340 



TBE BEE-KEEPERS REVlEyy . 



that may be easily regalated to moisten the 

 whole length of the trough. By having a 

 cask of sufficient size, ttie daily filling of 

 vessels would be obviated. To make it still 

 more automatic, a vessel covered with wire 

 cloth under the other end of the trough 

 would prevent waste whenever the bee-keep- 

 er desired to be absent. The same arrange- 

 ment as a permanent fixture under a shed 

 during the spring, with just enough flow to . 

 keep a handful of bees busy, would be a 

 good prevention of foul brood, by using 

 thin syrup medicated with carbolic acid or 

 lysol. 



Pastor Fleishmann does not see how the 

 question of overstocking can be solved by 

 statistics. (See Review, page 238. ) It is 

 self-evident that in most cases statistics are 

 worthless for the purpose. But the fact 

 that a limitation by law of the number of 

 colonies was thought of indicates that in 

 that case the authorities thought they had 

 something to go on. Such a presumption 

 might be furnished by a uniform propor- 

 tion of the forage area to total area, togeth- 

 er with a uniformity of the forage area it- 

 self. A known ar ja of alfalfa, for example, 

 which was never cut before a certain time, 

 with no vield from wild flowers, would 

 leave- but one element of uncertainty, viz., 

 the annual variation of nectar-flow ; and 

 this would be eliminated by taking the re- 

 sults of a term of years. My own locality 

 would be a good one for comparison, if the 

 alfalfa were cut regularly. In a circuit of 

 23-2 miles (12,5(jr. acres) there are nearly 

 1000 colonies, perhaps 15000 acres of alfalfa, 

 and no outside source of supply that cuts 

 any figure. My observations during the ten 

 years I have been here tally with the words 

 of Mr. James M. Marvin, as reported by Mr. 

 Heddon in the Review for 1891, page 326 : 

 " When the season is poor for 200 colonies, it 

 is poor for four, and when good for 200, it is 

 good for GOO, all in the same yard. " No one 

 expects statistics to " solve " the question of 

 overstocking ; but they may throw some 

 light on it. If they do no more than prove 

 the certainty of the uncertainty of this 

 question, that is something, for some, in 

 their eagerness to prevent the spread of bee- 

 keeping, think they can judge of overstock- 

 ing by the crop of a single year. 



The decision referred to was not confirm- 

 ed by the goverment, it seems, and migra- 

 tory beekeeping is still unimpeded on the 

 Rhine. 



L' Apioulteur.— Maurice Bellot has very 

 often succeeded in preventing second 

 swarms, when artificial swarming has been 

 practiced, by giving the old colony a queen- 

 cell which will hatch in two days ; when 

 natural swarming is allowed, by giving the 

 old colony a virgin queen just emerged or 

 about to emerge, which is caged for twenty- 

 four hours. 



Several members, at the congress of Api- 

 culture in July, cited facts showing that 

 calcareous soils are superior for the pro- 

 duction of honey, both in quality and quan- 

 tity. 



The following resolution was unanimous- 

 ly adopted by this Congress : Art. 1. The 

 Congress expresses the wish that in what 

 concerns the installation of hives and the 

 distances to be observed in their sites, bee- 

 keepers shall have the advantage of liberty 

 and common law, it being understood that 

 the said bee-keepers assume the whole re- 

 sponsibility in case of accidents. 



Art. 2. In default of common law, the 

 Congress requests that the prefects, before 

 fixing in their decisions the distances to be 

 observed in the installation of hives, get 

 the opinion of the societies of apiculture of 

 their respective departments, and of all 

 other interested societies. 



Art. 3. In case the apiaries are surround- 

 ed by buildings, walls or full hedges of a 

 metre and a half in height, no distance 

 shall be expected. 



Art. 4. In the Rural Code project before 

 the Chambers, the Mayor shall not be grant- 

 ed the power of causing hives to be closed 

 on pretext of preserving the safety of fruits. 

 BiENEN- Vatee.— At the Leipzig convention 

 an extractor was exhibited in which each 

 comb-basket turned on its axis at the same 

 time the whole reel did, so that both sides 

 were extracted at once. The reporter doubts 

 whether it is of practical value. An ingen- 

 iously constructed uncapping machine was 

 exhibited, which worked satisfactorily, 

 though somewhat slowly. 



There are exceptions to the rule that a 

 first swarm always builds worker comb at 

 first, says Alois Alfonsus. During a heavy 

 flow two first swarms built almost entirely 

 drone combs. These were cut out. During 

 the more moderate flow which followed the 

 bees replaced them with worker combs. He 

 alludes to other cases which were reported 

 years ago. 



