750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



GLEANINGS FROM OUR 

 FOREIGN EXCHANGES 



By W. K. Morrison 



With reference to Italian bees, I note some of 

 tlie Swiss breeders around the Lake Maggiore 

 mountain region claim to have the best strain of 

 these bees, or what we term in this country the 

 leather-colored Italian. It seems to me this is 

 so, and some of the breeders on the lowlands ad- 

 vertise their bees as descended from that stock. 

 * 



The Belgian journal, Le Progress Apicole, in a 

 recent number prints an article by the editor, 

 wherein he states that, on August 26th of last 

 year, he saw a great many black bees working 

 on violet (red) clover. He saw more of them thus 

 engaged than he did of Italians and their crosses, 

 though the latter are quite plentiful around there. 

 Just score one for Dr. Miller's irascible blacks. 

 * 



The British Bee Journal ior April 16, 1908, con- 

 tains a fine portrait and sketch of the career of 

 Mr. Edward Bertrand, the well-known editor and 

 author who did so much to popularize the Lang- 

 stroth system of bee-keeping in Europe. His 

 journal, the Re-uue Internationale, was a model of 

 what a bee paper ought to be; and his book, 

 " Conduct of the Apiary," has had an excellent 

 sale, having been translated into six languages. 

 He translated several other works from English 

 into French, notably Mr. T. W. Cowan's books. 

 He lives now in retirement at Nyon, Switzerland. 



President Kramer, of the Swiss Bee-keepers' 

 Association, has just issued a new book, "Die 

 Rassenzucht der Schweizer Imker und die 

 Amerikanischen Zucht Methoden. " Taken all 

 together it is the best work on queen-breeding I 

 have seen. It contains a wealth of beautiful il- 

 lustrations. The printer has done his part to 

 perfection; and the paper and general ensemble 

 leave nothing to be desired. President Kramer 

 is broadminded, and gives America its due in 

 respect to many little discoveries and inventions 

 having to do with queen-rearing. This makes 

 up a book of 168 pages, octavo size. It has the 

 last word on queen-rearing, and it will be diffi- 

 cult for the next writer on this great little sub- 

 ject to surpass it. Such a book from so small a 

 country makes we 'uns look small. The pub- 

 lisher is Paul Wassel, in Freiburg (Baden). 

 Price 50 cents. 



We do not monopolize the correspondence- 

 school business by any means; for I recently re- 

 ceived the catalog of a bee-keepers' correspond- 

 ence course of instruction issued by Mr. P. 

 Peters, of Baud, in France. During 1907 nearly 

 200 students took the course, and, so far as one 

 may judge from a synopsis of the lessons, the 

 studies must be of considerable practical value. 

 Aviculture is also taught at the same place, the 

 idea of the founders being to instruct students by 

 mail in the small industries connected with agri- 

 culture. France for many years led the world in 

 poultry culture, and even now is not much be- 

 hind the United States. The French farmers ex- 

 cel us in the production of really superior table 



fowls. The Peters school also supplies a course 

 in arboriculture — a very interesting and practical 

 subject, and one that ought to receive more at- 

 tention in this country. 



For more than fifty years lectures on bee cul- 

 ture have been given in the gardens of the Lux- 

 emburg, at Paris. The first lecturer was the fa- 

 mous Hamet, who founded Ithe well-known Pa- 

 risian bee-journal L'Apiculteur in 1856, and which 

 is one of the best bee publications in existence. 

 The present editor. Prof. Sevalle, is now the lec- 

 turer. The lectures are free to all. 



The Parisian contemporary of Gleanings, 

 L' Apiculture Nouvelle, contains in the April num- 

 ber an account of the principal bee-plants of 

 France. The first is sainfoin clover, that cele- 

 brated standby of the European bee-keepers. It 

 is very extraordinary that this plant has never 

 been boomed in this country as a forage-produc- 

 er, though it is one of the best known. It is not 

 as heavy a yielder as alfalfa, but the hay is supe- 

 rior, and it produces a full yield of nectar wher- 

 ever it is grown. Rustic alfalfa is also mention- 

 ed as a good honey-plant. This has been grown 

 in Michigan to some extent. Perhaps this is the 

 right kind for Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Buck- 

 wheat is mentioned as being grown extensively 

 in Brittany, Auvergne, Morvan, and Bresse. I 

 am under the impression that buckwheat is often 

 used in France to feed poultry, and Bresse is just- 

 ly celebrated for its fat chickens. 



One of the European bee journals recently 

 gave map illustrations of the distribution of the 

 bees of the world belonging to the genus Apis. 

 This included practically the whole of South 

 America. As a matter of fact, there are none of 

 our bees in the great valleys of the Amazon and 

 Orinoco — not a single colony. There are honey- 

 bees, originally from Spain, in the highlands of 

 Colombia and Venezuela, but the stingless bees 

 in myriads occupy the great river valleys. Our 

 bees, when introduced, soon die out. Their 

 enemies are too numerous. Prof. Frank Che- 

 shire fell into the same error as our German con- 

 temporary. South America has native bees that 

 sting, but they are very different from Apis Mel- 

 lifica, and were there long before Columbus sailed 

 from Cadiz in 1492. Apis inellifica bees are quite 

 common in South Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, 

 Chile, and Western Peru, where the conditions 

 are more favorable. 



« 



I have received a copy of the anniversary num- 

 ber of the Manila Daily Bulletin, sent out by the 

 publicity committee of the Manila Merchants' 

 Association. The number now before me is a re- 

 markable tribute to American enterprise. Its 78 

 pages are twice the size of Gleanings, and it is 

 beautifully illustrated with many half-tone en- 

 gravings. It is chiefly devoted to showing the 

 agricultural features of the Philippine group. 

 There are fine articles on the forests, fruits, 

 fibers, orchids, oil-plants, nuts, starch-plants, 

 and railways and water transport. Most of the 

 information would be a revelation to many 

 Americans — at least 95 per cent of them. Any 

 one who has a notion of trying colonial tropical 

 life ought to send for a copy. Price 34 cents. 



