140 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



June, 



THE BEE-KEEPING WORLD 



Stall Contributors: F. Greiner, Adrian Getaz 

 Conlribulions to this deparlmenl are solicited Irom all quarters ol the earth 



GERMANY. 



By far the most hives formerly 

 used in Germany opened from the 

 back, cupboard-fashion, and the 

 frames were pulled out with a hook 

 or with a specially constructed pair 

 of forceps. In order to examine the 

 second frame the first one had to be 

 removed, and in order to have a 

 place to put these combs as they 

 were taken from the hive, a special 

 comb-holder had to be carried along. 

 When the examination was not car- 

 ried on to the last frame, of course 

 then only those frames actually taken 

 out were disturbed, but when all had 

 to be taken out, they were disturbed 

 more than when the frames of an 

 American hive were examined be- 

 cause after examination they can be 

 returned to their hive with the latter, 

 while with the German hive they have 

 to be handled a second time to re- 

 turn them. The loss of heat must 

 be greater in such a case, and the 

 disturbance also. I think all frames 

 used in German hives have some sort 

 of spacer, either nails, staples, or 

 others. It is true the first frame can 

 be removed from a cupboard-fahsion- 

 ed hive easier than from an open-top 

 hive, like the American style, but it 

 takes more time to examine each 

 frame. For many years the bee- 

 keepers in Germany considered it im- 

 practical to remove frames from the 

 top, and I think for that reason our 

 hives were condemned by many; but 

 the attitude of the German bee-keep- 

 ing fraternity is somewhat changing. 

 Joh. Binder says in AUgem. Z. frei 

 Bzcht, that it depends largely upon 

 what one is used to, but this should 

 not lead him to condemn the other 

 hive; bees may be handled success- 

 fully in either hive. 



Further on, the same writer says, 

 that he cannot agree with the theory 

 advanced by another writer in that 

 paper, and holding that bright yellow 

 queens were to be preferred to dark 

 ones on the ground that the yellow 



queen may be found much easier on 

 a dark comb. Mr. Binder says he 

 would not condemn a good queen on 

 account of her color. (This is very 

 good doctrine, but the supposition is, 

 that the queens are good anyway, 

 then, in that case, a . light-colored 

 queen might be preferred, because 

 she can be found easier or makes 

 herself more conspicuous. It may be 

 simmered down to a matter of time- 

 saving.) 



Schoenfeld made the discovery that 

 there existed a peculiar organ in the 

 honey-bee between the honey-sac 

 and the true stomach, called 

 "stomach-mouth," a four-lipped open- 

 ing or rather valve with a protruding 

 neck which may be shoved forward 

 through the honey-stomach and 

 brought into connection with the 

 oesophagus or swallowing pipe, thus 

 nourishment may be taken in or pass- 

 ed out without emptying into the 

 honey-stomach at all. It was sup- 

 posed that the bee could pass the 

 honey from the honey-stomach to the 

 chylus — ^or true stomach through 

 the "stomach-mouth," and many hold 

 to that opinion now. Dr. Miller says 

 in his comments on the A B C of 

 Bee Culture, that the bee can do this 

 and live a long time on the honey 

 stored in the honey-stomach. This, 

 however, is contradicted by many 

 close observers of late. Joh. Binder 

 says in A. Z. f. Bzcht, of March, that 

 if the honey bee was enabled to live 

 on the honey in her own honey- 

 stomach she would in all probability, 

 not lay up any honey at all; but she 

 must empty her honey-sac first be- 

 fore she can take food into the true 

 stomach, thus she is coinpelled to 

 hurry home and store the gathered 

 nectar into the waxen cells. It is 

 therefore probable that raw nectar is 

 not taken into the true stomach 

 neither for food nor for any other 

 reason. The chemical change that 

 occurs, when the nectar is transform- 

 ed into honey is probably the work 



