68 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



and bright for an early start next season 

 was my thought. 



I discovered if my bees were blacks, that 

 immediatly after a fair honey flow, if a case 

 of sections containing starters were given 

 the bees, they would enter these sections 

 and draw or partly draw out the foundation 

 without putting any honey therein, and in 

 the words of Doolittle these combs were as 

 good as money in the bank. 



With me the honey flow opens about the 

 first of June. Sometimes it will come with 

 a thunder shower and go out with one, the 

 wind suddenly veering around to the north, 

 a cold wave comes up, and the " jig's up " 

 for that summer. I have known a honey 

 flow to last only seven days. What could we 

 do with a seven day's honey flow, with 

 Italian bees and starters only ? 



Put on one of these cases of drawn comb, 

 clean and bright, and if the bees are strong 

 and hybrids, even if the flow is of only sev- 

 en day's duration, they will fill and seal the 

 case of sections. 



I take this case of honey up town and my 

 grocer gives me $4.20 credit on my bills, 

 just as good as cash to me. But suppose I 

 have no such drawn combs to begin the 

 season with, and I want them, how cheaply 

 can I have them drawn ? Seventy-five cents 

 worth of sugar fed to a good strong colony 

 of black bees at a time when bees can fly 

 freely, but find little or no honey in the 

 fields, will draw out a Heddon case of combs 

 and they will be soft, white and tempting 

 to your choice Italian stock when the hon- 

 ey flow arives. 



Beason, Ills, Mar. 8, 1897 



Notes From Foreign Bee Journals. 



F. L. THOMPSON. 



MR. W. H. Parks, formerly of Clinton, 

 Conn, and now in Paris, has looked up 

 the matter of " individual portions " refer- 

 red to in these notes, ( page 304, 1890 ), and 

 contributes some additional items, as fol- 

 lows: For the little flasks, when used and 

 returned, are allowed r> centimes, or about 1 

 cent. They are said to be sold quite exten- 

 sively in Paris, and, in fact, Mr. Parks has 

 frequently observed honey-glasses in the 

 windows of shops, labeled " De la Maison 

 Salmon," "Salmon" being the name of 

 tbe firm that puts up honey in this shape. 



Parchment is used instead of corks, as it is 

 cheaper. M. Salmon observed that the law 

 is so severe in France that no one dares to 

 adulterate. 



Rheinische Bienenzeitung. —The Bee and 

 Silk-worm Union of the Rhine Province has 

 adopted a scheme of united action in selling 

 honey. A central depot is situated at Mayen, 

 and ten other ( apparently firms who un- 

 dertake the work for a commission ) at dif- 

 ferent points. An effort will be made to 

 give the branch unions the precedence, at 

 the depot in their region, in disposing of 

 their honey. In these cases glasses and 

 Jabels will be furnished at cost by the cen- 

 tral depot, for vouchers of the quantity of 

 honey furnished by the oSicers of the branch 

 unions, and the members will fill the glasses 

 themselves. All labels are signed by the 

 President of the central union. When hon- 

 ey is shipped from the central depot, it is in 

 boxes of 2,5 one-pound glasses, delivered f. 

 o. b. at the nearest station. Empty boxes 

 and glasses, are credited to the branch de- 

 pots, if returned. Each glass sells for 28)2'' 

 cents. A German pound is a little more 

 than an English pound. A commission of 

 about 2 2-.') cents to a pound is allowed the 

 branch depots. The honey receipts are to 

 be sent to the central depot within 30 days. 

 The greatest hindrance to successful work- 

 i'jg is the fact that many bee-keepers offer 

 their honey at wholesale to buyers for 7 and 

 1% cents a pound. This will have to be 

 stopped. At present, nearly ()00,000 pounds 

 have been announced for delivery at the 

 central depot. 



L'Apicultei'k. — The question of planting 

 the roadsides with fruit-trees at the public 

 expeuse is being agitated in France. The 

 German goverraent has already done so in 

 Alsace and Lorraine. 



J. Driveau last spring had 20 hives in com- 

 munication on the "federative" plan allud- 

 ed to last year in the Review, pages 121 and 

 153, He exchanged the queens in the five 

 hives at oue end with the queens in the five 

 hives at the other end, without taking any 

 precautions. The ten (jueens were accepted 

 without any objections on the part of the 

 bees. In September, during an absence of 

 four weeks, three of the colonies became 

 queenless. On his return he found that 

 they had joined their neighbors, and the 

 honey-combs they left were untouched by 

 robbers. The federative plan, it will be 

 remembered, consists in establishing a com- 



