THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. I Nov. i, 1894. 
a feature of every estate bungalow garden In Cejlou V 
The garden oooly couid quickly be laughs till that 
is necessary in the way of attention to the b:es, 
and through the planters or their wives leading 
the way, we nvght expect the natives gradually 
to follow. A3 to the closing request of Mr. 
Patten, we wculd esk him to give some hints 
as to how a speimen bee is to be kept alive 
between Ceylon and New South Wales ? Mr. 
Patten had better arrange to take a holiday trip 
to Colombo; and during his stay in the island 
he oan lay in a stock of our indigenous bees and 
write all about his travels to the " Bulletin," 
besides probably being enabled to s'art a Lew indus- 
try io Ceylon itself. 
ON BEE-KEEPING. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE " TIMES." 
Sir,— The subject of beo-keepiug huviug come more 
to the front ot late, you may perhaps fiua space some 
daY in jour valuable paper lor a lew particulars from 
a bee-keeper in the Vale of "White Horte. My r awn 
for asking the tavour of your publiehh'g my expeiieucea 
is that though the Bee Journal and £a 
Record are valuable papers, ihey rarely (Ou,e uudtr 
the eye of the British farmer, to whom I etpechlly 
addrets myself. . . 
Bee-keepiug teems on insigninc nt thing to intro- 
duce to a farmer, and by many is pooh-poohe \ but 
herein I will show that for the outlay and the attention 
required the result ia not to be despised. 
1 have bad bees more or less for tweuty years. When 
I nurchastd my first thies stocks in straw skeps I had 
Hot previously beeu within 50 yards of a hive of beee, 
but from instructions from one and another and lrom 
books I gained sufficient knowledge to manage theia 
so that I secure,! about 40 lb. of honey th c first year, 
and increased my stocks by two. 1 continued with 
more or less success, purchasing and making hives, 
and Puttmg in swarms, till in the jear 1887 1 
had it the beginning of May 16th bar-f.ame Lives, 
and for the result of my laboms in that jear I had 
1 1371b of honey, all saleable, betides a quant. ty of 
rough which I made into mead, a capital beverag--, 
referable to any foreign w.ne.s that I have taste J ; 
you do know What is in it, an J it is very little trou- 
ble to make. „ , , lc 
1838 was a very bad year f.r honey-scarcely half a 
hundredweight from the same numler of hives as ia 
1887. IffeO, 1891, aud 1892 were all gcoi je,« i, the 
nroduce be ng within a few pounds of 1687. All these 
years my stccis had been abeut the same-.nsreased m 
the summer by swaans to 24 , r 26 ami reduced in the 
following spring by uniting to 14 or lb. 
At the end o! 1892 1 sola 24 stock,, keeping only 
two for myself, and from those two hives 1 took 262 
likable Sections of lib. each in 1893- It was a grand 
year for hone? in this neighbourhood I had the mis- 
fortune to lose a swarm irom each hive ; they came 
out at the same time, got mixed, and went away. 
This vear opened well and gave promise of exceed- 
ing all previous years up to the indole ot April, by 
winch time I had each hive working in two crate, of 
gpctioi.s when a change set m, and very little was 
done or nearly six we°eks, and from that time to the 
end of July the income ot honey was very fit- 
fnl Had the weather connued good in April, 
Mfl'v and June, 1 will not venture to say what 
Sunt of honey 1 should probably have ha ; 
but having finished up and counted, 1 find I have 
taken 260 lb. of honey, and increased my stocks by 
two If tbtse four winter well, two may be sold m 
the srvine or, uuited with the others, make ttrong 
stock? retiy lor the 1895 fl-,w, wLicu I hope may 
b A° man of" ordinary intelligence could manage from 
SO to 30 atcoka and atteced to many other little 
thmas abon. a farm, and in an ordinary season a 
nrofit of 50a. could bo counted upon from each 
ff bes des having a good supply of honey or home 
iiive, nesiuea = beverage turpassing all others 
wiS W»»s> os ■«-■* (wai mm). 
Many peoule refuse to entertain the thought of 
leekeepiug because the bee cirrus a slug. Well, 
after all, it is a mere nothing when you become 
used to it. The dr-ad of it is worte than the tbing 
it-elf ; 1 take no notice of a dozen snogs a day, 
though at fir^t I felt one for a day or two. 
It is not only as a honey collector that the bf e it 
useful, bat as a fertilizer of fruit trees, fruit being 
much more abnndtnt if bees aro kept in the neigh- 
bourhood. 
A word or two of advice io conclusion to those 
who do commence bee-keeping— viz., let all yonr bivea 
be male to one pattern, so that fiamts, crates, 
quiltt, rearers, and tops. etc., be interchangeable, by 
which arrangement much libonr and annoyance will 
be saved. 
A BEE KEEPER OF LOCKINGE. 
BEE CULTURE (APICULTURE) IN 
AUSTRALIA— AND WHY NOT IN CEYLON 
FOK THE SINHALESE ? 
West Maitland, N. 8. W. Australia, Sept. 3rd. 
Deab Sib, — I tbank you for sending me two 
oopies of your valuable, anel interesting paper the 
Ceylon Observer and in the issue of Aug. 8th 1 notice 
your stirring article on "ip culture for the 
Sinhalese.'' From it I gather two important facts, 
one that I half expected, viz. that no systematic 
attempt has yet been made, in your beautiful 
oountry, to establish Modern Apiculture, on com- 
mercial lines, the other, wbich is a revelation to 
me — that at slated times " large quantities of 
honey aie obtained by the natives from the districts 
around Nuwata Eliya." 
It was a source ot satisfaction to me to learn 
that the visit made some jesrs ago in the interest 
of Apiculture by that intrepid American, Mr Frank 
Benton, was not altogether forgotten. At the same 
time permit me to express my astonishment that 
the recorded decision of such an aole Apiarist on 
ttie possibility of a grand future lor the Bee-keep, ng 
Industry in Cejlou has nov been mace a matter 
of fact, 
When I ventured to address His ExoelUncy your 
Governor on the 20th June, 1 bad hope that potsibiy 
some gentleman acquainted wiih modern Apiculture 
would De found in cejlon, who might te induoed 
to co-operate wiih me in experimenting with the 
various races of bees. I did not desire, as you 
rightly replied to your correspondent in the Aug. 
9th issue of the Observer, to find a mere " agent'' 
but rather hepei as 1 have stated above to discover 
an Apiarist who would help me in experimental 
work, especially in the line of perfecting a safe 
method of mailing queen tees through the poet. 
However, seeing fiom your article that such sn one 
does not at present exist, may I through you, sir, 
draw the attention of jour thoughtful readers to 
the fact that Mr Benton, years ago, pronounced in 
favour of your country as a good field for Apiarian 
operations? It seems to me a great pity that 
so many pounds' weight of one of Heaven's best 
gifts— ntctar — should be allowed to go to waste, 
simply for the want of a little enterprise in start- 
ing euoh an industry as Bee-keeping. With the 
many mcd9rn appliances and knowledge at our 
command, in the present day, I feel sure many in 
jour island comd add materially to their health 
and wealth by entering such a pleasant pursuit ss 
Bee-kseking, and I also feel sure by following it 
up oaretully taking into consideration \our very 
tavoured position and nearness to an enormous 
number of consumers, the industry could be made 
in time to add somewhat to the revenue of yonjf 
country. 
