February, 1913. 



American ?ae Journal 



on "Scientific bee-breeding, improve- 

 ment of races and italianizing." Mr. 

 Beaulne gave a talk on the fertilization 

 of fruit blossoms by the agency of the 

 bees. 



The date of the next meeting is to be 

 decided by the Board of Directors. 



Bees Mentioned in Pepy's Diary. — 



Talking of the country above Quins- 

 borough (Konigsberg, Eastern Prus- 

 sia, on the Baltic Sea) Mr. Har- 

 rington told us how they do to get so 

 much honey as they send abroad. They 

 make hollow a great fir-tree, leaving 

 only a small slit down straight in one 

 place; and this they close up again, 

 only leave a little hole, and there the 

 bees go in and fill the bodies of those 

 trees as full of wax and honey as they 

 can hold; and the inhabitants at times 

 go and open the slit and take what they 

 please without killing the bees, and so 

 let them live there still and make more. 

 — (/V/v's Diaiv. Di-c. 11, lMi2, page Tj, 

 Vol. //.) 



It is interesting to notice that the 

 above, written in England 250 years 

 ago, concerns a country adjoining 

 Russia, and that at the same latitude, 

 56 degrees north, and a few hundred 

 miles east, are the best honey-produc- 

 ing districts of Russia, as will appear 

 from the following consular report 

 lately (November, 1912) published : 



FOREIGN HONEY-PRODUCTION AND TRADE 

 IN RUSSIA. 



At the present time there is scarcely 

 a province in Russia in which there 

 do not exist, in one form or another, 

 apicultural societies which provide spe- 

 cial courses of study and lectures. In 

 many districts there are specialists 

 who devote their time to the spread- 

 ing of information concerning rational 

 methods. Much of this activity is due 

 to the zemstvos — especially to those in 

 the provinces of Viatka, Kostroma, 

 Ufa, Kazan, Tula, and to the county 

 zemstvos of Perm and Kolomna (prov- 

 ince of Moscow). Unquestionally the 

 most important factor in the growth 

 of apiculture is recognition of the fact 

 that honey is becoming more and more 

 an important article in the world's mar- 

 ket. At the beginning of 1912 the 

 Council of Ministers approved an ap- 

 propriation of $50,000 in the shape of 

 loans to those engaged in apiculture 

 whose honey-yielding crops were poor 

 last year. 



The provinces in which apiculture is 

 most flourishing in Russia are Viatka 

 and Perm ; then follow Kazan, Kos- 

 troma, and Kief. In the first two there 

 can be noted a real advance in apicul- 

 ture among land-owners and peasants 

 alike, which is due principally to the 

 acti\ity of apicultural societies. The 

 Kungarskoye Society has a well-ar- 

 ranged museum, a model experimental 

 apiary, a mechanical workshop for the 

 construction of hives, and various other 

 appliances. There are two apiarian in- 

 structors in the society. 



The initiative and example of the 

 Kungarskoye Society has been followed 

 by nearly all the zemstvos of the prov- 

 inces of Viatka and Perm, which also 



have instructors in apiculture. Ameri- 

 can frame hives of the Langstroth- 

 Dadant type are rapidly taking the 

 place of the old log and straw hives 

 The demand for honey has also im- 

 proved. 



Apiculture in the province of Kazan 

 has an industrial character. The same 

 can be said about the province of Kos- 

 troma, in some of whose counties 

 nearly all the apiaries are composed 

 wholly of frame hives ; the number of 

 colonies in the province reaches 100,- 

 000, of which 30 percen*- are in frame 

 hives. Adjoining the zemstvo apiary, 

 in the city of Kostroma, is a school of 

 apiculture having more than 100 pupils, 

 principally peasants. In the province 

 of Kief, apiculture has greatly advanced. 

 Statistics show 238,000 colonies in the 

 province, but probably there are more. 

 The hives are nearly all of the old type. 



The province of Voronezh has in its 

 12 counties more than 12,000 apiaries, 

 most of which are owned by peasants, 

 and are very well kept, as was shown 

 at the Apicultural Fair held at Voro- 

 nezh in September, 1912. Of the 4000 

 persons occupying themselves with 

 apiculture in Moscow province, 90 per- 

 cent are peasants. 



In other provinces of Russia, includ- 

 ing also the Polish provinces, apicul- 

 ture has not advanced to such a pro- 

 nounced e.xtent, although it can be 

 considered as fairly average, and the 

 zemstvos are working hard to improve 

 its condition. — Consul Gen. John H. 

 Snodgrass, Moscow. 



of a closed sac. This character sug- 

 gests thh name sacbrood." 



The name is certainly appropriate. 

 We wish the names of the other two 

 diseases were as appropriate. In many 

 cases these names lead people astray, 

 and one has to be informed of the his- 

 tory of the discoveries to understand 

 the expressions. 



This "sacbrood" is said by Mr. 

 White to be infectious. We are sorry 

 to hear it. But if it is the same trouble 

 which has previously been called 

 "pickled brood," it appears to be of a 

 very mild nature. 



The circular concerning " sacbrood " 

 is a six-page Bulletin, No. 169, of the 

 Bureau of Entomology, and may be 

 had by sending 5 cents to the Govern- 

 ment Printing Office, Washington. Mr. 

 White deserves the thanks of the bee- 

 keepers for his untiring efforts. 



Bee Statistics lor Austria Accord- 

 ing to figures compiled by the Bureau 

 of Statistics of the International Insti- 

 tute of Agriculture at Rome, there 

 were in 1910, 1,2,^9,189 colonies of bees 

 in Austria as compared with 996,139 

 colonies in 1900. This shows a gain of 

 over 233,000 colonies, or about 24 per- 

 cent — a gain of nearly 5 colonies per 

 thousand inhabitants. 



Austria had, in 1910, a population of 

 a little over 28,000,000. There is, there- 

 fore, one colony of bees for every 24 

 inhabitants. 



In the same country poultry, in 1910, 

 reached a total of over 35,000,000. Let 

 us for a moment compare the two 

 figures. Figuring chickens at 50 cents 

 each, and colonies of bees at $5.00, both 

 of which figures seem conservative, for 

 this country at least, we have the value 

 of poultry as $18,000,000, while that of 

 bees is $6,000,000, making the value of 

 bees one-third that of poultry in 



Austria. 



^ 



Sacbrood The above new name has 



been invented by Dr. G. F. White, of 

 the Department of Agriculture, to de- 

 scribe the brood disease, which is 

 neither American nor European foul 

 brood, and in which the dead larvje can 

 be removed from the cells without rup- 

 turing the skin or body wall. "When 

 thus removed they have the appearance 



Program of the National. — The Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' convention will be 

 held at the Grand Hotel in Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 

 12 and 13, 1913. 



The meeting will be called to order 

 at 10 a.m., Feb. 12, when a Committee 

 on Credentials will be appointed. The 

 meeting will then adjourn for the filing 

 of delegates credentials. 



AFTERNOON SESSION— I I'..M. 



1. Appointment of a Committee on Resolu- 

 tions, a Committee on Constitution, an Aud- 

 iting Committee, and a Committee on Good 

 of the Order. 



2. President's address. 



3. Vice-President's report. 



4. Secretary's report. 



5. Treasurer's report. 



6. Directors' reports. 



7. Legislative Committee's report. 



8. I^roposed amendments. 



EVENING SESSION— 7 P.M 



1. .Address "Needs of the Western Bee- 

 Keepers"— Wesley Foster, of Boulder, Colo. 



2. Discussion. 



1,. Address. "Why the production of comb 

 honey should be increased"— Ernest Root, 

 of Medina, C)hio. 



4. Discussion. 



MORNinG SESSION— THURSDAY, 8 A.M. 



1. Report of the Auditing Committee. 



2. Amendments to the Constitution. 

 ^. Incorporation of the National. 



4. Election of Officers and Directors. 



5. Report of Committees on Uniform Grad- 

 ing Rules — Buyers and Producers. 



b. Discussion of Uniform Shipping-Cases. 

 7. Other business. 



AFTERNOON SESSION— I P.M. 



1. Address. ".Some recant achievements 

 with suggestions for iQi.i"—Dr. B. N. Gates, 

 of Amherst. Mass. 



2. Discussion. 



3. Short talks by the delegates; each dele- 

 gate will be called on for an address on any 

 topic he sees tit to select. 



4. Question-box. 



After much correspondence the 

 Grand Hotel, located at the corner of 

 Fourth and Central avenues, has been 

 selected as our headquarters. The hotel 

 will hold about 500 people. The rates 

 for rooms (European plan) are from 

 $1.00 each person up, without bath, and 

 $2.00 up with bath. The convention 

 will be held on the second tloor of the 

 hotel. All sessions will be open to 

 the public, but the voting will be done 

 by the delegates. 



