Sept. i. 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
OUR CEYLON INDIGENOUS BEES : 
APICULTURE FOR THE SINHALESE. 
It is a great pity that more is not clone with 
our bees in Ceylon. The late Mudaliyar Samuel 
Jayatilaka of the Kurunegala Kaobcherl was a very 
euooesaful apiarian and to him we sent Professor 
Benton of Michigan College when he called here 
thirteen years ago, with a view to possees himself of 
speoimens of the two bees peouliar to this island. 
At the oost of a severe attack of jungle fever— 
against whioh we warned the enthusiastic American 
—the Prof essor was, with the Mudaliyar's assistance 
in giving him guides, entirely successful in securing 
an ample supply of our two indigenous bees {Apis 
dorsata, the great East Indian bee, and Apis Indica, 
a veritable Tom Thumb among bees) to experiment 
with both in Cyprus and America. We have never 
heard the result beyond one letter reporting a safe 
arrival in America; but must endeavour now to 
get information respecting our old friend, and his 
colonies of bees. 
All this haB been brought to our mind by the 
letter which Mr. R. Patten, Experimental Apiarian 
of West Maitland, New South Wales, has addressed 
to His Excellenoy the Governor of Ceylon as given 
elsewhere. The two Ceylon bees, Mr. Patten would 
fain seoure for his Apiary, are the Apis dorsata, 
the Bambara of the Sinhalese, a very large bee 
and the Apis Indica, the Mimessa of the Sinhalese, 
a bee not much bigger than an English house-fly. 
Professor Benton was intensely interested in both 
and did not at all see why they should not prove 
excellent honey-suppliers. The Sinhalese in some 
distriots are great bee-hunters at oertain seasons, 
though too lazy or wanting in enterprise to do much 
in establishing hives about their dwellings. But 
surely the time has oome when this might be system- 
atically attempted in certain of our lowcountry 
districts ? A European resident proposed experi- 
menting lately at Nuwara Eliya ; but he found 
the olimate was too cold and wet there, although 
in oertain seasons when "the nillu" flowerB, the 
natives bring in large quantities of honey from 
the districts around Nuwara Eliya. 
Professor Benton presented a "colony" of Cyprian 
DeeB — Apis melifica — to Mudaliyar Jayatilaka and 
another to Mr. W. H. Wright, and he reported that at 
Kurunegala the strangeis were doing exceedingly 
well, the Mudaliyar stating afterwards that while his 
Sinhalese bees never went near his vanilla flowers, 
the Cyprians were fuund freely amongst them. 
The Professor's decision, alter some weeks in Ceylon 
was that there was no valid reason *hy the 
island should not develop an industry in Apioulture 
of considerable importance, especially to the natives, 
and he regarded our rainy and dry seasons as 
affording— so far as the bees were oonoerned— a 
parallel distinction to the winter and summer seasons 
in temperate lands. 
The praotioal question, however, at present, is 
who in Ceylon is prepared to supply Mr. Patten 
with the Ceylon bees he is anxious to get? The 
Government applied in the first instance to Messrs. 
W. H. Wright and C. Drieberg, but neither of 
thes6 gentlemen oan help Mr. Patten. Surely, 
enterprising Messrs. J. P. William & Bros, of the 
Henaratgoda Nurseries might add Bee-keeping to 
their other good work, and arrange to supply 
Queen Bees of Apis dorsata and Indica to customers 
in any part of the world. We suggest they should 
make the trial and in the meantime oommunioate 
with Mr. Patten, to whom a copy of this issue 
will now be forwarded. Any who wish to learn 
a good deal on the subjeot and to read Professor 
Benton's letters about our indigenous bees and hia 
adventureB here — indeed " All About Bees in 
Ceylon"— are referrod to the volumes of tho Tropkal 
AgriculWUt for 1881-2 and 1882-3. 
21 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE. 
The Consumption of Tea and Coffee in Germany. 
— Writing from Manheim, Mr. Consul Ladenburg 
reports: "The consumption of tea is steadily in- 
creasing, and aUo in 1893 the sale was satisfactory. 
As yet, indeed, tea hardly completes with ooffee with 
tbe great mass of the population. They have to 
acquire the taste for tea and appreciation for its 
stimulating qualities, moreover, for its cheapness 
compared with coffee. In 1893, coffee being dear, 
surrogates were largely consumed, and in almost all 
of the grocers' shops roasted malt, rye, and wheat 
were vended. Ot course, when coffee again grows 
cheap, these miserable surrogates will diappear. 
Chinese tea still commands preference with as, but 
it is said to be ouly a matter of time, and the more 
carefully picked Indian and Ceylon teas will take 
possession of the market altogether." This is dis- 
tinctly encouraging. 
The Outlook for China Tea, — Writing of the 
first arrival of new China teas, the Grocer says :— 
" Rightly or wrongly, however — we cannot positively 
saj — but consignors of China descriptions this year 
affect to believe that tbe prospects for the article in 
the London market are not worse, if not decidedly 
belter, than they have been in most other season 
of late, and are disposed to take a somewhat more 
banguiue view of trie future than is their won». They 
rtly, amoug other things, upon the first-crop teas 
being 100,1)00 half-chests short of those in 1893, as 
well as upon the lighter shipments from tbe North of 
of China to this side, for producing a healthier 
tone in the market here, and derive additional 
confidence from the ftict that stocks in the 
country are unusually scanty even for these 
inauspicious times in the history of the trade 
generally, and are prone to assort that, as the finer 
classes of teas are, and have been for many months 
comparatively scarce, there is reason to expeot prices 
to be more firmly supported than tbey have been for 
several past seasons. The opinion is also expressed 
that notwithstanding the free purchases at Hankow 
on Russian account — taking 80,000 half-chests mora 
tea than in the preceding year — the Muscovite dem- 
and, being an increasing one, ia far from satisfied and 
should their operations in the East be supplement 
ted by important orders in London for further 
consignments by land or water to the neighbour* 
hoods of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and otber parts 
of Russian territory, a greater degree of steadiness 
will be imparted to prices, which could not other* 
wise be expected. Tnere is, besides, the possibility 
of the consuming publio at home changing their taste 
for one particular class of tea for that of another, and 
when they grow tired of extra strong-flavoured teas 
they may evinoe a liking for those such as China, 
which possess less pungency in tbe cup, and are soft 
and fragrant without being weak, flavourless, or desti- 
tute of any point or recommendation in their favour 
except that of extraordinary or unheard of cheapness." 
The Teadb in Congou. — At present the tendency 
in tbe value of tea is for quotations of low and fine 
qualities to stand wider apart— the worst kinds to be 
continually selling on repeatedly easier terms, while 
the choice and preferable grades are meeting with 
growing attention at gradually hardening rates— says 
the Grocer, aod so long as this distinction is preserved 
the medium sorts are likely to remain At reasonable 
figures, and be more uniform in prioe from time to 
time. Tbe extent of the requirements of China tea 
for home consumption will in this sense be closely 
wa'clied ; and au improvement in that direotion in 
the ensuing months would be regarded by importer* as 
a happy augury for the success ol their enterprise in 
onoe more essaying to bring China teal to our shores. 
The comparison ot this year's delivery of Congoa — th« 
stable aiticle of the China trade — is just cow anything 
but cheering, as it shows tbe total quantity cleared in 
London during the last six months to have been only 
14,404.700 lb., as contrasted with 19,813,500 lb. in 1898 
and 21,181,800 lb. in the same period of 1892 ; but.as 
some counteracting inlluence to this contraction of da 
maud, arrivals lately have been greatly ourtailodand Ihs 
etook remaining on hand, though not above 9,183,100 ib, 
