THE HUMBLE BEE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 2530, 13 September 1893, Page 2

THE HUMBLE BEE.

(By X.) The highly profitable price received by an Ashburton farmer for clover seed, and recorded in this column recently, should cause settlers to consider the advisableness of establishing tbe humble bee in this district. Clover crops do" very well in Taranaki, and with tbe introduction of the fertilising bee an important industry ooold be created. For years to come our baok district will require a large amount of clover seed, and if a sample equal to the imported article was produoed here it would be of great value to tbe district. I understand that Mr. Fan thaw procured some humble bees a few years ago, but am not aware as to whether they Lave , multiplied or whether they have become extinct. In tbe Canterbury aud Otago i distriots bumble bees are seen everywhere where agriculture is carried on. On Banks' Peninsula the bees are more numerous than elsewhere where I have been, and tbere many settlers regard them as plunderers and a nuisance, as they rob tbe honey bee. But this is a seoondary consideration if we recognise that by their presence a valuable trade could be established. I have heard it argued that clovers are just as reliable growers if not inooulated by the humble bee, but tbis cannot be accepted as correct; though tbe smaller varieties are made fertile by tbe common bee, yet tbe humble bee is necessary for red clover. Humble bees' neßts are easily obtainad, and nearly every small boy on a farm knows where he can lay his hands on plenty of bees. Tbe (Concluded on page 4./