1902 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



161 



THE 



Bee -Keeping World 



AUSTRIA. 



To find a queen bee Zeiler advises, in 

 Bienenvater, Vienna, to hang the 

 brood-frames with adhering bees in 

 pairs upon an open, purposely con- 

 structed frame (comb-horse-Waben- 

 bock). In a short time uneasiness will 

 be manifested by the bees upon those 

 combs not having the queen on them. 

 The bees that have the queen with them 

 will remain ouiet. The finding of the 

 queen will then be easy as but two 

 combs have to be examined. 



SWITZERLAND. 



Honey is usually served for break- 

 fast in the hotels of Switzerland. In re- 

 gard to *his custom "Die Weltauf Rei- 

 sen" has this to say in substance: It 

 has been observed that honey gives 

 strength and endurance to the travelers 

 who climb the mountains, which ex- 

 plains why honey is served. Wheel- 

 men would do well to indulge freely 

 in honey- 



IRELAND. 



An organization of bee-keepers has 

 been organized in Ireland. Its main ob- 

 ject is to effect the sale of the honey of 

 its members, also purchase supplies. It 

 is said the bee-keepers have realized 

 nearly 50 per cent, more for their pro- 

 ducts. The seat of the organization is 

 Dublin, its officers are elected annual- 

 ly. 



GERMANY. 



As regards the problems before bee- 

 keepers of the 20th century. Valentin 

 Wuest suggests rather ironically in 

 Deutsche Illustr. B. Z., that there are 

 some other things besides long tongues 

 and short tubed blossoms to be worked 

 for. He enumerates: Enlarging of the 

 honey-sack of the bee to enable her 



to carry larger loads; Nubbing ofif the 

 stmger of the worker to prevent its 

 penetrating the human or animal skin; 

 Increasing the honey-secreting propen- 

 sity of the blossoms. Electricity prop- 

 erly applied might be a factor of con- 

 sideration in this last named matter. 

 When successful in all the above, re- 

 sults might be greatly increased by 

 illuminating earth's honey fields by elec- 

 tric lights to keep the industrious in- 

 sect everlastingly at gathering honey, 

 night and day. Finally hypnotizing of 

 the bees in the fall of the year, so they 

 will pass the winter sleeping and with- 

 out taking food. 



Deutsche Bicnenfreund has the follow- 

 ing criticism about judging honey at 

 fairs: "It is a common practice for a 

 judge to go from exhibit to exhibit with 

 a spoon, a pencil, a penholder, a jack- 

 knife or key, dip into one kind of hon- 

 ey and lick offthe instrument used, then 

 dip into another kind of honey and lick 

 off again, etc., etc- The judge may 

 be a perfectly competent man, but it 

 cannot be known whether he is in good 

 health or not. If he is not, licking off 

 the instrument used and dipping into 

 other honey afterward may infect the 

 different honeys with disease germs. A 

 practice of the kind cannot be too 

 strongly condemned No one would, 

 think of putting his knife, fork or spoon 

 after being used by him, in contact with 

 another man's food at table. If he did, 

 he would be considered an uncivilized 

 person who does not know even the 

 first principles or elementary rules of 

 decency and cleanliness. Why should 

 such or a similar course be admissible 

 when judging honey or butter, jellies 

 etc., at fairs?"' We have a cheap and 

 suitable little instrument, which would 

 answer the purpose of taking up hon- 

 ey for sampling, even from the cells of 

 nice comb honey, in the shape of a lit- 

 tle glass tube drawn to a point at one 



