JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
364 
f May 5, 1881. 
“ Smelter,” which can be had of the dealers. It is like a glue-pot 
in principle, but a small spout is provided from which the was 
can be poured with accuracy. 
In May last year I explained so fully my method of fixing 
foundation with wires, which I named “ Cheshire’s Foundation 
Fixers,” that I would rather refer to the articles then appearing in 
the Journal than go over the ground again. Suffice it now to 
say that wires are provided with half an inch turned up at right 
angles at each end, so that they pass just over the top and bottom 
bars of the frame as it lies around the board previously described ; 
upon each wire five pins are soldered by their heads at equal dis¬ 
tances, and are then cut down in length to a little more than half 
the width of the frame. It wfill be seen that if the sheet be 
placed upon the board and one of the pinned wires be passed over 
the frame, the turned ends will hold the wire to the frame, while 
the five pins piercing the foundation will fix the foundation to the 
wire. If five or six of these be used the whole sheet is held most 
securely. As thirty distinct immoveable points of support are 
given sagging or stretching is impossible, while perfect flatness is 
secured. Nor is hot wax needed, as the bees quickly fix the top 
edge, and for a reason just explained the chance of the comb being 
left thin above is removed. The wires had better be taken away 
as soon as the combs are sufficiently drawn out to make sagging 
unlikely. Swarms may by this means have full sheets given them 
throughout the hive, while pieces of foundation may be patched 
together and converted into good combs, so regular and perfect 
as to excite the astonishment if not the envy of those in their 
novitiate. Seeing a thing is often of great service, and so I here 
repeat my willingness to show these matters in progress to those 
who may be really sufficiently interested to call to examine them. 
Our foundation is now waiting to be introduced ; the wind ha3 
turned into a warm quarter, and we open a stock to ascertain its 
condition. We note it has plenty of bees and two combs of fully 
sealed store at the end ; we remove one of these, and upon examin¬ 
ing the frames find the queen is being a little troubled to discover 
cells enough for her eggs ; room is now made in the brood nest, 
and the sheet of foundation is inserted ; in twenty-four hours it 
is built out sufficiently to have given the queen some accommo¬ 
dation, for eggs are seen in the middle of it. The fixers are 
removed, we intending next day or the day after to repeat the 
process. We now visit a hive thought >to be a little behind ; we 
find it poor, with but three frames of brood. To insert a sheet 
of foundation in the centre here would perhaps involve chilled 
brood if the weather took a bad turn, and everybody admits that 
in Great Britain it is a little uncertain ; we therefore shave the 
comb taken from the hive first examined and put it beside the 
brood nest. The honey will be removed, and everything set 
briskly going, a comb thus shaved constitutes a fine stimulator 
for a poor and weak stock. When combs are built on foundation, 
properly managed, the midrib is always in the right place, so that 
any irregularity that the bees may cause by extending the length of 
the cells when storing, may be got rid of perfectly by thus simply 
slicing down with the knife. A third stock shows unmistakeable 
signs of requiring more room ; it is highly prosperous. We give it 
foundation in the centre of the nest. Near by a stock stands which 
lost its queen in some way a little time since. It is about hatch¬ 
ing a queen from brood given, but the time is yet young, and the 
mother-expectant may be lost in mating, when the stock would 
be ruined. Giving it a comb of eggs from the prosperous colony 
will keep the bees going, and by-and-by sustain its strength, 
while the loss to the well-to-do will be quite inconsiderable, as 
into the space opened we slip a sheet of foundation, which in two 
or three days will be a comb as fully furnished as the one removed. 
In giving foundation at this part of the season it is far best to 
place it, if the stock can bear it, so that it will be worked rapidly, 
and both sides at once. If this is neglected a curling of the sheet 
from the side first drawn out may take place, because of the ex¬ 
pansion of surface this drawing-out occasions. Should other 
circumstances permit, it is good to place foundation between 
the straightest combs the hive possesses, but really now there is 
little need for any combs to be far from perfect in this direction. 
That space forbids my continuing this subject further is unim¬ 
portant, as the points here omitted will occur naturally in the 
calendar for May in next issue.— Frank It. Cheshire, Avenue 
House, Acton, W. 
OUR INDIAN BEES, ESPECIALLY APIS DORSATA. 
( Continued from page 321, and eommunica ted by Alfred Neigli hour .) 
As the readers of our Journal are aware, Mr. Frank Benton, 
Professor of the State College of Agriculture of Lansing, Michi¬ 
gan, U.S. of North America, has started from the island of Cyprus 
on a visit to the islands and continent of the East Indies in quest 
of Apis dorsata—that large bee with which we are most anxious 
to become acquainted—and of other valuable species of bees, 
which in case of success he intends to introduce and acclimatise 
first in Cyprus and to export thence to America and Europe. No 
doubt all bee-keepers are anxiously waiting to hear how Mr. 
Benton progresses, and having received a letter on this subject 
to-day I hasten to publish the contents for the benefit of the 
readers of the Bieneneeitung . Mr. Benton’s letter to me is written 
in German, and reads as follows :— 
“ Singapore, 8th February, 1881. 
“ Dear Sir. —I sailed from the island of Cyprus on the 4th 
December last, taking with me some colonies of Cyprian bees. I 
remained in Palestine for a short time, and took some colonies of 
Palestine bees with me when I left there. On my arrival in Ceylon 
I found to my great surprise that they do not keep bees on that 
island—not even in the primitive way in which on the island of 
Cyprus people keep the native bees in pots or clay pipes. I at once 
wrote an article, and sent it to the principal journal published in 
Ceylon, expressing my surprise that bee-keeping was still unknown 
in this fertile and suitable island. I mentioned how many colonies 
of bees there are on the island of Cyprus—31,432 in 1879, which 
figures I have taken from the books of the collectors of taxes there ; 
but the actual number of hives on the island at that time was doubt¬ 
less much greater. In former years there were 200,000 stocks of bees 
in the small, poor, and parched island of Cyprus ! I also stated how 
large a profit the Cypriots derive from bee-keeping, and indicated the 
best way of commencing bee-keeping in Ceylon, advising a beginning 
to be made with the native species. A few wealthy and influential 
gentlemen who showed an interest in the introduction of bee-keeping 
in Ceylon, and still more in procuring some colonies of Apis mellifica, 
consequently called upon me. I am glad to be able to say that owing 
to my endeavours bee-keeping has become a fact in Ceylon. I have 
placed in good hands there a few colonies which had accompanied me 
from the island of Cyprus. 
“ There are four species of honey bees in Ceylon, which in the 
language of the natives are named as follows :—1, Kana Mee meso ; 
2, Dandual Meso ; 3, Mee Meso ; 4, Bambera. The Kana Mee meso is 
doubtless a species of Trigona, and is very small; it has no sting, and 
always builds in hollow trees, collecting honey and pollen, but it is 
of no value to bee-keepers. I took a nest, together with the bees and 
queen, of this species from a small hollow tree in the jungle, which I 
have brought away with me. The second species, Dandual Meso, I 
did not meet with, but I secured a piece of comb of these bees. The 
cells are regular hexagonals, made of wax, a square inch containing 
eigbty-one cells ; the comb is five-eighths of an inch in thickness. I 
have been told that these bees generally build their combs in the 
open air, always placing them perpendicularly, and storing honey in 
them.* 
“ Combs of seveial colonies of the third species, Mee meso, which is 
doubtless the Apis Indica, w r ere obtained from the rocks and hollow 
trees in the primeval forests on the island, and these, together with 
the queens and worker bees, were placed into wooden frame-hives 
of my own construction. The worker bees are three-eighths of an 
inch long, of beautiful yellow colour, and are very swift on the wing. 
The chief characteristics of these bees are their gentleness, prolitic- 
ness, and great industry. Thirty-six of their worker cells cover a 
square inch. Their drone cells are exactly like the worker cells of 
our yellow bee Apis mellifica, and might very well be used by our 
bees for breeding workers. This species is undoubtedly suitable for 
breeding.f 
“ On the island of Cyprus honey is obtained from this bee as well as 
from the Bambera, the fourth species, and the largest bee of the 
island. 
“ This large bee, Bambera, is found in the interior of the island, and 
is but rarely seen near the seacoast. When I learnt this I had not 
time enough to pay a visit to the interior of the island, being obliged 
to start for the island of Java. Although I did not obtain a sight 
of this bee I procured some information concerning it from most 
reliable sources, and I have no doubt of this bee being the famous 
Apis dorsata.J 
“ According to this information this bee sometimes certainly builds 
its combs in the open air, not, however, horizontally, but always per¬ 
pendicularly. To correct a mistake which has got abroad about 
Apis dorsata, I may mention that there are many hornets in Ceylon, 
which of course invariably make their combs horizontally, these 
hornets, in the language of the inhabitants of Ceylon, being called 
Debora. The people of Ceylon speak the Cinghalese language, which 
* This comb evidently comes from Apis florea, which is the smallest of all 
Indian bees. Their worker-cells are likewise hexagonal, the drone-cells have 
much thicker walls and their interior is almost cylindrical. Thirty-three and 
two-thirds worker-cells of Apis florea are equal in length to 18£ worker-cells 
of our own bee.— The Editors. 
t Mr. Benton was doubtless correct in taking Mee meso to be Apis Indica. 
The latter has also been described as Apis socialis (Lepeletier), Apis Delesserti 
(Guerin), Apis Peronii (Latreille), Apis Perrottetii (Guerin), and Apis nigro- 
cincta (Smith):— Tiie Editors. 
t Mr. Benton is quite correct. The Bambera—Bamburos—is Apis dorsata, 
the races and varieties of which have been described as Apis nigripennis 
(Latreille), Apis bicolor (Klug), and Apis zonata (Guerin and Smith).—THE 
Editors. 
