The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-22

Their Combs ~ Big rs Barn Doors-To
BE Introduced Into America.

Their Combs ~ Big rs Barn Doors-To
BE Introduced Into America.
WAsHIsGros CRY. Nov. l6.-[Special Cor
respondence. THE department of agri-
culture is about to send an expedition to
India for the purpose of procuring certain
giant bees which are Wild in that country.
They are the biggest species known in the
world. and they build combs in the forests
~ large as ordinary house doors These
huge combs, hung from the limbs of lofty
trees or from projecting lodges of rocks at
a high altitude, give enormous quantities
of wax. Bee hunting is profession in
India.
The bee hunters wear no clothing save
breech-clouts. They have superstitious
fear of the insects. Though dreading to
encounter them on fair terms, they are
very skillful in attacking their nests by
stratagem. Their usual method is to
climb the tree, from high limb of which
the comb depends, swinging below the
hive long stick with bunch of ignited
leaves on the end of il until the bees are
driven out, many of them falling with
singed wings 70 the ground, but the major
ity ascending into the air above the comb
and lowering in cloud. This opportunity
is taken by the seeker after spoil to cut
away the great comb, which he quickly
lowers by means of rope to the ground
below. One gets a notion of the vast
quantities of honey and wax collected in
this manner from the stores of the latter
material to be seen in the warehouses and
shops of the cities, tons upon tons Of it
together. 1t is an article of extensive ex-
port from India.
The proposition is to fetch these bees to
this country and domesticate them here if
possible. If they could spread their
swarms in the semi-tropical forests of the
United States they might be made to fur
nish considerable crops of the finest and
most valuable wax. Curiously enough,
the drones of this species are no larger
than ordinary bees. and this affords reason
for hoping that they will mate with the fe-
males of stocks already acclimated here.
These wonderful insects from India have
longer tongues than are possessed by other
bees, and the belief is entertained that
they could secure from many kinds of
flowers honey which now goes to waste.
Dreadful stories are told in the country
where they belong of their extraordinary
ferocity and of attacks which they have
made upon whole villages of people, with
fatal results; but the fact has been demon
strated that capable bee-keegers can handle
them easily and safely.
Considerable numbers of humble bees
have recently been imported from Europe
into Australia and New Zealand. Hitherto
growers of red clover in those countries
have been obliged to obtain seed for plant
ing each year from England. because this
crop produced no seed for lack of humble
bees to fertilize the blossoms. Bundle
bees find in red clover their favorite diet,
and without their aid in distributing
pollen this plant would soon perish off the
face of the earth. Finding it very ex-
pensive to import their red clover
seed annually, the farmers of
the countries mentioned decided to
procure humble bees for themselves. Ac-
cordingly lot were taken while in the
alternating state during cold weather,
packed In moss and carried over the ocean
in the refrigerator compartment of ship.
They were set loose on arrival, and already
they have multiplied so numerously in
that part of the world that it is feared
they will become nuisance by consuming
ali the flower juices which the honey bees
require for their own purposes. 1t seems
to be the way with every sort of animal
that is introduced to Australia; invariably
the beast, bird or insect proceeds at once
to flourish to such an extent rs to upset
the normal balance of creation.
Bundle tees are generally supposed to
be of no particular use in the world. 1t is
not their fault. They are active and in
dustrious honey-gatherers, but there are
never enough of them in one colony to
make a store that is worth taking. When
winter comes the queen humble bee seeks
hole in the ground for hiding safely dur
ing the cold months. She finds such a
spot beneath moss, or perhaps in heap
of leaves. There she hibernates comfort
ably, remaining fast asleep until spring
arrives. The warm sun of approaching
summer Swakens her, and she crawls
out. Immediately she looks about
her for nest suitable to breed in. An old
nest vacated by fieldmice serves her pur-
pose admirably. Having settled upon
quarters, she begins collecting pollen from
the flowers, storing 1t away in two pockets
which she carries on her hind legs. Into
the nest chosen she puts the pollen, and
goes for more, fetching load after load
until she has formed ball of pollen per-
haps as much as an inch IN diameter. In
the ball of pollen she lays her eggs, and
after few days they are Matched, bring
ing forth little worm-like Larvae.
The larve Matched in the mass of pollen
feed upon the nutritious material, con-
Stunning the portions nearest at hand, I'M
til each one has cleared little room.
Then il proceeds TO spin cocoon around
itself. and after little while it comes out
of this chrysalis full-Aedged worker bee
Almost Immediately these new-fedged
bees begin gathering pollen. which
they continually add to the orig
inal lump, making it bigger
and bigger, while the queen goes
on laying eggs in it as long as warm
weather lasts. Perhaps before winter
arrives the mass will have grown to the
size of ones two fists. Ii is literally
honey-combed with cells from which the
young bees have made their escape, and
these empty chambers are used for the
storing of honey. Most of the honey
gathered by humble bees is obtained from
red clover. RENE BAcHE.