570 



■anatomy and physiology of the bee is vex-y 

 interesting and complicated. The antennae 

 ■alone have many thousands of organs of 

 sense. The tongue is part of a complicated 

 :suction apparatus. The legs show a mar- 

 velous adaptability for walking on the ceil- 

 ing or on glass. They can hold a great 

 weight, as is shown when bees collect pollen 

 in the basket to carry it home to the babies. 

 The stinging apparatus is wonderfully 

 made. The novice will readily conceive 

 that it is fearfully made. 



VARIOUS RACES COMPARED. 



Of the many varieties of bees, the Ital- 

 ian, Carniolan", and the common black bee 

 were mentioned, and the character of each 

 described. The Italian begins too early to 

 rear brood. We have here much bad weath- 

 er in spring, even in late spring. The ex- 

 tensive brood-nest entices the bees to un- 

 tim-ely errands for water and pollen; and 

 many, owing to the inclemency of the 

 weather, will not be able to return; conse- 

 quently much energy is wasted, and the 

 colonies at the beginning of the honey-flow 

 are not as populous as they ought to be, 

 and the result is a deficiency of the surplus. 

 It is also alleged that the Italians do not 

 winter well. I have not been able to test 

 these claims. I have imported several queens 

 at different times from the United States, 

 but the queens seem to have suffered so much 

 by the long confinement and the hardsliips 

 of the voyage that they were not qualified 

 for any thing. However, I think the de- 

 scendants might be all right. Only one 

 queen survived the winter. The trial would 

 have to be made by testing from four to six 

 at one time, and early enough in the season 

 to raise some queens to replace those which 

 seem unable to pass the winter. 



The Camiolans stand the winter very 

 well; are very gentle and industrious; but 

 owing to their swarming propensity they 

 often fail to give surplus when the common 

 black bees do. This is particularly notice- 

 able in poor seasons. The common black 

 bees seem best adapted to this climate. 

 They moderate or stop brood-rearing very 

 promptly according to weather and season. 

 They make their surplus more by judicious 

 economy than zeal in gathering — at least it 

 seems that the Carniolan is just as indus- 

 trious. So far as I know, there is not one 

 Italian colony for many miles around here 



say not one in ten thousand. In other 



parts of Bavaria or Germany there are 

 some, but not many. Here we have blacks 

 and Carniolans. mostly mixed breed of the 

 two. The principal disadvantage of the 

 mixed breed, I think, is that they do not 

 transmit their good qualities to their prog- 

 eny as well as pure-bred varieties. Of 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



course tins law of heredity is as true of the 

 higher animals, if not more so. 



In this report I have given an outline of 

 the topics that were treated more or less 

 fully by the instructor. 



The metamorphosis from the egg to the 

 grown insect was illustrated, and to the 

 practical bearings special attention was 

 called under the head of " How bees should 

 be handled ; the stinging of bees, and protec- 

 tion against it ; convenient way to feed 

 bees, and when to feed ; preparation of hive 

 and comb for moving; the various hives 

 and frames in common use; bee-houses 

 (bees are kept here in bee-houses, just as 

 the reverse is true in the United States) ; 

 utensils and apjiaratus were shown and ex- 

 plained; combs and frames (the wiring of 

 frames was shown) ; how to manage the 

 bees at different seasons in order to obtain 

 the best possible results; the selection of 

 colonies for breeding; queen-rearing; dis- 

 eases of bees, , especially foul brood ; and, 

 last, the enemies of bees. 



This short course Avas a success. Mr. 

 Hofmann Avas congratulated from all sides. 

 He is well qualified and Avell equipped to 

 hold such courses. Next spring we shall 

 have two days of practical work in the api- 

 ary and in queen-rearing. 



Markt Oberdorf, Bavaria. 



GETTING SLUMGUM FROM THE SOLAR WAX- 

 EXTRACTOR 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



For years it has been a puzzle to me how 

 to clean out the refuse which is left in the 

 wire-cloth basket in the solar wax-extractor. 

 This has been particularly puzzling to me 

 since the yield from the out-apiaries has 

 been on the increase. As a result Ave have 

 often been away Avhen this refuse Avas still 

 warm from the sun. Or if we were not 

 away, Ave had returned from a day's Avork 

 somewhere else, and wanted to eat our sup- 

 per. After a good day's work I did not 

 feel like asking or making any one attend 

 to this matter. I may say that I have never 

 been an advocate of long hours in work. 

 To Avork fairly rapidly Avith an average of 

 ten hours' Avork a day, or even a little less, 

 is ample. 



This year I hit upon the idea of heating 

 the wire-cloth basket Avith the contained ref- 

 use over a fairly hot fire — a minute or Iavo 

 Avill do it. The matter softens first next to 

 the Avire, and comes off in a solid cake, and 

 I do not believe there is a better way of 

 cleaning the basket. Try it, and I believe 

 you Avill think the same. 



Brantford, Canada. 



