igo2 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



390 



Mr. Novice trying to clean the wax 

 from the press with his penknife! 



AGE OP THE BEES. 



The "Abbe" Collins was, during the 

 last century, one of the leading writers 

 of France. When the Italian bees were 

 first introduced, he took advantage ol 

 it to discover how long worker bees 

 live, in summer especially. A great 

 many are destroyed by birds and in- 

 sects. Man}' '^erish when caught by a 

 storm or heavy rain. A large number 

 have their wings torn accidently or 

 worn out and can often be seen crawl- 

 ing on the ground in the apiary. In 

 the winter, they rest and do not wear 

 out so much. 



Mr. Collins in the "Guide du Pre- 

 prietaire d "Abeilles" thinks the popu- 

 lation of a colony is renewed once be- 

 tween October and April and about 

 three times during the summer. An 

 Italian queen was introduced in a 

 black colony the 26th of September, 

 1862. By the nth of April, 1863, the 

 black bees had entirely disappeared. 



Mr. A. Wathelet introduced in Sep- 

 tember, 1901, a five-banded queen in a 

 black colony. On July 25, 1902, there 

 were yet a number of black bees. The 

 new queen was not very prolific and 

 the colony did not build up well. It 

 was the only black colony in the apiary, 

 it could not be said that these black 

 bees came from outside. Here it is 

 admitted that the bees in summer live 

 only six weeks, that is a much shorter 

 period. 



According to my own experience this 

 length of time may be too short. I 

 don't bother my brood nests very 

 much, and some are not opened from 

 one end of Uie year to the other. 

 Sometimes a queen is lost during her 

 wedding trip and I fail to notice it. 

 Often in such cases, I have found a 

 fair amount of bees three months after 

 the swarming occurred. That may not 

 be very conclusive because the queen- 

 less bees may possibly not work as 

 actively and therefore not wear out 

 as rapidly as those provided with a 

 queen. 



SIZE OF SWAKMS. 



A box hive was to be transferred. 

 The bees, however, swarmed the day 

 before. The swarm weighed five and 

 one-half pounds which would gve about 



25,000 bees. The old colony transferred 

 the next day gave less than one and 

 one-half pounds which would give about 

 7,000 bees. There was enough brood to 

 fill four frames 12x12. The conclusion 

 was that, 7,000 bees may be enough to 

 care for that amount of brood at least. 



IN THE OPEN AIR, 



The nth of August a swarm was 

 found hanging under a cherry tree 

 limb. Five combs were already built, 

 the center ones about eight inches 

 long. Three of them contained brood. 



DEATH OF MR. DUBINI. 



Dr. D. Angelo Dubini, the leading 

 apiculturist of Italy, died at the age of 

 89 years, from the effect of a fall which 

 he sustained in his house. During 38 

 years he was attached to the Grand 

 Hospital at Milan. In 1868 he founded 

 the Apicoltore and has written for that 

 paper until his death. His extracts 

 from foreign papers were much appre- 

 ciated. He has also published an 

 Apicultural Guide in Italian, consider- 

 ed the equal of any in the world. 



SAINFOIN. 



The sainfoin, also called esparcette or 

 bourgogne (the botanical name is Ono- 

 brychis sativa), has been extensively 

 cultivated in Europe for forage, or. 

 rather, hay since 1629, according to ag- 

 ricultural authorities. It is regarded 

 as the equal of red clover and alfalfa. 

 It is not so difficult as alfalfa by any 

 means; but requires limestone or limed 

 ground with a permeable subsoil as it 

 has very long roots. Hard grounds 

 should be subsoiled as deep as possible. 

 It lasts a number of years- 



The best part of it is that it is one 

 of the best honey plants known. The 

 honey is light amber and in taste the 

 equal of white clover. Still better, it 

 is at its best for hay when cut at the 

 end of the blossoming season. This 

 insures a crop of honey, wherever the 

 sainfoin is used. Sooner or later Am- 

 erican farmers will find that to give the 

 best hay, the alfalfa should be cut just 

 before blooming, and that source of 

 honey will then be lost. 



Like all the other legumes, the sain- 

 foin improves considerably the land on 

 which it is raised. 



Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. i, 1902. 



