Australian bee lore and bee culture, including the influence of bees on crops and the colour of flowers and its influence on bee life

Front matter

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Chapter I.—introduction Of Bees

Native bees—First hive bees, by Captain Wallace—First adver- Pas. tisement—Controversary from 1822 to 1824—Taken to Jervis Bay in 1840—White-fellow’s sugar i a in the early seventies .. Ke 2 “i 4 os . a 1-3

Chapter Ii.—_introduction Of The Italian Bee

First Italian bees—Attacks by bee moth—‘‘Australian Bee Manual,’’ references to, in 1886—Value of Italian queens in 1882, onwards—Bee-keepers’ Association—Improvement in hives—Foul brood, great destruction of bees by.. a 4-6

CHAPTER IIJ.—BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Classification —Vertebrata —Annulosa — Anthropoda — Lepidoptera, coleoptera, Irymenoptera, and apidae contrasted— Genera and species of bees—Honey-producing and wax-producing bees on si ave ig 26 Sa ae 7-9

Chapter Iv.—species And Varieties

Social bees of commercial value—The bee of the future—Apis mellifica, English bee—Apis ligustica, Italian bee—Virgil’s description—Historical references thereto—Golden and leather coloured—Italian drones, queens and workers— Suitable for warm climates—East Indian bee, apis dorsata—

Great wax producers—Apis indica, description of—Apis trigona, our native bee—Apis florea, description of—Carniolian bee—T'unic or Punic bee—Difference between species and variety - Ag ee ~ x sn ie .. 10-18

Chapter V.—bees’ Home

The bees’ home—Various hives—Bees bringing home supplies— Bee-glue—Drone and worker cells—Wax-workers—Beeswax—Brood in various stages—Nurse bees—Uses of bees’ legs—The queen and her cell .. a3 ee we os 19-25

Chapter Vi.—bee-keeping

Bee-keeping—Ancient history of—Francis Huber—The inmates of bees’ home—Queen not royal—The mother bee—Always a widow—Drones and workers always posthumas—Queen’s power of reproduction—Queen cells—Neuter, a misnomer— The eggs—Royal jelly—The cocoon—The bee-grub .. axe 26-31 iv. CONTENTS.

Chapter Vii.—queen Bee

Queen’s internal anatomy—Power of control of sexes—Selection Pages. of the fittest—Golden rule of queen breeding—Emergency cells—Production of honey—Artificial queen cells—Traits of a good queen—Metamorphose from egg to perfect insect Fecundation of a queen—Her marital flight—Queen from maturity to maternity—Production of drones, its cause— Impregnation of ovary, not the ovum—Productive and non-productive female bees—Change of sexual character of egg—Differentiation of eggs—Egg, embryonic stage to maturity—Circumstances controling reproduction—inferior queens ve a3 a eh bs oe it ~ 32-53

Chapter Viii.—the Drone

Drones greatly maligned—Drone cells and their inmates— metamorphose—Food during development—Comparative area, &c., of wings—External anatomy of drone and worker compared—Parthenogenical reproduction of—Not the Ishmaels of bee—Five questions and the various answers from correspondents, re drones—How to obtain high-class drones 3 ee hs ace ‘3 a: i = 54-60

Chapter Ix.—mysteries Of Drone Production

Not lazy nor idle—Value of males—One mating only—Progeny all female—Drones result of previous mating—Ilemale progeny, result of queen’s fecundation—Male progeny, result of queen’s mother’s fecundation—Atavism—Perfect and complete females—Perfect and incomplete females .. a 61-63

Chapter X.—the Working Bee

Working female—Home duties—Foragers—As forest makers— As florists—Novelties in flowers—Orchardists—Nature’s workshops and workmen—Swammerdam on fecundation— Development of egg and transformation—Moulting of larvae —Chrysalis stages—Nurse bees, duties of—-Wax workers— Care of the young—Huber on nurse bees—Most useful in the division of swarms .. ie Ke 24 si es 64-68

Chapter Xi.—fertile Workers

Procreative y»workers—Drone-laying queens—mysteries of the hive—Superseding queens ie a ifs “es y 69-70

CHAPTER XII.—SELECTION FOR STOCK. Selection of bees for stock purposes—Select the fittest and these

survive—Mating uncontrolable—Can select the dam but not

the sire—Select so as to excel in gentleness and labour—

Resultant characteristics seen only in progeny—There is a barrier to overcome i ae 53 i i oe 71-73

CONTENTS, CHAPTER XIII.—EDUCATING BEES.

Ornamental comb building—How to-select bees and hives for the purpose—Results—Successes and failures—Differences in working abilities of bees—Physical energy :

Chapter Xiv.—why Do Bees Swarm?

Nature’s reasons—Francoise Huber on swarming—Some errors— Early Spring conditions—Supply of pollen an incentive— Drones on the wing—Hours of swarming—Queen not frst to leave—Piping of queens—Swarminy not for want of room —Naturalist’s errors in regard to swarming—Signs of swarmine—Parables—Natural and artificial swarming

77-85

Chapter Xv.—swarm Catching, Hiving, And Trans- Ferring

Special call notes—Scouts—Bee-song on settling—Not led by the queen—Origin of beating frying pan when swarming— Queen. not first to settle—‘‘Be gentle’’—Natural swarms— How to hive—Place of rendezvous—Decoy boxes—EKarly swarms—To prevent swarming—Vagabond swarms—How to find queen in swarm—An adage—Site for permanent home— Queen handling—Queen’s wing should not be clipped—Time of swarming—Swarm removed to permanent home—The next day—Casts a

Chapter Xvi.—taking Bush Swarms

Tools and implements—Smoke bellows—Get the bees into a box—Save all brood comb—To secure the queen—Main object; bees and brood-combs not honey

Chapter Xvii.—handling

Eyes, ears, fingers—Manipulation—Kindness and gentleness— Docility—Bee knowledge—Length of bee life—Subdued by smoke—Language of bees—Don’+ stand in their way— When and how to examine—Charging the smoker—How to smoke—Signs of subjugation

Chapter Xix.—division Of Swarms

When to divide—Conditions for—The season for—Internal appearances of hive—Virgin queen—Necessity for fertile

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103-107

108-112 queens—Summary v4 ee si ai ae .. 118-116 vi. CONTENTS, CHAPTER XX.—RE QUEENING.

Change necessary—Throw-backs—Mating haphazard—Parentage Pace. known by progeny—Life of queen, drone, worker—Early stage of queen to lay—Queen’s procreative powers subsiding —Workers’ love diminishes—Various ways of re-queening— Caging new queen—Bee-candy—Grafting cells—Chloroforming—Why not always accepted .. see ue .. 117-121

Chapter Xxi.—transferring

Maxim—Subduing—Drumming—Manipulating—Like begets like —Confidence required—Charging the smoker—Virgil’s method—Description of illustration from figurel to figure9 122-131

Chapter Xxii.—the Historical Bee-hive—its Evolution

Amateur apiarists—Artificial bee-homes—Bible references— India, Egypt, Japanese sun-dried clay-hives—Early experimentors in hive construction—Various styles of hives— Early germ in bar frames—Huber’s discoveries—Dzierzon’s top-bar—Langstroth movable frame—Evolution of bar frames—Nearing perfection—Value of the bar frame—Spacing—Fixing foundation comb—Correct spacing by bees— Bees and natural comb building—Bar frame, rise and progress—Shape and _ size—Storing honey—Brace combs— Attachment of comb to frame—Dimensions—Natural heat required—Nature’s bee space—Shallows—British Association —Various improvements—Summary of hives—Machine made hives—Hoffman’s metal ends—Narrow bottom bar— Antipropolising inventions—Langstroth’s 61 reasons for his perfect hive—Materials—Convex and concave bevels, advantages of guide for measurements—Bee-space—Quantity of timber required—Iron guages—Heddon’s measurement of— Other hives—Langstroth’s simplicity, measurement of .. 132-138

CHAPTER XXUI.—MOVABLE BOTTOM BOARDS FOR THE LANGSTROTH SIMPLICITY HIVE.

Measurements of V entrance No. 1—Measurements of No. 2— Alighting board—Measurements of roofs—Quilt—Full-size bar frame measurement—Centre bar—Shallows—Division boards—Frame blocks, measurements of—Description of Shallows—Division boards—Frame block, measurements of —Description of fig. 2—Measurements of .. oh .. 139-150

Chapter Xxx.—evolution Of The Bee-hive

Domestication — Nature’s home — Clay-hives— Hollow logs— Hives of the first bee-keepers—Wild honey—Early writers— Destroying bees for the honey—Nutt’s supernumary box— The bar frame—Huber’s book hive—Langstroth and Dzierzon—Bees working in the open—Spacing—Bar-frames— Heddon frame, its measurements—Shallow frames—Quinby and other types, measurements of—Bar frames in parts— Langstroth frame, its measurements—Thick top bar—Hoffman ends—Narrow bottom bar—Guage for staples—Ready-made bar-frames—Langstroth’s 61 pros and cons—Materials —Brooy chamber—Half-size super-roof—Quilis—Full-size frame, page 221, and for shallows—Dummy—Section cradle —Sections—Half-size dummy—Section holder—Sections see diagram, page 228—Gale’s wire cradle—Berlepsch hive— Hive in parts—The frame—Description of observatory doors —How arranged—The verandah—Advantages and _ otherwise—The combination hive—Its advocates and its pros and cons vi oe oe is i Ae st .. 182-234 viii. CONTENTS.

Chapter Xxxi.—bee-keeping In Bar-frame Hives

Beginner’s kit—How to get your bees—Transferring from trees —Foundation comb—Home made foundation comb—Gloves— The smoker—Swarm catcher—Uncapping knife—Solar extractor

Chapter Xxxii.—bee-wintering

“‘Apiology”’—Climatic changes—Essentials for bee-life and health—Winter feeding—Kind of food—Temperature— Huber’s experiment—Ventilation—Numerical strength of colony—Outside protection—Internal dampness

CHAPTER XXNIII.—NOTES ON HONEY.

Virgil—Honeys from Crete, &c.—Cuban honey—Parramatta and Gordon honey—Orange blossom honey—Almond flavored —White box, yellow box, and prickly tea-tree honey— Uses of honey we 2 zo we = ;

Chapter XXXIV —the Value Of Beeswax

Prices for wax—Wax production—Nature’s economy—Huber’s experiments by forced production—Bees lengthen the cells —aAdulteration—Demand for beeswax—Profits—Alcohol— Specific gravity—Cheshire on adulterations—Testing for adulterations — Discoloration — Causes — Moulding — Black combs—Loss of wax—Solar extractor—Apis dorsata

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252-256

Chapter Xxxv.—the Influence Of Bees On Crops

Essential addenda for crops—Nature’s reproductive army— Flowering and flowerless plants—No bees, no fruit—Butterflies—Cross-pollenisation—Reproductive organs of plant life—Nature’s use for blossoms—Stamens and_ pestils— Fructification of entomophilous flowers, &c.—Parts of a blossom and their uses—Bees and pollen or bee-bread— The corolla—The calyx—Daylight and twilight flowers— The nectary—Analogy between flowers and insects—Darwin on orchids—Male and female flowers on different plants —Pollen for sale—Nature’s safeguard against in-and-in reproduction—Herodotus—Apples and pears—A grain of pollen necessary for every grain of seed—Cause of mis-shapened fruits—Matrimonial ceremonies—Conjugal traits of plant life—Bees gathering pollen—Adaptation of bees’ bodies for pollen gathering—Ovule receives the “germ of life’’— Accomplished—How fruit becomes mature—Bees make no mistakes—Work of butterfly and bee contrasted—Influence of dust and rain storms on fruit crops—Destruction caused by insects other than bees—Bees have few enemies—The fall of unpollenised fruits.

257-273

CoNnTENTs. ix.

Chapter Xxxvi.—artificial Fertilisation

Bees the great fruit producers—Inoculated or cross-pollenised— Pacs. Removal of pollen—Sexual flowers—How to effect inoculation of the female flower—How to protect the essential flowers—Instruments to use to effect fertilisation—Hybridisation—Healthy stameniferous and pistiliferous plants necessary—Bisexual blooms—Double flowers—Plants_return to earlier forms—Pollen blooms, the cells of life; pistillate blooms, the cells of matter—Hybrid plants, how to perpetuate—‘‘Natural orders,’’ illustrations from the poultry yard—Nature’s agents in the production of food for man—Bee par excellence as procreative agents with entomophilous plants—Handicrafts, illustrated in bee-life—Beekeepers and orchardists’ confederates—Don’t check bee-life—Color and perfume of flowers—Ants, bees, and wasps —Sir John Lubbock—Inconspicuous blossoms more attractive than highly colored—Lubbock’s experiments—Grant Allen’s advertisements—Brilliant foliage v. bright colored flowers—Artificial flowers—The agent that attracts bees— Nasturtium—Double flowers not attractive to bees—Bees’ various movements in gathering honey and pollen—Turnip blossoms and lucerne flowers—Poppies—English bees with Australian flowers—Australian white flowers more attractive to bees than bright colors—Bright colors fail to attract imported bees—Australian bee-keepers’ experiments .. 274-292

Chapter Xxxvii.—color Of Flowers And Its Influence On Bee-life

Entomophalous and anemophilous flowers—Sexes among plants —Locomotive powers in plant-life—Difficulties in the way of cross fructification—Nature of pollen—Bees pre-eminent in storing pollen—Preceptive organs of insects—The native bee—Adaptability of flowers to bees and: vice versa—Australian honey plants—Nuptial flight of bees—Refutation of authorities—Lubbock on ‘‘Bees, Ants, and Wasps’’— Tests inaccurate—Observations in Botanic Gardens—Mr. Baker, Technical Museum—Turnips and lucerne—Darwin on bees’ ‘‘taste for coloured flowers’’—Poppies—Bees neglecting to work on certain flowers—Why?—Sign boards and fingerposts a hasty conclusion—Grant Allen—Nasturtium—Agricultural examination papers—Bees disregard their Old World training when in Australia—Their loss of education after they cross the equatorial line .. .. 293-302

Chapter Xxxviii.—bee Calendar

From January to December, inclusive—The work for each month a by ocd a ws ia es .. 803-313

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Advance Australia (Frontispiece) Honey Bees : ie vu

Bee Farming (past and present) Queen cages and protectors

Queen cages (another type)

Queen cells

Queen cells on natural combs

Queen cells on bar-frames

Alley queen nursery (reversed)

Nursery cage es

Comb built in the open air

Queen rearing

Shallow bar-frame

Old straw hives

N.S.W. written by bees

Catching a swarm

Taking a clustering swarm

Transferring bees from a log

The smoker

Introducing queen cages 2 i a we Ss The author transferring bees at the Hawkesbury College .. “Yes, we believe it’’

The Heddon Hive

Bottom Board, No. 1

Bottom Board, No. 2.

Alighting Board

Descriptive Bar-frame

Frame Block, Fig. 1

Frame Block, Fig. 2

Concrete floors for bee-hives ‘ View of Apiary and Kiosk, Agricultural College

Pace xii.

Hive and section cradle filled with sections

A Bee Farm

Hive Arrangements

Bush-house Apiary

Summer Shelter

Colony of bees on Geebung plant ..

Shallow Frame a Frame Angles (thick top bar) Measurement of Frame (new comb) Self-spacing thick top bar

Staple Gauge an a Langstroth’s Hive and its Fittings Cradles for sections

Section : ee 2

Wire Section Cradle (Gale’s) Berlepsch Hive and Frame Foundation Comb

Honey Extractor (Novice’s) Smoker (Pender’s)

Uncapping Knife

Solar Extractor

Bee-Wintering

Abdomen of worker showing wax pockets and wax scales .. Essential or sexual organs of a blossom

An open blossom showing the organs and floral envelope

A deformed apple Bee in the act of fertilising Bee sting in sections

Fig. I. showing the combination of the floral envelope ..

Fig. II., Stigma, anthers, stamens, &c.

Brood-combs, and developing brood

List or ILLUSTRATIONS.

Preface

N this volume I have collected together some of my published articles, chiefly those that appeared from time to time in the N.S.W. ‘‘Agricultural Gazette.” One of my reasons for so

doing is to make known the history of the introduction into this State, of so valuable an insect as the honey bee. The publication of newspaper and other extracts, herein presented, will prove the historical authenticity of the facts.

A large percentage of the following pages was uttered from public platforms, and what was there voiced was obtained by research and of life-long observation ; not as Wisdom learned, but as knowledge gained from the book of Nature. Nevertheless, a well and judiciously selected library is the best of fertilizers to inspire a healthy growth in research and of keen observation.

ALBERT GALE.

AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE, CULTURE.

Chapter I. Introduction Of Bees To Australia

As a business to which a man may devote his sole attention, as a subsidiary to farming or fruit-growing, as an addendum, for pocket money for settlers’ wives, or as a pastime for persons of leisure in suburban homes, beekeeping has nowadays throughout Australia, so many votaries, that it almost goes without saying some brief account of the inception and growth of apiculture under the Southern Cross will be appreciated.

It is a singular fact that, although both in the American continent and our own, indigenous honey producing flora abounds; the most diligent search by the entomologist and other naturalists, on the discovery of these new lands, was not rewarded by the discovery of any social honey-bee having a commercial value. Certainly there are indigenous bees in America, but the honey-bee was an introduction. In Australia the only social honeystoring insect in any way resembling the true hive bee is the little so-called native bee, Trigona carbonaria. The native bee of America does not occur here. Our native bee, Trogona, is found in Africa and India, as well as throughout Australia. The honey produced by these native bees is variable in quality, and never equal to that of the hive-bee. It is not so very long ago, however, since ‘‘wild’’ honey was much sought after in our Australian bush as one of the greatest of luxuries. The fact that the Trogona has no sting induced many people who would, in those days of crude, ruthless methods have shrunk from an adventure with social honey-bees to wage war against the stores of the ‘‘wild bush bees.’’

In 1822 the first hive bees were brought to this part of the world (Sydney), by a Captain Wallace, or Willis, in the ship ‘Tsabella,”’ according to Haydon. From the bees thus introduced colonies were propagated and distributed inland. In the Government Gazette, of 21st June, 1822, there appeared this advertisement :—‘‘Hive of bees for sale by Mr. Parr. Bees imported by Captain Wallace (or Willis).’’ In a number of the old Sydney Gazette, dated Friday, lst November, 1822, there appears this paragraph :—‘‘We congratulate our readers upon the complete establishment of that most valuable insect, the bee, in this country. During the last three weeks three swarms of bees have been produced from two hives, the property of D. Wentworth, Esq., purchased by him from Captain Wallace, of the ‘Isabella,’ at his estate, Homebush, near Parramatta.’’

In the Sydney Morning Herald, of 10th August, 1863, it stated that at a meeting of the Acclimatisation Society of New South Wales, bees were first brought to this country by Captain Braidwood Wilson, from Hobart Town, in 1831. This was contradicted in a later issue of the same paper in these words :—‘‘Bees were brought from England to Sydney in the year 1824, in the ship ‘Phoenix,’ which sailed from Portsmouth in March of that year.’’ This, too, is evidently a mistake, or perhaps another importation, as is evident from the fact that bees were advertised for sale in 1822, which hag already been referred to. In 1840, a settler at Jervis Bay purchased two colonies of bees, for which he paid £4, and engaged two aboriginals to carry the hives on their heads a distance of 40 miles. These were the black or English bees, sometimes termed the German bee. For most of these dates and extracts I am indebted to Mr. S. M. Mowle, Usher of the Black Rod, of the Legislative Council, who married the only daughter of the late Captain Braidwood Wilson, R.N-

From the foregoing small beginnings the descendants of these bees soon spread themselves fairly well over New South Wales. Of course, these bees were kept in hives or boxes of any or every shape or style. The bar-frame hive was then unknown. Under the old system anyone could have bees who had the courage to rob them. The stray or escaped swarms of bees took to the bush. The aboriginals soon learned from their white brothers how to subdue bees by means of smoke, and with tomahawk and firestick, aided by strong vines, would ascend the loftiest and smoothest of trees to obtain the ‘‘white-fellow’s sugar bag.’’ The aboriginals have no word in their own language for the introduced bee. The flavour of the honey from the little native bee was no stranger to them, but they were not long in discovering that both in quality and quantity ‘‘white-fellow’s sugar-bag’’ was far superior.

In the early seventies, so plentiful had bees become in the

‘INTRODUCTION OF BEES TO AUSTRALIA. 3 bush that in the old George-street Markets, dishes and buckets full of it, mixed with dead and dying bees, dead larvae in all stages, broken comb, and rotten wood, were exposed for sale under the cognomen of bush honey. To look at it was anything but appetising. Better samples were bottled and sold under the name of ‘‘prime garden honey.”’

About 1872, our bees met with an enemy that bid fair to almost exterminate them—the bee moth put in an appearance, from whence we know not. Hitherto no skill was required in the management of bees that were kept at that time. New swarms were put into a piece of a hollow log, sawn off evenly at both ends, with pieces of stringy-bark nailed over the openings, and the bees had to obtain ingress or egress as best they could. Gin cases, tea chests, or boxes of other descriptions, were preferred, but in the bush at that time these were not always to be obtained. Manipulation of these hives was as crude as the grotesquely-made hives. There was no consideration given for the lives of the bees. These early beekeepers knew little or nothing of the importance of the queen bee; they did not understand ‘‘no queen, no bees,’’ therefore no honey. It was a general destruction. When the bees were robbed, wax, brood, comb, and queen were all sacrificed for the honey, and the waste of the latter was almost as great in quantity as that obtained. This slovenly way of bee-keeping, combined with the ravages of the bee moth, would have set a limit to the days of bee-keeping in this country had not means been devised to check it.

CHAPTER IL.

INTRODUCTION OF THE ITALIAN BEE,

Unver the foregoing adverse circumstances thinking men looked around for something that would be the salvation of the bees. It was long believed that the Italian bee (Apis ligustica) was an insect far superior in many ways to the English bee (Apis mellifica). Not only was it superior as a honey-gatherer, but it was reported to be far more alert, and more persevering in resisting the attacks of enemies, more especially the bee moth, which in England is known as the wax moth. So great was the onslaught with these moth pests that people owning as many as 200 colonies in a few years found themselves without a single bee. How to contend against this pest was an unsolved problem. The bar-frame style of hive was then little known, and the method of fighting the moth in the gin-case hives was not understood; and so it remains to this day. Not only were the bees kept in the crude methods of the day decimated by this pest, but those that had taken to bush life suffered, perhaps, to a greater extent than those more immediately under the control of man. On the Clarence River, to my knowledge, in the latter part of the sixties, it was not unusual for men to take a horse and dray and go in search of bees’ nests, returning with two or three hundredweights of honey. Neither was it an unusual thing to find two or three bees’ nests in the same tree. But in later years these, through the ravages of the bee moth, have nearly all disappeared. From the general slaughter among the bees caused by the pest named, some few bee-keepers, with more watchfulness than others, saved a few colonies out of the general wreck. To perpetuate and multiply these was the question of questions. The Italian bee was looked to for overcoming the trouble, and enthusiastic beekeepers were not long in importing the far-famed golden and leather coloured Italian bees. In the Australian Bee Manual by Isaac Hopkins of New Zealand, the introduction of the Italian bee in the Southern Hemisphere is thus referred to :-—‘‘It was stated by Dr. Gerstaecker that four stocks of Ligurian bees were shipped in England by Mr. J. W. Woodbury, in September, 1862, and that they arrived safely in

INTRODUCTION OF THE ITALIAN BEE. 5

Australia after a passage of 79 days.’’ It does not appear, however, that these stocks succeeded and propagated any more than a colony which Mr. Angus Mackay, Editor of the Zown and Country Journal in Sydney, subsequently took to Brisbane, at great expense, from America. Mr. S. McDonnell, of Sydney, imported two colonies from America in 1880, and succeeded in raising stocks from them; and, later, Mr. Abrahams (now of Beecroft). a German bee-master, brought some colonies with him from Italy in 1883, settled in Parramatta, and, having succeeded in rearing a pure race of his queens, started an apiary for the Italian bee-farming Company, of which he is manager and Mr. McDonnell Secretary.’’ The date of the Bee Manual from which this is taken is 1886.

In 1882 Mr. C. Fullwood, Brisbane, had sent to him direct from Charles Bianconini, of Bologna, twelve Italian Queens. Of these five arrived alive, and of a second’ shipment in the following year seven reached their new home safely. In these early years of the introduction of the Italian bee into Australia, the price of pure-bred tested queens, reared in the colony, was from £2 to £3 each; and I have heard that in some cases as high a figure as £5 had been asked. Of late years I have seen three advertised for 7s. 6d.

The inauguration of Bee-keepers’ Associations for the assistance of amateurs, and exchange of thought and bee-keeping ideas, followed soon after the introduction of the Italian bee. These Associations were based on similar lines to those established in England, which are acknowledged to have given incalculable benetit to the peasant classes in the rural Wistricts, and the results have been equally beneficial in this State. It was never the intentions. of these associations to do more than give instructions to aid people to add luxuries to their own table, in the same way as poultry-keeping, fruit-culture, kitchen-gardening, &c., is carried on, so as to expand the earnings of wage-earners, farmers’ wives and daughters, and such-like.

With the pure Italian bees which were at that time expensive, came the necessity for the improvements in hives to permit of their successful and profitable management. The Langstroth simplicity bar-frame hive was welcomed as the very thing for housing these costly insects, and although there are many types of bar-frame hives available, the Langstroth bar-framed hive still holds chief place in the esteem of up-to-date bee-keepers.

Some years ago, a disease, far more destructive to bees than the bee moth, and now bids fair to be far more serious, made its appearance amongst our bees—Foul Brood. On one occasion, at Bombala, I saw over 100 colonies of bees destroyed by this disease. The hives were filled with dead bees and festering foul-brood comb. thus spreading the disease far and wide, for the disease is contagious. Districts that were regarded as ideal as apicultural ones were almost swept clear of bees. If keepers of bees, be it but a single hive or an extensive apiary, earnestly set about acquiring a knowledge of the character of the disease and of the causes that are conducive to its spread, and co-operate with their bee-keeping neighbours and the Associations in suppressing it, the bee-keeping industry will be freed from a disaster that threatens to overwhelm it.

THE BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. a

Chapter III. The Bees’ Position In The Animal Kingdom

ALL natural objects belong to one of three great divisions—mineral, ~vegetable, or animal. In classifying any object of nature, the first thing is to find to which of these kingdoms it belongs. These kingdoms are cut up into groups, and are divided and subdivided ‘for the better understanding of the group or division any member -of either kingdom may occupy.

Nature is very fond of diversity. She has been very lavishing in the distribution of her infinite resources in all three kingdoms. Jn the animal world alone she has'spread out before us nearly half

-a million classes of creatures endowed with life which inhabit land or -sea. To better understand this vast army, of which the honey-bee is a member, each one is marshalled under eight or nine different heads. This splitting up is for the purpose of narrowing down or limiting any one of them to a known position in the kingdom to which they belong, so that in speaking, reading, or writing of them the mean- ‘ing will be the more intelligible and comprehensive. Thus, a bee is as much an animal as a horse, cow, or fish, but in their classifica- ‘tion there are many grades between them. A horse resembles a fish far more than it does a bee. The horse and fish have internal skeletons and backbones (vertebrata), but the honey-bee has neither. Again, the honey-bee resembles a spider, crab, or earthworm more than it does a horse or fish, but there'is a very wide difference between a bee and the first three named. A bee is like a spider or worm in that none of them have an internal skeleton or framework of bones. The framework of bees, spiders, worms, &c.," are of the same construction, 7.e., made up of external rings. Animals whose bodies are made up of external horny rings are termed Annulosa. The organs of locomotion in spiders, worms, .&c., have feet, Bees, also, although they fly, walk upon feet. But the feet of a bee differ very much from those of a worm. There are joints in the feet of spiders and bees, but there are none in those of worms. Animals, the framework of whose bodies are composed of horny rings and have jointed feet, belong to that division of the animal kingdom termed Arthropoda.

Bees have jointed feet, and are, therefore, separated from worms, &c., but she still keeps company with spiders. Arthropoda are divided into classes. The honey-bee belongs to the class Insecta. Here she leaves the company of spiders and crabs, and is joined with butterflies, ants, beetles, éc. The honey-bee is not much, like a beetle, but more so than it is like a spider. Compare the body of a spider with that of a bee, you cannot but notice that the spider’s body is made up of two parts only, head and body, and her eight legs are attached to the latter. The bulk of a bee’s body is composed of three parts—head, thorax, and abdomen. Bees have but six legs, and these are attached to the thorax. Again, spiders lay eggs, and so do bees, but the young hatched from spiders’ eggs differ greatly from those hatched from bees’ eggs. From the spiders’ eggs hatch out young spiders as perfect in form as their parents. The young hatched from bees’ or butterflies’ eggs are as dissimilar as an earthworm is from a butterfly, and in few respects: like the bee or butterfly that laid the egg. From the butterfly’s egg caterpillars are hatched. At first these young caterpillars are very small; they grow rapidly, and when full-grown, they enter another stage of development—a chrysalis or pupa. This third stage is so unlike the caterpillar it developed from, were we not. acquainted with the fact, it could not be conceived that it is in any way connected with the parent that laid the egg. In course of time, from this strange-looking chrysalis, a perfected bee or butterfly emerges. Spiders belong to the sub-kingdom Annulosa, and to the division Arthropoda, but not to the class Insecta, because they do not go through those stages in developing to the perfect form or imago, as bees, butterflies, &c., do. Spiders change from egg tc imago only. ‘Here the honey-bee must part from the company of butterflies, beetles, &c. These latter are insects as much as. bees are, but there is a great difference between them, chiefly in their wings. Butterflies belong to the order of insects termed. Lepidoptera, %.e., insects having wings covered with feathery scales, and beetles to the order Coleoptera, their true wings being protected under horny cases. Bees to the order Hymenoptera because: their membrane wings are thin, fibrous, and interwoven like network. This order (Hymenoptera) contains the largest number of families in the insect world. Some of them are very remarkable for: their social habits and wonderful instinctive traits of character. The: order Hymenoptera is narrowed down into families—Apide. In it are included ants, hornets, wasps, ichneumons, bees, &c. All these are very bee-like in their general form. We have not as yet

THE BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 9 reached the particular position in the animal kingdom allotted to true bees. The family Apide is divided into genera. In one of the divisions termed Apis honcy-bees are placed; accompanying them are mason-bees, carpenter-bees, &c. These latter are shorttongued members of the genus, and therefore are not honey-gatherers. Nevertheless, the habits of the whole of them are extremely interesting. Of long and short tongued bees there are about 2000 varieties. The genus Apis is split into species, and the honey-bee belongs to the species Mellifica, and here is the exact position assigned to our friend, the harbinger of civilized man— one of the very few insects that have been domesticated for his use, and the only one that he has brought under his subjugation as an auxiliary in supplying him with that highly essential article of diet, honey.

Nevertheless, every member of the species is not equally profitable from a commercial point. Some varieties of this species are profitable only as wax-producers. When we consider the increasing demand in the Home market for Australian bees-wax, the quantity of honey consumed by our hive bees in the production of comb, and our local requirements for the manufacture of that indispensable adjunct to profitable bee-keeping, artificial foundation comb, it at once raises the question:—Would it not be a prudent step to introduce into our State some highly profitable wax-producers !