Aug. 1, 1900. Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist.'^ 
141 
APICULTUEE AT THE SCHOOL OF 
AGRICULTURE. 
Mr. ChiiP. Andree, the e.^perienced bee-keeper, 
visited the school nt the request of the Superinteii- 
deiit of the institution, with the sanction of 
the Director, to report on the progress of the 
experiment in apiculture. 
Mr. Andree examined the hives on the 25th 
July, in the presence of the students, and 
found two strong swarms at work, but the 
combs, he unfortunately found, were being 
irregularly built, and as a result the attempt 
to manipulate the fi'ames caused injury to 
the bees and infuriated them. Mr. Andree 
advised that the hives with irregularly built 
combs (due to the frames not having been 
arranged equi-distantly) should be left alon3, 
and fitted wiih a ''super'' to induce the bees 
to build in ic. With Mr. Andree's hslp a 
convenient super was placed on the hive and 
we await results. As regards the bees them- 
selves, Mr. Andree described them as a wild 
trilie of the Apis Indica, and thought that 
they would prove a constant source of trouble, 
These bees as we have previously stated were 
captured at Cotta. In order to facilitate 
matters, Mr. Andree has kindly promsied to 
secure one or two swarms of the less belligerent 
type of bee and send them here from Kuruaegala. 
0\\ the 26th Mr. Andree supervised the building 
of two hives on the premises. These hives 
will be probibly sent to Kurunegala to be 
stocked and brought down. The hives on 
transverse section measure 15 inches square 
and have a dejitli of 9 inches. On two sides 
are frames (which might be made of jak or 
halmilla wood) into which a glass is fitted, 
with a wooden shutter over it. The rest of 
the hive may be made of deal-wood. The 
wood forming each of the tleven parallel frames 
within the hive is one-third of an inch thick and 
seven-eighths of an inch wide. The frames move 
freely on two rests made of zinc, but are kept at a 
distance of quarter of an inch apart by means of 
small naiU. The frames as they are arranged 
in the box should have a space of quarter of an 
inch betwen them and the bottom t -p and sidfS 
of the hive. The bars of the frames should 
run parallel with the side havitig the glass window. 
In the new hives Mr. Andree has adopted a 
new arrangement for the bee hole. Instead of 
the old single hole 5 inches long and fi vf-fiahths of 
an inch in width, he has p.ovided foi- i .> o ice 
lioles one above the other, eacli only quarter of an 
inch wide. This is intended to keiMi R the 
Sphnix atropus or Death's head moth which is 
t^ie cliief enemy to be guarded against. Mr. 
Andree has iiad hives full of combs destroyed 
in a few days by this moth. As soon as the 
new hives are stocked we intend, as advised 
by Mr, Andree, to reserve the bee house for 
these only, and remove the two hives containing 
the wilder type of bee now at work to some 
remoter posiiion. This will leave the tame bees 
undisturbed, 
SOME BIBLE PLANTS OP CEYLON. 
III. The Mustaed Tree. 
• There has been much discussion as to the iden- 
tity of the mustard tree (referred to as Sinapi in 
the Gospels) of which St. Matthew speaks in 
chapter iii. .31 and 32 of his Gospel: " The kingdom 
of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed 
which a man took and sowed in his field ; which 
indeed is the least of all seeds : but when it ia 
grown it is tiie greatest among herbs, and be- 
cometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come 
and lodge in the branches thereof." Again, St. 
Mark describes it as a tree "shooting out great 
branches ; so that the fov^ls of the air lodge 
under the shadow of it." (Alark iv. 31.) St. 
Luke also speaks of the tree in chapter xiii. 
19, likening the kingdom of God to a grain 
of mustard-seed which a man took and cast in- 
to his garden ; and it grew and waxed a great - 
tree ; and the birds of the air lodged iu the 
branches of it." 
Our Lord also refers to the smalluess of the 
seed in Matt. xvii. 20, and Luke xvii. 6, 
The mustard was then a branching tree with 
small seed, and could not possibly be ideatical 
with the small annual herb which produces the 
mustard of commerce. Dr. Eoyle after careful 
examination of the subject has found that the ■ 
mustard plant of Palestine at the present day 
answers in every respect to the description of 
the sacred writers. The tree grows near Jeru- 
silem, on the banks of the Jordan and round 
the sea of Tiberias. The seed is called Chardal 
or Khardal, the Arabic, for mustard. The tree 
is known to botanists as Salvador a per sica and 
belongs to the order Sal vadoraceae, which is 
considered nearly allied to the Olive family 
(Oleaceae). It is found in Persia, Arabia, Pales- 
tine, N. Africa, India and Ceylon. The branches 
of Salvadora are very numerous and spreading, 
with their extremities pendulous like the weep- 
ing willow. The flowers are minute ; the berries 
smaller than a grain of pepper, smooth and red. 
Each fruit contains one seed which is pungent 
and used like mustard. The fruit has an aromatic 
smell, the root bark is acrid and used as a vesi- 
cant. The shoots and leaves are eaten as salad, 
and are also used as camel fodder. The fruit is 
used medicinally in various ways, and an oil is 
extracted from the seed. The tree is sometimes 
referred to as the "tooth-brush tree" from its 
Persian name ; the wood being largely used for 
making tooth brushes which are supposed by the 
natives to strengthen the gums and to improve ■ 
digestion. The wood is described as white, soft 
and easy to work, taking a good polish, while 
white ants are not liable to attack it. Weight 
of wood about 46 lbs. to the c. foot. 
Trimen, in his Flora, says that it is found in 
the desert and dry regions of the Island, es- 
pecially by the coast, Gardner, who evidently 
first collected it, makes mention in his report 
for 1845-6, of the large trees he met with at Ele- 
phant Pass in the Northen Province. The generic 
name commemorates J. Salavador, a Spanish 
botanist. Tlie Tamil names for the tree ar^ 
Uvay and Viyay, 
