AUGUST 15, 191£ 



569 



royal emblem is that it is a symbol of life. 

 The giory of a king is the swarming multi- 

 tudes over which he reigns. And the popu- 

 lonsness of the hive must have suggested it- 

 self as a fitting emblem of the king, the 

 head of their national life. 



Then add the fascination of mystery to 

 the interest which we all have in life in its 

 varied forms. After all the light wlrieh we 

 possess is gathered together, the mystery of 

 the things which we cTo not yet know about 

 bees is very great. There are many things 

 about the habits and life-history of the bee 

 for which light is sought. And the prob- 

 lems of bee culture are elusive, because, as 

 it seems to a beginner, there are so many 

 things which are known only in a practical 

 way and not scientificall3\ For example, 

 Albin Platz says, page 23, Jan. 1, " Don't 

 practice stimulative feeding in the spring." 

 My single colony came through the winter 

 weak. I am satisfied I should have received 

 little or no surplus honey without stimula- 

 tive feeding. 1 used the Opfer feeder, which 

 will take onlj' five ounces of sweetened wa- 

 ter at a time. Almost immediately the reac- 

 tion under this stimulus was visible. The 

 ciueen got busy. With the number of sec- 

 tions of comb honey already indicated, with 

 one nucleus taken off and a brood-frame 

 taken out to strengthen another weak nu- 

 cleus, I feel that stimulative feeding is a 

 good thing. But this is simply matching 

 experience against exjoerienee. If the De- 

 partment of Agriculture would permanent- 

 ly maintain a great experimental apiary, 

 and employ the laboratory methods of mod- 

 ern science, light might be gained on some 

 of the really great problems of bee culture. 

 I do not now refer, of course, to stimula- 

 tive feeding, Avhich is not so vital as many 

 other problems. 



Oak Park, 111. 



LECTURES ON BEES IN BAVARIA 



BY J. A. HEBERLE 



The organization of beekeepers of Markt 

 Oberdorf and the surrounding countiy ar- 

 ranged for a short course of instruction in 

 beekeeping free, not only to the members 

 of the organization, but outsiders also were 

 invited. Mr. C. Hofmann, Munich, in 

 charge of apiculture in Bavaria, conducted 

 the course. Being so late in the season, 

 practical work in the apiai-^' had to be 

 omitted. First was given a talk on the his- 

 tory of beekeeping in genei-al, and especial- 

 ly in Bavaria. 



IMPORTANCE OF BEEKEEPING. 



The value of colonies, wax, and honey, 

 based on the number of colonies in 1907, 



was estimated at two and a half million of 

 dollars — quite a sum for so small a coun- 

 try. For this reason the government en- 

 courages and fosters beekeeping in every 

 way. The sei-vice bees i-ender to agricul- 

 ture by fertilizing the flora is great. Some 

 one has ventured to estimate the value per 

 colony at $20.00. He thought, probably, he 

 would rather lose the game by playing a 

 card too many, as Sancho Panza said. The 

 flowers secrete nectar so the bees and other 

 insects will visit them and bring and carry 

 away the needed pollen. The nectar is usu- 

 ally within, at the base of the flower; and 

 while the bee or other insect endeavors to 

 get to the sweet, the pollen sticks to the 

 hairy garment of the bee; and when she 

 touches the pistil of the flower a few of 

 the fine grains of pollen do the work. The 

 The " Wiesen Salbei," a salvia, has a pe- 

 culiar construction. In order to get to the 

 nectar the bee has to push the short end of 

 a lever. On the long end is the stamen. 

 The bee pushes the button and does the 

 rest. We see how wise it is that the bee. 

 while gathering nectar or pollen, visits but 

 one variety of flower or blossoms, otherwise 

 the probability of bringing the needed pol- 

 len to the right place would be greatly les- 

 sened. 



BEES IN HOT-HOUSES TO POLLENIZE APRICOT 

 BLOSSOMS. 



The lecturer mentioned a vei-y interesting 

 case. The city of Nuernberg has a number 

 of hot-houses in which apricots are raised. 

 These hot-houses are rented to a gardener. 

 This gardener, with his assistants, used to 

 fertilize the blossoms with brushes, but they 

 had only moderate success. Once, through 

 a broken pane of glass, some bees got into 

 one of the hot-houses. It was found that in 

 this house where the bees had fertilized the 

 blossoms the trees had set much more fruit 

 than the trees that were artificially fertiliz- 

 ed. After that, bees were kept in the hot- 

 houses during blossoming time. The bees 

 do the job cheaper and much better — in 

 fact, too well, as too much fruit sets. It 

 was further found that the time of blossom- 

 ing was much shortened. Tliis is a decided 

 advantage, because the weather and the vari- 

 ous enemies have less chance to do damage. 

 It is known that, after the fertilization is 

 complete, flowers and blossoms soon cease 

 to secrete nectar, and insects are no longer 

 needed. The plant makes use of the sap 

 (its blood) for the ultimate purpose — the 

 production of seed, etc. 



ANATOMY. 



The chitin skelet, as well as the interioi- 

 organs, were thoroughly discussed. Draw- 

 ings on the black-board, charts, and a mod- 

 el, helped to elucidate the subject. The 



