1001 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



45 





}/XOM 0MN£IGHB0/t5 FIELDS; 2M^ 



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Again the weather is as mild 



As balmy April's breath ; 

 The sun shines down on pleasant fields 



Scarce touched by winter's death. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The chief feature of interest in the issue for 

 Jan. .") is Mr. D idant's review of the itjterna- 

 tional bee keepers' congress in Paris last Sep- 

 tember. Although the congress was interest- 

 ing, Mr. D thinks more beneficial results 

 ha\ e been achieved in national meetings in this 

 couniry. There were 15 different nations rep- 

 resented, 21 foreign associations, and 35 

 French. The various representatives under- 

 stood French except two or three ; but the 

 different topics were placed in the hands of 

 committees with foreign chairmen to control 

 the discuesions Mr. Dadant says that, al- 

 though these men who occupied the chair in 

 turn were very familiar with French, they still 

 showed in their speech that it was a tongue 

 foiei:5n to them. At the door Mr. Dadant was 

 required to register his name, and show his 

 credentials before entering. This was the 

 only method that could be used to compel 

 miembers to help sustain the institution by 

 paying a membership fee. Otherwise, they 

 said, a number of people, who could enjoy the 

 meetings, would come and listen, and even 

 discuss and vote, and would go home without 

 having subscribed a cent toward defraying ex- 

 penses. Mr. Dadant says he has heard it de- 

 plored that there are bee-keepers at each con- 

 vention in this country who take advantage of 

 the meetings without helping in a pecuniary 

 way. There were about 150 delegates present, 

 and Mr. Didant says he was impressed by the 

 great number of doctors, teachers, and clergy- 

 men whom he met. The clergy are dis- 

 tinguished there by their clothing. He says 

 he never met a pleasanter set of men than the 

 clergy. It was the opinion of the majority 

 that the destruction of drone comb, and re- 

 placing it by worker comb, was desirable, and 

 a motion to recommend it was passed. This 

 was opposed by one man who said he weighed 

 5 hives with many drones, and 5 hives with 

 few drones. The 5 with many drones in- 

 creased 116 kilograms, and the 5 with few 

 drones increased 123 kilograms. This shows 

 a difference of 16 '< lbs. in favor of few drones. 

 Mr. Dadant comments : 



The gentleman did not think that this difference is 

 sufficient to condemn the drones, and thinks they are 

 advantageous in kef ping the brood warm. He did not 

 stop to note thit, bef'ire these drones could keep the 

 other bf-ood warm, they hid to be kept warm them- 

 selves while in brood, and thrst. too, at a time when the 

 bees are not numerous and the weather is c loler than 

 during the honey crop ; and that if there had been 

 workers reared instead of drones they would be just 

 as likelv to be able to keep the brood warm if the 

 weather became cold enough to necessitate this. 



It was asserted by some that bees change 

 worker comb to drone comb when all the 



drone comb has been removed, but Mr. Da- 

 dant entirely disbelieves this. He attributes 

 the apparent change, not to the bees, but the 

 sagging of the cells in combs of foundation, 

 caused by heat. He says he has seen this in a 

 few instances. 



Foul brood was discussed. Mr. Dadant 

 says he thinks that in Europe as well as in 

 America many .so called cases of foul brood 

 are only chilled brood. One French bee- 

 keeper told him that he had had foul brood, 

 but it disappeared without his doing any thing 

 with it. One speaker asserted that foul brood 

 is not so bad a disease as reported, and one 

 man ridiculed all the writers who advise such 

 strong measures against it ; but the interrup- 

 tions and laughing of the majority showed 

 him that he had no hope of convincing them. 

 Several leading men, on the other hand, rec- 

 ommended fire and boiling water as the only 

 sure remedies for this dreadful scourge. 



In coming home, to pass away idle hours the 

 passengers got up an evening entertainment at 

 which each one was required to say or sing 

 something for the entertainment of the others, 

 under the payment of $1.00 into the sailors' 

 orphans' fund, and they had Mr. Dadant down 

 on the program for a talk on bees. The few 

 words he spoke led to more questions than he 

 could have answered in a week, and some of 

 them were decidedly foolish. This is men- 

 tioned as showing the general ignorance 

 among the masses on the subject of bees. 



A fine view of the president of the congress, 

 Mr. Gaston Bonnier, is given. I have long 

 felt interested in the work of this man, and it 

 may not be beyond the bounds of possiLility 

 to give a short sketch of him, together with 

 his portrait, in these columns. 



An interesting letter appears from Mr. J. T. 

 Hammersmark, written at Reno, Nevada. 

 That State figures but little in print so far as 

 bees are concerned It is the State of great ex- 

 tremes in some respects. It has an area of 

 110,700 square miles (more than twice that of 

 Illinois), with a population of only 42 000, or 

 the thirty sixth part of that of Chicago alone. 

 The chief crop for honey there is alfalfa, as we 

 all know. One is always sure of a crop, al- 

 though it may not be more than 40 or 50 lbs. 

 per colony. The writer says the average crop 

 for 20 years would not be less than 100 lbs. 

 per colony. He says some have asked him 

 whether alfalfa honey is of good flavor. He 

 replies that alfalfa honey of that region is pre- 

 ferred to that of California by buyers. In his 

 estimation it comes next to pure white-clover 

 honey. We have had a great deal of Nevada 

 honey here at the Home of the Honey-bees, 

 and have so far placed it at the head of every 

 thing else in the honey line. If it could not 

 be had for less, the writer would call it cheap 

 at 40 cts. a pound for extracted, and will will- 

 ingly pay that. We are not aware however, 

 of any difference in the same kind of honey, 

 whether raised in Colorado, Nevada, or Cali- 

 fornia. One of the drawbacks suffered by the 

 people of Nevada is thus described by Mr. 

 Hammersmark : 



