo obtained, making, say three gallons in all 
worth 2s. 6d. or 3h. per gallon. One stock will there^ 
fore yield between 7s. 6d. and 9b. 
(e) If Ibis be compared with the usual method, the 
fable about the gooae and the golden eggs may be 
applied, for by the old plan we g. t, say, half at 
much honey, and that of a very inferior quality, 
aud at the same time stacd a chance of losing our 
bets by depriving them of all their honey at ODe 
time. 
(/) Of course tbe results obtained by the above 
improved method are not to be compared with 
those of a still more complicated and indeed highly 
scientific plan known as the movable comb hive 
system, where as much as 1 cwt. cf honey per hive 
is not at all infrequently obtained. But as this plan 
would r. quire a rather more lengthy ezplaDalion 
than space at command will permi', and as at the 
same time Ihe method and apparatus would be some- 
what be\oud tbe means of tbe general Jamaican 
peasant Beekeeper,— it may as well be left out of 
view— for tbe present at least, 
(g) Mot alone is the present system of manage- 
ment open to vast improvement ; but the type of 
bee ittelf may also be improved. For insiaoce. sup- 
p se we have six hives ot bees, the results from eaob 
may be very different ; at the beginning of the honey 
season we place upon each a •'eapei," two of onr 
six stocks start ahead with a will and fill their 
"supers" as fast as they are replaced, the other four 
perhaps refuee to enter, or after all only partially 
fill their "super," then they may each swarm two 
or three times thus furnishing bs with an increase 
from which we hope to have great results in the 
future ; but our apiary has not been increased 
with a type ; of bee whose instincts lead them lo 
amass honey far in excess of needs, but with 
a type who e nature impels them to start new 
oolonie?, and bus this type will he strongly imprea- 
aed upon the beet life of the future iu our apiary. 
The peculiarity will be reversed with the two good 
stooka which on account of constantly being deprived 
of their storage honey, have had no encouragement 
to swarm, and as. the object of bee-keeping is to get 
hooey and not swarnsi», the Bee-keeper should endea- 
vour to resuiot the multiplication of undeairable fted 
