Siqrplement  to  the  “ Jropical  Af/ncuttunst.” 
Sept.  1,  1896.] 
good  enough  to  inform  me  in  reply  to  a 
letter  I wrote  him.  that  he  purchased  hives  from 
Mr,  Benton  at  UoO  each,  and  also  kept  several 
native  liives,  but  regrets  to  say  that  he  has  not 
been  successful  in  geUing  much  honey.  lie  fears 
the  climate  in  Ceylon  is  not  very  favourable  to 
apiculture.  Ilis  experience  is  that  the  bees  gather 
honey  to  be  consumed  by  them  during  moon-lit 
nights,  leaving  only  some  of  it  for  the  use  of 
their  young  during  dark-night  seasons,  which  is 
tlie  only  time  the  honey  can  be  gathered,  and  what 
is  secured  is  not  very  much.  Mr.  Wright  still 
keeps  a few  hives  on  his  Mirigama  property,  but 
gets  no  more  from  one  jnnt  to  a'quart  at  a time. 
Ill  1882  some  German  bee-keepers  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Imijerial  German  Con.sid  at  Madras 
applying  f^r  stocks  of  the  Bambara  bee  to  which 
their  attention  had  been  drawn  by  Mr.  Benton, 
with  the  object  (1)  of  domesticating  it,  and  (2)  of 
crossing  it  with,  the  Apis  mellifera.  The  possi- 
bility of  this  crossing  was,  however,  scouted  by 
ilr.  Benton  himself.  There  is  no  evidence  forth- 
coming as  to  whether  the  required  stocks  were 
supplied. 
A correspondent  signing  iiimself  “Iloneydew” 
details  his  ex[)eriences  in  his  attempt  to  domesti- 
cate the  Bambara  in  the  Tropical  Agriculturist  of 
September,  1882.  Though  he  had  a hive  made,  as 
he  describes  it,  “ after  the  .English  pattern  with 
sliding  frames,  glass  top.  See."  he  did  not  meet  with 
success,  for  while  the  bees  fed  heartily  on  the 
honey  supplied  to  them  during  the  dull  weather, 
they  all  took  wing  on  the  first  bright  sunny  day. 
“ lloneydew’s ’’  way  of  securing  a swarm  is  amus- 
ing enough,  lie  advises  that  you  should  [)roceed 
at  night  wiih  a servant  and  a pair  of  pyj.imas: — 
‘■First,  tie  up  the  legs  of  the  article  of  apparel,  then 
gently  put  the  top  pirt  over  the  bees  close  up 
against  the  rock,  then  with  a stick  cut  away  the 
bees  as  they  hang  and  Ih.ey  all  fall  down  in  a mas.s, 
when  l)y  pulling  the  tape  of  the  pyj.'imas  the  top 
is  clo.'od  ami  there  you  have  tluim.”  Having 
removed  them  they  are  let  oat  of  caxHivity  into 
the  hives  by  one  of  the  legs. 
In  1890  Mr.  A.  W.  Jayawardene,  late  headmaster 
of  the  School  of  Agriculture  and  now  a notary 
practising  at  Mada’.npe  in  the  Chilaw  district, 
contributed  some  notes  on  Bee-culture  to  the 
A (jricultural  Magazine, 
Not  long  after  the  publication  of  Mr.  Jaya- 
wardene’s  notes,  a letter  was  contributed  to  the 
Oerjlon  Observer  of  18th  June.  1890,  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Holloway  of  Wattegama,  who  referring  to  the 
statement  made  by  Mr.  Jayawardene  that  the 
Bambara  cannot  be  domesticatetl,  gave  his  own 
e.xperience  as  follows  : — 1 had  a swarm  of  Bambara 
in  188o  for  months  in  a hive  (latter  made  and 
sent  out  from  Germany)  kept  in  the  verandah 
of  my  bungalow  on  Maria  Estate.  These  got  as 
tame  ns  any  bee  ever  will  be,  made  their  comb, 
deposited  their  honey  in  the  upper,  and  had 
their  brood  in  the  lowtr  part  of  the  hive.  Many 
visitors  came  and  inspected  them.^  The  hive  was 
always  open,  and  the  bees  could  easily'  have  got 
away Unfortunately  they'  swarmed  during 
my  absence  from  the  estate,  and  the  cooly-gardener 
was  frightened  to  catch  them  again  as  1 ordered 
him  to  tlo,  and  lost  them. 
Mr.  Hollow'ay  mentions  that  Mr.  11.  Dathe  of 
Estrup,  Hanover,  the  largest  bee-keeper  in  the 
world,  came  to  Ceylon  to  secure  a swarm  of  the 
21.^. 
Bambara  in  188.3.  This  apiarist  stayed  with  Mr. 
Holloway,  and  after  remaining  some  two  months 
left  with  about  seven  hives  full.  Alost  of  the  bees 
died  on  the  way  to  Jaffa,  and  the  balance  which 
were  fed  on  sugar,  honey  ana  water  iifter  leaving 
the  hives  and  returning  to  it  on  two  occasions 
abandoned  it  entirely  on  the  third.  “Since  then,” 
say's  Air.  Holloway,  “iMr.  Hathe  of  Estriq)  and 
Air.  Zamalior  of  Jaffa  have  pressed  me  much  to 
send  them  a swarm  of  Bambara  which  they'  say 
would  be  worth  Ii-jO  in  Germany.  The  difliciilty 
is  to  get  someone  who  understands  how  to  feed 
them  and  keep  the  hive  free  from  insects,  and  would 
not  be  afraid  of  a sting.  It  is  on  account  of  the 
latter  that  1 had  to  give  up  bee-keeping,  though  I 
made  a good  start  with  Egyptian  bees  brought 
over  by'  Air.  Dathe  and  our  own  bees.” 
THINNING  GllABES. 
On  a recent  visit  to  the  Agricultural  School  I 
was  much  struck  with  the  fact  that  no  attempt 
had  been  made  to  thin,  either  the  bunches  or  the 
berries  in  the  experimental  plot  of  vines,  and 
knowing  from  practical  experience  how  the 
neglect  of  this  work  tells  on  young  vines — or  in 
fact  on  all  young  fruit  trees — 1 have  been  led 
to  make  the  following  remarks  which  I trust  may' 
be  of  some  use  to  those  now  ex[)erimenling  with 
the  cultivation  of  grap»es. 
In  order  to  obtain  healthy’,  well-developed 
and  good-flavoured  fruit  for  the  table,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  bunches  and  berries 
be  early  and  carefully  thinned.  This  operation 
requires  patience,  boldness,  and  a light  .steady 
hand.  ' ^ 
The  proper  time  to  commence  is  as  soon  as 
po.ssible  after  the  fiowm-s  have  .set.  The  work 
when  done  at  this  time  will  save  much  wasteful 
expenditure  of  energy  on  the  part  of  the  vines, 
and  will  prove  of  great  adv’antage  in  the  making 
of  large  and  handsome  fruit. 
The  iirst  thing  to  consider  is  whether  the 
variety  about  to  be  thinned  has  long  or  short 
foot-stalks.  If  the  latter,  the  thinning  should  be 
more  liberally  and  evenly  done.  The  berries  of 
those  varieties  with  the  greatest  length  of  foot- 
stalk should  be  left  much  closer  together  at  the 
shoulders,  as  the  berries  will  force  each  other 
upward.s  and  outwards  as  tliey  increase  in  size. 
The  tools  required  are  a pair  of  grape  scissors 
a clean  light  stick  and  some  good  tying  material! 
Tile  inner  bark  of  Hibiscus  tiliaceus,  the  ‘‘Beli- 
patta”  of  the  Sinhalese  is  just  the  right  thino-  for 
the  purpose.  This  material  was  brought  to  my 
notice  by  Air.  Charles  Byide  of  Ambalangoda,  and 
through  his  kindness  in  sending  me  a su’piily 
1 have  been  able  to  experiment  with  it  and  have 
proved  it  to  be  excellent  in  every'  way  and  a first- 
rate  substitute  for  the  “Cuba  Bast”  so  much  used 
by  horticulturists  in  Europe.  It  is  a common 
wild  plant  in  the  low-country'  near  the  coast  and 
the  fibre  is  easily  prepared. 
lo  commence  the  actual  work  of  thinnino' 
wo  should  begin  by  tying  up  the  shoulders, 
bringing  each  up  to  a horizontal  position  and, 
arranging  them  at  equal  distaimes  all  round! 
These  will  require  1,  2,  3,  or  more  ties  accoi'diug 
