NEW RAGES OF BEES.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1525, 13 April 1882, Page 4

NEW RAGES OF BE ES.

Some of our apiarians seem to have a restless, progressive disposition. After having discarded the black or native bees for the Italians, they are now lansiicking the globe in hope of finding something better than the Italians. Last biuninei, MrD. A. Jones, of Beeton, Canada, engaged the services of Mr Frank Ben ton, who is both beekeeper and a linguist, and made a journey to the island of Cyprus, in the Meditcirancan sea, also to Palestine. The object of this tour was to learn something definite in leg.ud to the bees of those eastern countries. Mr Jones brought back bees and queens from Cyprus and from L'.i.le&tiue. Mr Benton remained in Cyprus started an apiary, and continued until the close of the seasou to send qiu-c n bees to Mr Jones. Many ot our apiarists purchased some of these queens from Mr Jones, and the coming season will piobably enable them to learn something in legard to their merits. Mi Bentyn remained, during the last winter upon the island of Cyprus, and this spring lie te taking a trip, in search ot new races of bees, through the Indian ocean ; \ isiting Hilldostan, the island of Ceylon, Farther India, the island of Java, .md, perhaps the Philippine I&l.wds. Wiiting from Colombo, Ceylon, Mr Benton says :— •' I have seen two native r.ices cf bees here, and the comb of a third. <)no is stingless, but worthless. One t.ice is Apis Indica, but Apis dorsata i~> eeitainly a wonderful bee, whether it tan be domesticated or not. It builds in the open air on blanches, often making combs (i feet long ; and I have good authority for saying that thirty natives ha\e each taken a load of honey from the tree. I call it Apisdorsata,butldonot know positively that that is its name, as I have not yet seen the bee. Everybody ssivs, though, that there is a large bee from which great' quantities of honey arc easily gotten in the interior of the island." Writing from Java he says :—": — " I have not yet seen a bee of this lace (Apis dorsntaj, but have seen two combs of these bees, which are 3 feet by 3', feet, and H inch thick, where the brood was reared ; about twenty cells to the square inch. The bees must be I of an inch long." Mr Jones, in writing to n, friend who once thought that ho should be obliged to clean out his cistern in order to store his extracted honey says : "So you see, friend Root, that although it lequires a fortune to keep up the eiu.rmous expenditure connected with my importations, and breeding pure and supci ior races of bees, yet the bright pio&pccts of Likes (instead of cisterns) of honey, and millions of dollars in the pockets of the beekeepers of America, cheer me on the great work ; and if there i& a race of bees in the world that is superior to ours, or if they have any superior trniks that can be embodied or used ni crossing, I want them." If friend Jones will only bring us a bee whose tongue is long enough to reach to the bottom of the lubes in the blossoms of red clover, his remarks about "lakes" of honey will not be so far out of the way after all.

The Rev Dr John Hall believes that • newspapers if given a text, could often write a oetter sermon than some ministers. It would be bad for the newspaper business if they couldn't.