124 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



July 



Relative to the use of comb founda- 

 tion the Phaelzer B. Z. says this: Dur- 

 ing the first two weeks, young swarms 

 build only worker comb, and a swarm 

 weighing two kilogram will fill about 

 five frames full of such comb during 

 this period. After this time the use of 

 foundation is advantageous. Old colo- 

 nies should never be allowed to build 

 comb in the broodnest without comb 

 foundation. 



Goeken gives the following good 

 hints about introducing queen bees: 

 Mailing-cages are not suitable for in- 

 troducing. They have a peculiar odor 

 which is slow to leave and in a meas- 

 ure prevents the new queen from tak- 

 ing the odor of the colony. A cage ad- 

 mitting of confining the queen upon a 

 comb is the safest. A queen confined 

 in this manner is more quiet — is in clo- 

 ser contact with the bees. She is de- 

 pending upon the bees of the hive for 

 being fed, and is fed. She will thus 

 take on the hive odor in the shortest 

 time and be accepted. 



Mulot says he has entertained the 

 hopes for years, that the numerous lit- 

 tle bee-papers in Germany might be 

 consolidated into one great weekly 

 journal to which all noted bee-keepers 



might contribute. Such a journal would 

 necessarily cost more than any one now 

 printed, but after all a good deal less 

 than the many printed now. He finds 

 it impossible to read all the journals, 

 even if he felt disposed to pay for them; 

 the one large paper he could master. 

 I have often thought just so about our 

 American bee-keepers, but I am afraid 

 that the obstacles are too great to be 

 surmounted and to meet the idea of 

 Mulot. For instance: who is to say 

 what sball go into the journal and what 

 not? The manager or editor would 

 have to be a most wise and absolutely 

 unbiased man, such as cannot be found 

 any where. Some things would be sup- 

 pressed that should be published, other 

 would be published that should be sup- 

 pressed. Considering the matter from 

 all sides, I believe it is best to have 

 several journals in a country. 



It is a common practice among Ger- 

 many's bee-keepers to feed the young 

 swarms for a week or two after hiving. 

 In this locality, (N. Y. state) May 

 swarms often need feeding to keep them 

 from starving, but June and July 

 swarms nearly always do well without 

 feeding and store surplus besides. May 

 swarms are undesirable with me. 



F. Greiner. 



MOVING 15KES TO THE MANGROVE. (See Editorials.) 



