THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



551 



For tne American Be& Journal, 



Foundation in the Brood-Nest. 



8— w. Z. HUTCHINSON, (70—100). 



It will be remembered, perhaps, 

 that last year I experimented with a 

 view to ascertaining if it was advis- 

 able to hive swanns upon sheets of 

 foundation, when they were at the 

 same time admitted to the surplus 

 apartment that was furnished with 

 ei her foundation or drawn combs. 

 The result of my experience seemed 

 to indicate that the foundation was 

 used at a loss. I was not satisfied, 

 however, and so 1 experimented asiain 

 this year in much the same manner. 



Fifty colonies were worked for comb 

 honey. Nearly every colony swarmed. 

 Twenty swarms were hived upon full 

 sheets of wired foundation ; and the 

 rest of the swarms upon frames 

 furnished with " starters " of founda- 

 tion aliout )4. of 'in '"ch in width. 

 The swarms were hived alternately, 

 or nearly so, upon foundation and 

 upon empty frames. They were given 

 only five frames, and contractors used 

 a \a Ileddon. By the way, I have 

 used this contraction system three 

 years, and 1 feel very grateful indeed 

 to its originator. I had no after- 

 swarming, thanks to the Ileddon- 

 method of prevention. 



Now for the results : The swarms 

 hived upon empty frames stored in 

 the sections, on an average, 16 per 

 cent, more honey than those furnished 

 wiih foundation in the brood-nest. 

 Last year, when I reported similar re- 

 sults, quite a number remarked, 

 " Tliat may all be true, but did you 

 weigh the brood-nests V Those swarms 

 that were furnished with foundation 

 may have stored the most honey, but 

 stored it in the brood nest." Unfor- 

 tunately,! had not weighed the brood- 

 nests, and thus there was an un- 

 certainty about the results. This 

 year I weighed the brood-nests, and 

 was not surprised to find that those 

 furnished witli foundation weighed, 

 on an average, 7 per cent, more than 

 the others ; but I was a little surprised 

 to find that, including both the sec- 

 tions and the brood-nest, the swarms 

 hived upon empty frames had stoi'ed 

 5 per cent, the most honey. 



The 100 sheets of wired foundation 

 wliich I have used this season in the 

 brood-nest, have been, apparently, 

 worse than wasted. 1 reason upon 

 this matter as follows: When foun- 

 dation is used it is soon drawn out 

 into comb — sooner than the queen 

 can occupy it with eggs— and the 

 himey that would have been stored 

 in the sections, if foundation had not 

 been used, is stored in the brood nest. 

 If no foundation is used in the brood- 

 nest, except for starters, no honey can 

 be stored there until comb is built ; 

 and as the sections are furnished with 

 foundation, or drawn-out foundation, 

 the honey is stored there, and the 

 queen is able to and does lay in the 

 comb as fast as it is finished in the 

 brnod-nest ; thus all the honey goes 

 into the sections, and the brood-nest 

 becomes filled with solid sheets of 

 brood. 



Why the swarms hived upon empty 

 frames stored the most honey in the 

 aggregate, i. e., including the surplus 

 am) that in the brood -nest, I cannot 

 explain. It may have only "-happened 

 so." It is possible that reversible 

 frames might have a bearing upon 

 this topic. After the combs are 

 finished (when foundation is used) 

 and filled witli brood and honey, re- 

 versing then will induce the bees to 

 carry up the honey that is stored 

 above the brood, but it will not effect 

 that stored at the side of the brood- 

 nest, if there is any stored there. If 

 only five frames are used, however, 

 there will not be very much "side" 

 to the brood-nest. 



I shall continue these experiments 

 at least another year, and possibly 

 longer. 



Rogersville, 6 Mich. 



Exchange. 



A Bee-Convention in Syria. 



FRANK BENTON. 



We had a bee-convention in Syria ; 

 or. rather, we have been having a 

 series of them here recently. This 

 may seem rather surprising news to 

 people of the Western World, who 

 suppose Syria is beyond the pale of 

 civilization. But though the country 

 is in many respects behind Europe 

 and America, modern methods in bee- 

 culture have now taken permanent 

 root here. The gatherings have been 

 quite informal in their nature, as close 

 application of i)arliamentary rules in 

 the conduct of such meetings is not 

 the way of the country ; moreover, of 

 the seven or eight different languages 

 represented by the members of the 

 convention, four had to be employed 

 in the talks on bees ; namely, English, 

 French. German and Arabic. Perhaps 

 some of the friends in other countries, 

 who find with but one official lan- 

 guage in their conventions, it is still 

 difficult to get on harmoniously, will 

 wonder what we could do with such a 

 Babel of tongues. Nevertheless we 

 got on quite well, and the interchange 

 of ideas will, no doubt, prove of great 

 value to many of the participants. 

 At one of the meetings a President 

 was unanimously elected, but he has 

 not yet called anybody to order. 

 Probably the most important work 

 done by the convention was the 

 adoption of a standard frame for 

 Syria, to be known as the "Syrian 

 Standard Reversible Frame." All 

 bee-keepers in countries where sev- 

 eral sizes of frames have come into 

 use, will comprehend at once the 

 wisdom of such a step while movable- 

 comb bee-keeping is yet in its infancy 

 in these parts. The frame adopted 

 measures MSg inches (=365 mm.) in 

 length, and S;'^ inches (= 223 mm.) in 

 depth. All members of the conven- 

 tion, which include two Americans, 

 ope Frenchman, one German, one 

 Italian, and a number of Syrians, fol- 

 low American methods altogether in 

 their apiaries, if we except one, a 

 Syrian peasant who has but one frame- 

 hive as yet, and for the present re- 

 tains native hives — long cylinders 

 made of clay or of wicker-work, and 



also earthen water-jars, into both 

 sorts of which the bees are put after 

 the receptacle is laid on its side. 



Among other topics which were 

 discussed at our meetings, migratory 

 bee-keeping (already largely practiced 

 here) and hives adapted to it, received 

 much attention ; also in connection 

 with this the various bee-ranges of 

 the country were discussed. Orange- 

 blossoms furnish the chief spring 

 harvest, though almond, apricot, and 

 other fruit-blossoms are of impor- 

 tance. Cactus plants supplement 

 these ; in fact, in many localities they 

 form the chief early honey-yield. The 

 late harvest comes in midsummer 

 from wild thyme, which is abundant 

 in most of the hilly and mountainous 

 portions of the country. Of course, 

 there are also many minor sources- 

 wild flowers, etc. It was agreed 

 that where orange, cactus and thyme 

 blossoms were abundant, with the 

 usual minor yields, nothing would be 

 gained by transporting bees to other 

 pastures. 



The wintering problem did not get 

 much attention, since there is no dif- 

 ficulty on that score here ; nor did we 

 devote very much time to a discus- 

 sion ot the relative merits of the 

 different races of bees, as none but 

 Syrians are kept in Syria. The writer, 

 however, and a member formerly in 

 his employ iii Cyprus, testified to the 

 superiorty of tlie Cyprians over the 

 Syrians. No other members had had 

 any experience with Cyprians. 



Altogether, a bee-convention in 

 Syria may be considered an interest- 

 ing and important event — interesting 

 to the outside world as showing the 

 progress already made, and that 

 America has been taken as the model; 

 important to the country itself, both 

 because it is likely to spread greater 

 interest in an industry which can be 

 made to contribute miich more than 

 heretofore to the welfare of Syria, 

 and because the proceedings are 

 likely to induce a more systematic 

 development of the industry in the 

 East. 



Our eves are turned toward America 

 for light in bee-keeping matters ; and 

 if the world hears of large reports 

 from these shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean, the credit of them will, it is 

 to be hoped, go where it belongs. 



Beyrout, Syria, May, 1885. 



For ibe American Bee JoumaL 



Bee Diarrhea— Contraction Method. 



ABEL GRESH, (23 — 50). 



In Mr. Ileddon's article on page 

 519, he uses the word " prime " in an 

 unwarranted sense. Webster, in his 

 Unabridged Dictionary, gives the defi- 

 nition as, " First in order of time ; 

 original ; primitive ; primary," etc. ; 

 and tills is the sense in which I. as 

 well as Mr. Stewart and others, sup- 

 posed was the sense when used in 

 connection with the word " cause "— 

 "prime cause" meaning "first 

 cause," as generally accepted in our 

 language. 



Pollen, no doubt, may be a power- 

 ful adjunct-cause, but from all the 



