24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Tlie first condition is a good pasturage, 

 which don't exist outside of prairie lands. 

 Then a favorable temperature; and t)y 

 helping the strong stocks, by giving them 

 empty combs as often as necessary, you 

 will get much honey by uniting all the 

 feeble colonies before the main honey crop; 

 for a strong colony will give more profit 

 than four small ones. The production of 

 wax should be limited, by giving empty 

 •combs. lie also recommended to put a 

 weak colony in place of a strong one, and to 

 add some brood comb. 



3rd Question. — Dzierzon, lecturer. — Tlie 

 caging of the (pieen ns a means of increas- 

 ing the crop of honey. Is it to be recom- 

 mended, and in what condition ? 



Dr. Dzierzon thinks that it is generally 

 conceded that caging increases the honey 

 surplus; but it is not convenient under ail 

 circumstances, for it stops breeding. 



Dr. Asinuss speaks of sugar and eggs 

 mixed and used as a speculative food. 



Dr. Tollman asked Dr. Dzierzon how 

 long a queen can be shut up in a cage with- 

 out danger for her life. 



Dr. Dzierzon does not like a long confine- 

 ment, but he cannot mention the precise 

 time. 



Mr. Kimble spoke about giving air to the 

 honey boxes. 



Kneip asserts that Carniolian queens are 

 very good layers a id give a great many 

 swarms, but that they give little honey. 



Dr. Tollman advised to give a current of 

 air through the honey boxes during June, 

 July and August. 



Ilgen thinks that the caging of the queen 

 profliices a great many queen cells. 



Hilbert spicks against the caging of 

 queens, and advises to make strong colonies 

 by adding b^-ood coml>till late in the season. 



4t!i Question— Walter, lecturer.— 0/i, the 

 raising of queens, and gave a description 

 of his ViucXei. 



5th Question— Lehzen, lecturer. 



There are in the Province of Hanover 

 216,000 hives, and 33,000 in the cities. The 

 Kingdom of Hanover ranks first in bee-cul- 

 ture, on account of the skill of its bee-keep- 

 ers. The bee-keepers of Lunebourg cannot 

 experience serious losses for they are al- 

 ways ready for every emergency. He who 

 wishes to become a master in bee-culture 

 must be an apprentice for at least two years 

 or be will not oe trusted with the manage- 

 ment of an apiary. The main honey crops 

 are from buckwlieat and heather. This last 

 flower blooms from August 7th to Septem- 

 ber 16. An abundant feeding in spring pro- 

 motes an abundant swarming. The lectur- 

 er praises especially the common straw 

 hive and the comb straw- hive of Graven- 

 horst. 



Dr. Tollmann says that it is very detri- 

 mental to bee-culture, that the owners of 

 large tracts of land don't care about bees, 

 and when asked, answer: " We do not un- 

 derstand that business." They take care to 

 give a shepherd to their flocks, and could 

 as well have a bee-keeper for their bees. 



Hilbert adds that it is not the man but the 

 season which gives honey. 



6th Question— Dr. Tollmann, lecturer.— 

 Can the bee-keeper infiuence comb build- 

 ing? 



if 1 had to give a short answer I would say 

 yes. But you would not be satisfied, so I 

 will develop my answer. We already know 

 that all the first swarms are much inclined 



to build drone cells. On the other hand the 

 after-swarms like to build worker cells. 

 Now, if we give to a first swarm a laj-ge 

 drone comb inside of its incipient worker 

 comb, as these bees desire drone cells, they 

 will more likely construct worker combs 

 from top to bottom of the frames. 



[ These propensities of the swarms can 

 easily be explained. A good, young, laying 

 queen prefei-s to lay in worker rather than 

 in di'one combs; and as long as her laying 

 goes on pari passu with comb building she 

 will obtain from the workers none but 

 worker comb. Bat the last part of July ar- 

 rives; dryness cuts short all gathering of 

 honey; then the workers cease to build 

 combs. Yet the young hatching bees leave 

 a great many worker cells, which remain 

 empty as long as honey is scarce. Now 

 August comes with its flowers. There is 

 honey in the fields; the queen resumes lay- 

 ing, but she has all these empty cells to fur- 

 nish with eggs. Then the workers, having 

 no more the desire of the queen to satisfy, 

 give place to their propensities, which 

 prompt them to build drone combs. It is 

 not the same with the after-swarms, which 

 are always behind hand with their queen in 

 the building of combs, and defer to her 

 manifested desire for worker comb. 



The remedy of Dr. Tollman is therefore 

 quite illusive.— Ch. Dadant.] 



A swarm will build more readily if it is 

 fed with liquid honey. 



You know that Dr. Dzierzon proposed 

 that experiments be made, to know if bees 

 would build cells larger than drone cells, so 

 as to give the means of emptying the combs 

 without using the extractor. I gave my 

 bees some of these comb foundations with 

 cells larger than drone cells; it was while 

 linden was blooming. The bees destroyed 

 these foundations to make smaller cells. So 

 in lieu of large cells there remaine(J onlj' 

 drone cells and these cells were so irregu- 

 larly constructed that they were unfit for 

 drone brood, and could only be used as store 

 cells. 



7th Question- Dr. Dzierzon, lecturer.— 

 Which could be the simplest and. most ad- 

 vantageous building of frames? 



The lecturer said that the upper part of 

 the frames could be of wood, and the three 

 other sides could be made of tin. 



Bastian likes bottomless frames. 



Winter prefers them made entirely of tin. 



Gunther objects that such frames would 

 let the combs drop in winter. 



8th Question— Dathe, lecturer. — W/tat are 

 the requisites in pastoral bee-culture to 

 obtain good resultsf 



[ Pastoral bee-culture means transporting 

 bees to localities where they can find blos- 

 soms. — Cii. Dadant.] 



The lecturer said that the bee-keepers of 

 Lunebourg have acquired in pastoral bee- 

 culture a skill which it is impossible to find 

 elsewhere. He describes the hives — the 

 most easily transported— and says that the 

 liives of a uniform width are the most con- 

 venient for that kind of bee-culture. 



