igo2 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



ably in the majority in Germany. The 

 reason for this may be the cheapness 

 of the former, and the" case of manipu- 

 lating them, as they require very little 

 attention. Max Schrotcr says: "The 

 hive does not produce honey. The prin- 

 cipal requirement for successful bee- 

 keeping is skill of the operator. The 

 box hive is for the ignorant, the frame 

 hive for the progressive bee-keeper." 



Speaking about spores of foul brood, 

 the Pract. Wegweiser says, they are so 

 infinitely small that one hundred mil- 

 lions of them have room in one bee- 

 egg. He further makes the frame hives 

 responsible for the frequent occurrence 

 of the disease and recommends the sul- 

 phur match for all poor and weak 

 or diseased colonies. There may 

 be some truth in the idea 

 of the frame hive scattering the 

 disease, still, in my opinion, the 

 box hive is to be feared a great deal 

 more than the frame hive, for various 

 reasons. I would favor the complete 

 annihilation, or at least, elimination, ot 

 the box hive from districts having the 

 disease. 



Orf. in Die Biene, fixes the time for 

 development of the inmates of the hive 

 as follows: "The drone requires 24 

 da3's; the worker, 21, and the queen, 17 

 days." According to my own observa- 

 tions,, drones develop in 24 1-2 days; 

 workers, in 20-21 days, and Dr. Miller 

 says queens come to maturity in 15 

 days. I do not think the climate re- 

 sponsible for the difterences. 



It has been said of late that in Ger- 

 many more reliance is placed in drugs 

 for curing foul brood, than in America. 

 This may be true, as to the past. But 

 it seems from what I glean from dif- 

 ferent publications, that destruction by 

 fire is now considered the best and saf- 

 est way to handle the disease. In the 

 question box the Leipz. Bienenzeitung 

 recommends the following radical treat- 

 ment: After sunset, close the hive and 

 brimstone the bees. Wait ten minutes, 

 then open up. All combs containing 

 brood cast into the fire; the honey may 

 be used on the table without fear; the 

 empty comb can be rendered into wax. 

 The hives should receive a thorough 

 cleaning, by scrubbing with soda water, 

 and may again be taken into use after 

 an elapse of two or three years. Ac- 

 cording to Gavenhorst, 111. Bienenzei- 



tung, destruction seems to be the law- 

 ful remedy. Page 48, I find this, in sub- 

 stance: Foul brood has made its ap- 

 pearance in the villages Reinfeld and 

 ZiezenefT. This means a total loss to 

 many bee-keepers, as all bees are more 

 or .less aflfected and have been ordered 

 to be destroyed to prevent the further 

 spreading of the disease. 



A desire is again manifested for Cyp- 

 rian bees in Germany. The Italian 

 race is becoming more and more un- 

 popular. 



One of the most extensive bee-keep- 

 ers is H. Thie, in Wolfenbuttel, claim- 

 ing to have 14 out-yards of 200 colonies 

 each. 



Dr. Dzierzon thinks it is possible to 

 insure the mating of our queens with 

 drones from our own yards by shorten- 

 ing the wings of our young queens. 



CHILI. 



It is said, that but little honey is used 

 in Chili for culinary purposes; a smal! 

 amount is made use of in preparing 

 medicines. However, the climate is 

 most favorable for honey production, 

 as the seasons are prolonged, lasting 

 many months. The swarming season 

 is during September, and the main hon- 

 ey flow during December and January. 

 Thus young swarms have ample time to 

 become populous before the real honey 

 harvest. Even the after swarms will be 

 in good shape for business. The seasons 

 favor swarming. An apiary of 160 colo- 

 nies is reported (Rev. Int.) to have 

 increased to 500, which produced 18,200 

 kilograms of honey. The bulk of the 

 honey is exported. The writer has of- 

 ten eaten Chilean honey during his boy- 

 hood days in Germany. 



ASIA. 



The traveler, Farisini, says he found 

 many colonies of bees with plenty of 

 stores in an isolated district of Asia 

 (Kalahira). The natives employ a sim- 

 ple method to find bee-trees. During 

 the dry season, they put out water in 

 different places. The bees in search of 

 water find this, and whenever they are 



