180 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



under the combs a day before, will accom- 

 plish the same result. 



Bees in the shallow and thin hives of Car- 

 niola, says Julius Sfceigel, winter excellently 

 by arranging the hives in piles, eight and 

 ten feet high. It is not advantageous to 

 buy or handle the hives singly. In the Alps 

 they are only handled in pairs. " By the 

 long practice of centuries such an extraor- 

 dinary sense of locality has been developed 

 in the Carniolan bee that for a queen to get 

 lost in flight is one of the greatest rarities." 



Bee books, bee journals, associations and 

 displays do not afford sufficient means and 

 opportunities for an adequate knowledge of 

 bee-keeping, says Herr Roth in a careful 

 article, the only reliable method being 

 practical work in the apiary under an ex- 

 perienced man (thereby admitting that the 

 non-specialist is " not in it "). His remedy 

 is the establishment of bee-keeping schools 

 or courses. 



The Central Union has decided to provide 

 the Austrian department of the Trade Mu- 

 seum at Philadelphia with a collection of 

 characteristic varieties of Austrian honey 

 and wax. " 



A case of poisoning bees by the exposure 

 of poisonous sweets was recently tried. The 

 defendant was found guilty and sentenced 

 to pay the value of the colony, nearly $5, 

 and the costs of the suit, in accordance with 

 a decree of the Empress Maria Theresa, 

 issued April 8th, 1775, expressly prohibiting 

 the destruction of bees, since there are other 

 means of protecting one's bees against rob- 

 ber bees. One of his colonies had been 

 robbed by a neighbor's bees, and he took 

 this method of getting even. The editor 

 adds: "The bee is a domestic animal, not 

 a wild one." (If bees are to be exempted 

 from taxation on the ground that they are 

 wild animals, how is one to defend his 

 property?) 



Gbavenhokst's Illustriekte Bienenzei- 

 TUNG. — The new German Civil Code, which 

 will take effect January 1, 1900, contains the 

 following sections: 



§960. Wild animals are ownerless as long 

 as they find themselves at liberty. Wild 

 animals in zoological gardens and fish in 

 fish-ponds are not ownerless. 



If a wild animal which has been caught 

 regains its freedom, it becomes ownerless, 

 provided the proprietor does not forthwith 

 pursue it, or when he gives up the pursuit. 



A tamed animal becomes ownerless when 



it gives up the habitude of returning to the 

 place appointed for it. 



J UGl. If a swarm of bees leaves, it be- 

 comes ownerless, provided the proprietor 

 does not forthwith pursue it, or when he 

 gives up the pursuit. 



^ 962. If the proprietor of the swarm pur- 

 sues it, he can enter upon the property of 

 others. If the swarm has occupiea an 

 empty strange hive, the proprietor of the 

 swarm can open the hive for the purpose of 

 retaking it, and withdraw or detach the 

 combs. He must repay damages inflicted. 



^ 963. If swarms belonging to different 

 proprietors unite, the proprietors who have 

 pursued their swarms become co-partners 

 of the swarm taken, which shall be divided 

 in as many different portions as the swarms 

 pursued. 



?; 964. If a swarm has entered a strange 

 hive which is already populated, the owner- 

 ship and the other rights in the bees occupy- 

 ing the hive, are extended over the swarm 

 which has entered. The ownership and the 

 other rights in the swarm which has entered 

 become void. 



(The last three sections, being supplied 

 for completion from L'Apicoltore, hence 

 subject to two translations, may not be quite 

 accurate.) 



Carl Krueger remarks on the above that 

 if bees were wild animals they would be re- 

 garded as ownerless when foraging, by 

 ^ 960-1, and could be killed by poisoning, 

 without redress. (As an offset to this it is 

 sufficient to refer to the Austrian case 

 above.) They would come under j 960-;?, if 

 domestic animals, on account of the swarm- 

 ing habit: and do not come under <; 9G0-2, 

 for otherwise ^ 961 would be superfluous. 

 If they come under ^ 960-2, no one could 

 prove he had hitherto kept his bees m cap- 

 tivity. The special provision of j 961 seems 

 to indicate that they are not wild animals, 

 for wild animals are already provided for 

 in ■; 960-2. It is said that one of the com- 

 pilers of the L'ode stated that he and his col- 

 leagues considered bees " wild, but capable 

 of being tamed," which can only mean that 

 some are tamed, for otherwise how would 

 they know they were "capable of being 

 tamed." (In my opinion that view indi- 

 cates their bewilderment at finding the 

 honey bee possessed of both wild and tame 

 characteristics, when the tradition of the 

 law recognizt's only two classes of animals.) 



In Hungary, an excellent country for bees, 

 bee-keepers with 400 to .")00 colonies are no 

 rarity. One kind of hive widely used adds 

 the supers below instead of above. In an- 

 other, in wliich the frames are evidently 

 parallel to the eutrance, the queen is re- 



