lo Aug., 1909.] 



Spring Losses of Bees. 



are classed as the most unsuitable in Victoria, while in Northern America, 

 honey dew, and in Germany, heather honey, occupy the same position. 



As to the nitrogenous matter in honey being of either animal or vege- 

 table origin, there is still some doubt, although the researches of Professor 

 Josef Langer Graz, as published in Leipziger Bienen ^Zeitung (January, 

 F'ebruary, and March, 1909), prove that the albumen in honey is a 

 secretion of the bee and the means of inverting the sugar of nectar, and 

 in this way, together with the elimination of surplus water by the bee, 

 creating the honey as found in the combs of the hive. Assuming that 

 this secretion or ferment is of animal origin, it follows that it is likely to 

 be affected by variations in the health and vigour of the bees producing 

 it. This would, in turn, alter the character of the honey stored, as well 

 as that of the larval food, and thus influence the health of the adult bee 

 during inactivity, in the first instance, and the vigour of the future genera- 

 tion in the second. 



ONE SIDE OF A GERMAN BEE-YARD SHOWING TIERS OF SKEPS. 



At present, Australian bee-keepers have no suitable substitute for pollen 

 to prevent losses from dwindling, and no practical means of forestalling, 

 dysentery. A thorough investigation, scientific as well as practical, would 

 probably discover a remedy in one or both and might possibly establish 

 an inter-relation between disappearing and dysentery. 



In the heather country in the North of Germany, bees are still kept 

 in skeps, which have been reverted to, even by those who changed to 

 frame hives. It is the practice there to sulphur swarms for the new comb 

 honey they contain, which is heather honey, and retain, for stock, the 

 skeps from which the swarms have come and which contain clover and 

 Linden honey. With bar-frame hives, the latter went into the supers 

 from which it was extracted, while the brood chamber was filled by the 

 bees with heather honey for winter stores and bad wintering or total loss 

 followed. Thus the bar-frame hive got the blame which was due to the 

 methods adopted; the result is that skeps are universal. 



The illustration shows one side of a square bee-yard of 120 skeps 

 formed by four tiled sheds with two tiers of skeps under each, the bees 

 towards the inside. This apiary belongs to Mr. F. Heddex and is situated 

 right in the village of Raven near Winsen, Germany. 



