226 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the forming of the elongated crystals which 

 the honej' assumes and gives it rather an 

 acid taste. 



For the detection of substances insoluble 

 in cold water it is only necessary to disolve 

 30 grammes of honey in 100 grammes of cold 

 water. The honey disolves completely 

 when it contains no foreign matter; if 

 otlierwise, the insoluble substances will fall 

 to the bottom after standing an half hour; 

 the liquid is then carefully decanted, and if 

 one wishes to know the nature of the mat- 

 ter added to the honey— whether Hour or 

 sand— the residue is placed in a porcelain 

 vessel, with twice its weight of water, and 

 then boiled. If the substance is flour there 

 will be a kind of starch formed in a few 

 moments; if sand is present it will reuiain 

 at the t)ottom of the vessel. — M. Derviigny, 

 Pharmacist. 



What can be Done to Counteract 

 THE Production of Drones in a Col- 

 ony ? — At the Breslau Wanderversamrn- 

 lung, last fall, the discussion of this ques- 

 tion brought forth the following remarks 

 from Herr Hildebrand: "As soon as an 

 unusual production of drones occurs, one 

 should ascertain whether the cause is 

 queenlessness or a worthless condition of 

 the queen. In the latter case the queen is 

 to be removed and the drone brood replaced 

 by combs containing worker eggs. In order 

 to prevent any such case arising, an exact 

 record of the age of the queens should be 

 kept, for thus the apiarist is able to know 

 when queens are likely to become worthless 

 from age, and can replace them by young 

 ones." 



The use of Robber Bees.— "Use!" 

 does the thoughtful reader exclain. And 

 yet it is true that robber bees are of some 

 use. They perform, as it were, the work of 

 local police; for where they penetrate the 

 colonies are not in order; there the weak, 

 starving, or queenless colonies, or defective 

 hives are to be found; or the bee-keeper is 

 himself careless in the handling of honey 

 or other sweets. The first thing should be 

 a thorough revision of the apiary; if the 

 opening of hives be avoided, Aveak or queen- 

 less colonies united, the entrances contract- 

 ed, gaping crevices stopped up, and all 

 traces of honey carefully wiped away, the 

 robbing will soon cease. — Schlesisehe Im- 

 ker. 



According to UApicidteur, the number 

 of entries already made for the Internation- 

 al Exposition of 1878 are more than 30,000 

 from France alone, and hundreds of apicul- 

 turists will exhibit their products. 



There is an old German name for the 

 bee, which means, " she that kisseth 

 flowers." 



Foul Brood Cured.— In 1876, 80 out of 

 120 colonies owned by Count Rudolph Ko- 

 lowrat, of Hroby, Bohemia, were att'ected 

 with foul brood. By the use of salicylic 

 acid nearly all were saved. 



Strong stocks consume little more in 

 in winter than weak ones, but they amass 

 more in summer. — M. Oelieu. 



The worst enemy of the bee is the ignor- 

 ant bee-keeper; let him learn and his com- 

 plaints will cease.— Herr F. Bastian. 



The German Prince, Frederick Karl, 

 possesses an apiary at the Castle of Glie- 

 nike, near Potsdam. 



Artificiai, Combs.— At the convention 

 held in Breslau, last Sept., Dr. Dzierzon 

 said: "It is impracticable to use artificial 

 combs where only immovable combs are 

 used; in bar hives their use is not advis- 

 able; but iu frame hives they can be used 

 to great advantage. Whenever there is a 

 lack of good worker couib, and where the 

 same can only be obtained with difficulty, 

 or not at all, by box-hive bee-keepers, it is 

 the best plan to obtain and use artificial 

 combs, for the bees more easily and quick- 

 ly complete such combs than they build 

 entirely new ones." Herr Guelder recom- 

 mended very highly the use of comb foun- 

 dations in bar hives. Herr Hilbert oppos- 

 ed the pruning of combs in the spring, and 

 claimed that bees secrete no wax if combs 

 are furnished them. 



King George I, of Greece has recently 

 busied himself in the preparation of a book 

 on tlie Hymettus or Cecropian bees, which 

 will be published shortly. This royal api- 

 culturist possesses a collection of ninety 

 kinds of honey which he has collected from 

 various countries. 



The editors of Le Rucher (Bordeaux, 

 France), MM. Drory and Sourbe, have is- 

 sued a work entitled, "■ Manuel d^Apicul- 

 tcur Mobiliste" and a bee-keeper of 

 Loraine devotes six pages in U Apiculteur 

 to its criticism, and promises to continue as 

 soon as he receives additional pages of the 

 work. He notes 17 statements which he 

 considers grave errors. As an example, 

 here is error No. 10 — MM. Drory and Sourbe 

 say: "The queen first leaves her hive from 

 2 to 4 days after hatching, if the weather is 

 pleasant, for her nuptial flight." The critic 

 says of this statement: "An apiculturist up 

 with the times in apiarian science would 

 not say, to-day, that a queen goes out for 

 fecundation on the second to the fourth day 

 after hatching. She does not desire im- 

 pregnation until the seventh day of her life 

 —rarely before." 



Increasing Colonies. — Herr Cantor 

 Bruno spoke as follows before the Ninth 

 Convention of the Hanoverian bee-keepers: 

 "It is not possible to give universal rules 

 for the increasing of colonies, applicable to 

 all localities and harvests, yet the correct- 

 ness of what is contained in the following 

 three sentences is admitted: 



"1. In localities furnishing only a spring 

 harvest there should be little increase. 



*"2. in localities with a longer, yet some- 

 what light harvest, the increase should be a 

 little above 1: 2. 



"3. Where there is an early and late har- 

 vest the proportion for principal swarming 

 time may be 1: 23^. 



" Beginners in bee-culture, striving to in- 

 crease their stocks rapidly, easily fall into 

 the error of weakening them; on the con- 

 trary, an experienced bee-keeper retains his 

 colonies in strong condition, even though 

 the number be not so great. Besides these 

 points, attention should be given to the 

 character and development of the stock, to 

 the time of swarming, to the size of the 

 hives, whether furnished with combs or 

 not, etc. The increase of colonies should 

 be made with rational, i.e., judicious regard 

 to the surrounding conditions; and, in 

 favorable years, n)ay exceed the proportions 

 just mentioned, while in poor seasons it 

 must I'emain behind them." 



