AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



trial. These men began the importa- 

 tion of Italian bees into Germany, 

 which gave them the "proof of the 

 pudding" so to say, for with the rear- 

 ing of bees of a different color they 

 were enabled to make sure of many 

 facts. 



Parthenogenesis may not seem of 

 much importance to a beginner, but it 

 was this discovery which enabled bee- 

 keepers to ascertain that the sons of a 

 queen are true descendants of her race 

 and that her mating does not influence 

 their descent. It also explained why 

 queens who have had no proper occa- 

 sion to mate become drone-layers. It 

 led to the more intensive cultivation of 

 bees. 



The time was now ripe for the inven- 

 tion of a practical hive. Though Dzier- 

 zon could get along with his bar- 

 hive, there were already better hives in 

 existence. Ruber's leaf-hive, opening 

 like the pages of a book, and the frames 

 of which formed the body of the hive 



Dzierzon's home for «5 years in Upper 

 Silesia (From Gravenhorst) 



at the top, bottom and ends, was the 

 more practical of the two. But it left 

 much to be desired. Propokovitch, a 

 Russian, and Debeauvoys, a French- 

 man, each invented a movable-frame 

 hive, between 1841 and 1845, but neither 

 of these hives was as practical as the 

 bar hive, because the frames originally 

 were tight-fitting in the body or box 

 which contained them, and the bees 

 were sure to glue them fast at every 

 point of contact which they could 

 reach. They worked well only until 

 the bees had been in them a few 

 months. The Propokovitch had reversi- 

 ble frames, i. e., they could be turned 

 bottom side up, and this was deemed 

 by him a great advantage. Reversible 

 frames were re-invented some 30 years 

 ago in this country and had a slight 

 rush of popularity. 



The Debeauvoys method and hive 

 which were slowly improved seemed 

 so enticing that his book had six edi- 

 tions, from 1846 to 1863, and a report 

 was made concerning his discovery to 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 Paris, in 1847. This was the first hive 

 adopted by Chas. Dadant, and the 

 writer remembers playing with dis- 

 carded hives and frames of this system 

 while a child, intheir garden, in France. 



Dzierzon himself wrote articles on 

 beekeeping in different publications as 

 early as 1844, but it was not until 1848 

 that he was emboldened to publish his 

 first work on bees, "Theory and Prac- 

 tice of the New Bee Friend." A later 

 edition, under the title of "Dzierzon's 



Rational Beekeeping," was translated 

 by Charles Nash Abbott, of London, 

 and is still a valuable book. 



Beekeeping at that time was not im- 

 mune from the troubles which hinder 

 it at the present. The beemoth was 

 dreaded more than now for apiar- 

 ists did not know that a strong col- 

 ony with a good queen is sufficient to 

 prevent its depredations. Foulbrood, 

 known for centuries, made terrible 

 ravages, and to make it evident we 

 need only to quote what Samuel Wag- 

 ner wrote about Dzierzon's experience 

 with that disease : 



"In the year 1848, a fatal pestilence, 

 known by the name of foulbrood, pre- 

 vailed among his bees, and destroyed 

 nearly all his colonies before it could 

 be subdued ; only about 10 having es- 

 caped the malady which attacked alike 

 the old swarms and his artificial 

 swarms. He estimates his entire loss 

 that year at over 500 colonies. Never- 

 theless, he succeeded so well in multi- 

 plying, by artificial swarms, the few 

 that had remained healthy, that in the 

 fall of 1851, his stock consisted of 

 nearly 400 colonies. He must, there- 

 fore, have multiplied them more than 

 three-fold each year." 



In our next article we will mention 

 the invention of the practical hanging- 

 frame hive and the progress begun 

 about 1850. 



Candy Feeding for Bees 



BY W. A. SHEPPARD. 



A QUESTION that crops up here 

 regularly every season is this: 

 How late in the year can syrup 

 be fed to the bees ? In this section of 

 British Columbia, when syrup feeding 

 is necessary in the autumn, it is always 

 advisable to get it finished by the end 

 of September, so that the bees can 

 store it in the combs and seal it over 

 before the nights get too cold. Some- 

 times the weather during October is 

 f ivorable for syrup feeding, but this is 

 not to be depended upon, and it is 

 therefore not safe to leave it so late. 

 If the food is not properly sealed over 

 when the bees go into winter quarters, 

 diarrhea often supervenes, and if the 

 colony does not perish outright in the 

 winter it will be greatly depleted of 

 bees before spring arrives, and the vital- 

 ity of the survivors will have become 

 lowered. Spring dwindling may then 

 follow, and if the colony does not act- 

 ually succumb it is usually unable to 

 build up in time for the honey flow and 

 a season is lost. 



If syrup feeding is put off till too late, 

 for any reason, properly made candy is 

 the very best, in fact, the only well 

 made substitute. Bees will winter on 

 candy alone, but much care is neces- 

 sary to make it of the right consistency. 

 If it is too hard the bees cannot take it, 

 and if it is too soft it will run down 

 between the combs to the bottom- 

 board out of reach of the bees. In 

 either case starvation may result. One 

 of the most reliable recipes for making 

 candy is known as Brother Colomban's 

 Formula, and is as follows: 



" Into an enamelled pan, or preserv- 

 ing pan, put ten pounds of cane sugar 

 (white crystals) and two quarts of hot 

 water. Place over a clear, bright fire, 

 and stir until the sugar is dissolved. 

 When it begins to boil, draw the pan 



aside for a moment, and while it con- 

 tinues to boil slowly, remove the scum 

 from the surface. This done, return 

 the pan to the fire and let it boil as fast 

 as possible, without stirring, for about 

 20 minutes. Test with a sugar boiling 

 thermometer and boil until the tem- 

 perature reaches 235 degrees, when the 

 sugar will be sufficiently boiled; then 

 stir in one teaspoonful of cream of 

 tartar, boil for one or two minutes and 

 remove from fire to cool. When the 

 sugar has so cooled down that the 

 finger may be kept in it for half a min- 

 ute without scalding, then begin to stir, 

 and continue to do so until the candy 

 becomes white and stiff. The pan is 

 now stood in another vessel, over the 

 fire, containing hot water. 



" In a short time the candy becomes 

 more or less liquid, like cream, and an 

 occasional stir must be given to dis- 

 solve all lumps. When properly dis- 

 solved and brought to almost boiling 

 point (say 204 degrees Fahr.) pour it 



The Dzierzon Hives in Tiers 



into molds or boxes and allow it to 

 cool. To avoid over boiling, remove 

 the pan from the fire while testing 

 whether cooked enough. Also, to pre- 

 vent mishap in another direction / e., 

 boiling over, the pan used for making 

 the candy should not be more than half 

 full." 



The following is a shorter candy 

 recipe that answers very well, if the 

 directions are strictly carried out: 



"To ten pounds of white crystal 

 sugar add one and a half pints of hot 

 water, a quarter of an ounce of salt, 

 and a teaspoonful of cream of tartar. 

 Put whole in a stew-pan over a brisk 

 fire and keep stirred until the sugar is 

 dissolved. When it comes to a boil, 

 draw the pan back so that it simmers 

 gently for ten minutes, and as the scum 

 rises skim it off. Then place the stew- 

 pan in a larger vessel containing cold 

 water and keep stirring until it is of 

 the consistency of thick cream and 

 pour into boxes or molds." 



When candy is properly made it 

 should be just soft enough to be easily 

 scraped with the finger-nail after get- 

 ting cold. When it is ready to pour 

 out of the boiler, if boxes have not 



