142 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



August 



bees are kept — five or six hives to 

 every household. In poor years whole 

 apiaries die out; in good years they do 

 quite well. But it is rare to find wild 

 bees in the forests; which perhaps may 

 be considered proof that the conditions 

 are not favorable to bee-keeping. The 

 wax-moth is the worst enemy of the 

 bee, but there are many others, such 

 as ants, birds of various character, 

 toads, etc. Where bees are not watched 

 daily it is not an uncommon occurrence 

 to find all gone without being able to 

 ascertain the cause. Honey is not safe 

 except when kept in tightly covered 

 glass or earthen vessels. Wooden re- 

 ceptacles will not do as ants will soon 

 destroy them and tin rusts out very 

 soon. 



FRANCE. 



To prevent the rearing of brood in 



the extracting supers the Frenchman, 



Derauchelle has developed the idea of 



constructing combs or foundation with 



square cells andJilling the supers with 



such foundation. Haineause in Revin 



offers to make the m'ills. 



I 



GERMANY. 



Dr. Miller is quoted in Deutsche, 

 B. Z. as saying: "Queens develop in 

 strong colonies inside of thirteen days." 



one might better not get a crop of 

 hcrey from it and make good use of 

 all the cells built. It will pay better in 

 the end. 



Reidenbach says: "A queen is in the. 

 egg state three days, in the larval state 

 six days in the pupa or nymph state 

 seven days. According to my observa- 

 tion the larval state lasts nearer five 

 than six days. 



To get his New Bee-Journal into 

 circulation the editor of Freudenstein 

 promises to make good to his sub- 

 scribers all winter losses caused by 

 cold, dystentery, starvation, dwindling, 

 etc., when such losses are not brought 

 on by neglect, accidents, etc. He will 

 also sell to subscribers only celebrated 

 American long-tongued red-clover 

 queens at ten marks for fertile queens, 

 three marks for virgin queens. 



Reidenbach says, in Phaelzer, B. Z.: 

 For the purpose of requeening it is 

 best to use swarming cells. If one of the 

 best colonies can be made to swarm, 



The Leipziger, B. Z., says that in 

 manufacturing districts the presence of 

 coal smoke from the furnaces has ma- 

 terially lessened the j'ields from the 

 hive. This is not mere opinion as the 

 evidence seems sufficient to prove that 

 flowers do not secrete honey freely 

 where coal ^moke is present. 



In "Die Biene" Dickel points out the 

 defects of our present hives. They 

 should be so constructed as to more 

 resemble the box-hive. The combs 

 should be attached to the walls of the 

 hive or the equivalent of it. There 

 should be no bee-space above the 

 combs, etc. Dzierzon would sanction 

 all this. However, the majority of bee- 

 keepers everywhere want their hives 

 more convenient and willingly put up 

 with the disadvantages pointed out. 

 F. Greiner. 



GERMANY. 



Measurements of bee's tongues with 

 glossometers have given lengths of 71 

 to 95 tenths of millimeter. These were 

 rather tongue reach, being measured 

 from the surface of the honey to the 

 thin tin surface through which the bees 

 had sucked it. The holes through which 

 the bees thrust their tongues were 

 round and of a diameter of two milli- 

 meters. 



BELGIUM. 



Planting trees along the public roads 

 is a subject often mentioned in Europe. 

 Of course the agriculturists want some 

 trees that would be useful to them or 

 rather to their bees. The lindens (bass 

 wood) are often mentioned. There are 

 in Belgium several varieties, ist. The 

 small-leaved linden, which grows'' wild 

 in Holland and is often planted in 

 parks, promenades, etc- It blossoms in 

 June. 



2nd. The large-leaved llnclen. It is 

 a larger and better looking tree than 

 the preceding one. In 1901 the trees of 

 that kind planted at J*"loberg were in 

 blossom from the 26th of June to July 

 16. Some of the trees blossom sooner 

 than others. 



