August, 2, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
105 
best of the three-growth buds nestling round it selected to extend again 
in an upright direction. The plants must be pushed out of this stage as 
rapidly as possible, and all side shoots removed directly they can be seen 
until the plants form another flower bud, which will be towards the end 
of next month. Feed liberally from this time, and keep the shoots tied 
to the stake used to support them, or else the shoots may be broken in 
windy weather. 
Staking must be pushed on rapidly with all bush plants intended for 
decorative purposes, and the shoots afterwards secured to the stakes as 
they extend. Stimulants must also be freely applied to these, and care 
must be taken that the plants never sutler by want of water, or they 
will become seriously checked and their lower foliage be much injured. 
Heliotropes. —Plants intended for autumn and winter flowering 
should now be bushy little specimens in 3 and 4-inch pots, and ready 
for transferring into others 2 or 3 inches larger. Good loam, a seventh 
of manure, and a little sand will grow them well. After potting stand 
the plants outside, and attend to the pinching of the shoots as they 
require it from time to time to keep them compact and bushy. 
If 
jpl 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
6 ) ^ 
APIS MELLIFICA IN JAVA AND CEYLON. 
(Translated by Mr. Alfred Neighbour from the “ Bienenzeitung,” No. 7, 
1st April, 1883.) 
The gentleman in charge of the Imperial German Consulate 
of Batavia, who has for years past been kind enough to keep 
me informed of all that takes place in the island of Java as 
regards bee-keeping, sent me recently a cutting from a native 
paper which contains some notices of the bees introduced into 
Java by my friend Mr. F. Benton. Thinking that any 
information on the acclimatisation of bees in Java may be of 
interest so far as the history of bee-keeping is concerned, I 
have translated the article referred to, of which the following 
is an extract:— 
“ An American bee-keeper, Mr. F. Benton, who visited Java in 
order to study Apis dorsata, and, if possible, to introduce this bee into 
Cyprus, and thence into Europe and America, brought nine colonies 
of bees with him, seven being from Cyprus and two from Palestine. 
New hives were procured in order to try once more to acclimatise 
bees in Java after the first attempt to introduce the European bee, 
which was made in 1878, had proved a failure. The trial was made 
at Tjikeumeuh under the direction of Mr. Messink. 
“ The bees were placed in the Botanical Gardens under the super¬ 
intendence of Mr. Benton, who looked after them personally for twenty- 
five days. When he left four queens had commenced laying eggs, and 
the other colonies, including their queens, were in tolerably good 
condition considering the long voyage they had made. During the 
first fortnight after their arrival the bees were fed with sugar dissolved 
in water. After this time the workers from four hives began to fly 
out and returned laden with honey. The queens continued depositing 
eggs for about three months after their arrival in Java. After that 
egg-laying diminished, and at last the bees quite ceased to leave the 
hive. 
“ The number of worker bees became smaller and smaller, and 
finally some of the colonies dwindled down so much that only the queen 
and a few worker bees were left. With a great deal of trouble one 
colony was kept alive till the end of the year. But when the western 
monsoon set in in 1881 the population of this stock also dwindled away, 
and the workers flew out no longer, probably on account of the damp¬ 
ness of the atmosphere. 
“ It is to be regretted that the second attempt to acclimatise the 
bee in Java has also turned out a failure, in spite of all the precautions 
that had been taken to make the experiment a success. The loss of 
all the colonies was probably caused by the worker bees not finding 
sufficient food during the hot season, the consequence being that the 
■queens did not receive the proper amount of food, and therefore dis¬ 
continued laying eggs. 
“The experiment to domesticate the East Indian Bee (Njiroean) has 
■given a better result than a previous attempt in 1877 and 1878. For 
the last eight months there have been two colonies of these bees in 
'Tjikeumeuh with very large populations. The bees fly out and collect a 
great deal of honey. Eggs are deposited regularly and without inter¬ 
ruption. The honey of this bee is generally considered inferior in 
■flavour, while the wax is said to be of excellent quality. 
“ A swarm given off by one of the colonies a short time ago has 
♦been secured, but it was no easy task. In Europe a swarm generally 
settles on a branch of a tree near the apiary, from which it is easy to 
■remove the bees ; but the Indian bees fly high up into the air, and do 
not settle till some time after.* ” 
“ * It may be assumed that Apis indica is the bee referred to above. The 
indigenous Apis indica of Java was described by Latreille (“ Annales du Mv.sdum 
vl Hist. Hat.,” v., p. 170, No. 4) as Apis l’eronii. It is hardly to be supposed that 
•experiments should have been made to domesticate the small East Indian bee. Apis 
tiorea.—T he Editor.” 
Mr. Benton’s attempt to acclimatise Apis mellifica in Java 
lias unfortunately proved a failure, and I fear there is but 
little prospect of this bee becoming domesticated there, although 
I consider it quite possible if the bees after their arrival m 
Java are made to raise young queens, because the vitality of 
the imported queens becomes impaired during the long voyage. 
It would be necessary in that case to increase the population 
of the colonies and their stores quickly by feeding. 
In Ceylon the bees that were imported by Mr. Benton have 
been more successful than those in Batavia. During the rainy 
season from May till September the colonies were supplied 
with food, but in the remaining months of the year the bees 
collected sufficient honey from the flowering Palm trees and 
other tropical plants for their own wants, and had even some 
to spare for their master. One stock swarmed three times, but 
unfortunately, during the absence of the bee-keeper, the bees 
had been left in charge of the servants, who neglected to 
attend to them, so that all the three swarms flew away and 
settled in the jungles, where they probably perished during the 
rainy season. 
I’or the last few years experiments have been made to 
acclimatise the Vanilla in Ceylon, but only by artificial fer¬ 
tilisation was it found possible to get these plants to produce 
mature fruit. The “ Tropical Agriculturist ” calls special 
attention to the numerous visits of Apis mellifica to the Vanilla 
blossoms, and adds that the owner of the plantation has for 
this reason entirely discontinued the fertilisation of the Vanilla 
flowers by artificial means. In case the cultivation of Vanilla 
in Ceylon should prove successful the importation of Apis 
mellifica will have largely aided to bring about this result, 
and it would be quite worth while for this purpose alone to 
keep bees in Ceylon, even if they had to be supplied with 
food during the rainy season.—(Signed) A. Schroder, Trieste. 
*All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor 7 ' 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon ■ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Seedling Strawberry {E. S .).—The “weed” you sent appears to be a 
young seedling Strawberry plant, but it was so much crushed that we 
cannot determine it with certainty. Of course, if you wish, these could be 
easily pulled up and destroyed. 
Shooting Pigeons (T. B. Dolly). —We have not yet obtained the infor¬ 
mation you desire, but will endeavour to do so. Anyone shooting a pigeon 
‘‘ wantonly ” is liable to a penalty of £2 above the value of the pigeon. 
Seedling Carnations {Sigma ).—There are no prominent points of merit, 
considered from the florist’s standard, in any of the varieties you have sent. 
No. 1 is undoubtedly the most distinct; it is novel in colour, and would be 
effective in borders. Nos. 2 and 4 are also good border varieties ; but 6 is a 
nondescript colour, and a variety that we should not perpetuate. 
Rose Election (.4. II. P. and L. D .).—As you may see by reference to 
page 57 of our issue of the 19th ult. the election this year will consist of the 
newer varieties—namely, the best six, second best six, and next best twelve 
exhibition Roses introduced since 1877, including that year ; and the same 
as regards the new Roses best adapted to garden decoration. 
Dressing for Rhododendrons (S. J.). —It is questionable if there is any¬ 
thing better for mulching the surface of the soil amongst Rhododendrons 
than a thick covering of leaf soil, scattering a little heavier soil over it to 
prevent its being displaced. A correspondent a short time ago pointed out 
that some shrubs mulched with leaf soil had made far better progress than 
others, and required no watering. A thickness of 4 inches will not be too 
great in your gravelly 3oil. 
Climbing Cinerarias (Z. Z.). —We do not know any true species of 
Cineraria of climbing habit. Possibly you refer to some of the Senecios, 
especially those which, like S. macroglossa, have leaves resembling the Ivy. 
These are of climbing or, more strictly, trailing habit. 
