298 



April, May, or June, were filled in greater 

 part with "drone-comb, souglit for the means 

 of restraining, if not of suppressing wholly, 

 tliis work so prejudicial to their interests. 

 These efforts remained unavailing for a 

 long time, and hardly 15 years have passed 

 since the first practical result was obtained. 

 Mehring, a cabinet-maker of the Pala- 

 tinate, was the Archimedes, and stated the 

 question which, of itself, ought to have 

 been a ray of light for all the seekers: " By 

 making sheets of wax having upon their 

 surfaces impressions resembling the base of 

 the cells, and fixing them in the habitations 

 of the bees, is it not possible that the latter 

 would follow the indication given and 

 would continue to build niwn these bases in 

 the manner desired?" The reply was not 

 waited for. Two little boards of hard wood, 

 upon which had been engraved the hexa- 

 gonal bases of the worker-cells, served as a 

 mould. The sheets, imperfect as they were, 

 were accepted by our industrious insects, 

 and, to the great joy of the inventor, were 

 filled out with cells formed and finished 

 upon the ridges or edges left by the mould. 

 The problem was then solved; but, as 

 often happens with useful inventions, the 

 fruitful idea once expressed and thrown be- 

 fore the public, all the improvements that 

 would briiig about its application, came 

 from without. Dummler, of Hamburg; 

 Kuntz, of .Taegerdorf; Sand, of Gundan; 

 Jacob, of Frauenbrunnen, &c., advanced 

 rapidly in this direction. But no one ac- 

 quired the skill of OttoSchulz. of Bucknow, 

 who, from 18B9, to this date, has shrunk 

 from no sacrifice of time and money in 

 order to reach the highest limit possible. 

 Lightness of the sheet, figuring of mathe- 

 matical exactitude, perceptible depth of im- 

 pression (I millimeter— .0394 of an inch), 

 purity of the wax; nothing is lacking that 

 would cause the article he manufactures to 

 hold the fiist rank among productions of 

 this kind. But have we arrived at the limit 

 of progress? I do not believe we have. In 

 fact has not M. Junger sent, within a month, 

 to many native and foreign apiculturists, 

 samples of artificial comb, one surface of 

 •which had cells wholly finished, promising 

 to send them shortly a trial piece having 

 the same sort of cells on both sides. 



But wait a little. Let us consider the 

 value of what we already possess, that is to 

 say, of sheets simply figured. It is now 

 admitted that every pound of comb made 

 by the bees costs their proprietor a mini- 

 mun of 10 lbs. of honey. Let us put the wax 

 at the highest price, say 2 fr. 75c. (51.15 cts.), 

 and the honey at the lowest, say 1 fr. (18.6 

 cts.), then the actual loss of the apiculturist 

 is 7 fr. 25c. (.'51.8485). This figure is ex- 

 pressive enough to convince us of the abso- 

 lute necessity, if we wish to be rational 

 in our management of saving the bees, at 

 least partially, this expensive work. How- 

 ever, if we have at hand combs full of 

 honey, nothing will be easier. The ex- 

 tractor will empty them without injury, and 

 we will put them back into the hive and 

 the bees will fill them asain. But these 

 blessed combs do not fall from heaven. In 

 order to construct one of them, the bees 

 consume enough honey to fill the half of 

 another one ; tlien comes the loss of time. — 



Quite a portion of the colony remain in the 

 hive to perform this work, and even more 

 must be present to keep uj) the high tem- 

 perature necessary in waxmaking. And 

 the great honey yield is passing outside 

 while the workers are occupied within. 



I know very well that more than one 

 author, even some of the great ma.sters, 

 claim "that colonies provided with combs 

 exhibit less activity than those that have to 

 build them, and that thus there is a compen- 

 sation." This statement seems to me, at 

 least, too absolute. That bees, turnished 

 with organs for the elaboration of wax, may 

 be required by nature to put them in use, 

 everybody will admit; but between the 

 wax-producing organs and the organs for 

 the production of hohey, is there a parity of 

 functional power ? Who can say that there 

 does not exist a sort of correlation between 

 the two, of such nature that when one 

 operates more the other operates less ; and 

 this for the express purpose of preserving 

 tlie equilibrium of the animal system ? — 

 Then how are we to explain the idleness of 

 our insects ? Very well, the explanation is 

 deduced quite easily from the remedy that 

 is employed to stimulate the sluguards. 



If, notwithstanding the sunshine, and 

 notwithstanding the honey-yield, your 

 stock flies languidly, add to its combs, by 

 placing between them one or two empty 

 combs ; that is to say, give it more air. and 

 everything will return to order. Either I 

 am much deceived, or this momentary in- 

 activity only comes from the sniallnessof 

 the apartment ; hence, from the too great 

 heat which exhists there, and which ener- 

 vates the insects as it would man. 



Dr. Reisser. 



How to get rid of A.nts. 



During a recent visit to Mr. Humann, in 

 Ostheim, I had an opportunity of becoming 

 acquainted with a very successful method 

 of speedily getting rid of ants which are so 

 troublesome in the apiary. 



One takes small bottles, fills them half 

 full of sirup or sweetened water, and puts 

 them in the places where the ants have their 

 passage-ways, in such a manner as the necks 

 of the bottles lean against a wall or board, 

 in order that the ants may easily fall into 

 the trap and drown. 



By means of camphor, ants can be driven 

 from rooms where honey is stored. 



In gardens, lime-dust operates very de- 

 structively upon them. Their hills, after 

 being scratched open, are sprinkled with 

 lime-dust, and then hot water is poured on 

 them. 



To render jars of honey or preserved 

 fruit inaccessible to the.se insects, place the 

 jars in chests whose bottoms have been pre- 

 viously covered with ashes or pulverized 

 chalk.—Elsnessivihe Bienenzuevhter. 



Comb foundation is a great success. 



This morning (Monday) I found the queen 

 had been laying in a hive into which the 

 swarm was only put on Friday niiilit, with 

 the foundation.—^ London Bee-Keeper in 

 British Bee Jouriial. 



