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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



4tli. The Langstroth liive is very apt to leak 

 in wet weatiier, nnless covered. The roof of 

 the Americau hive makes this impossible. 



5th. In the improved American hive, you 

 have no honey-board to bother Tvith, as the 

 frames form that themselves, and the boxes are 

 almost a part of the body of the hive itself. 

 Still they can be readily removed, and never 

 contain brood, so far as I have seen. 



On the contrary, it is claimed that ihe Lang- 

 stroth hive furnishes more room on lop for sur- 

 plus honey-boxes. But, "with the manner of 

 raising the boxes on the American hive, when 

 half tilled, I think that all the bees of any 

 swarm can be fully employed. 



I cannot see the objection of keeping the 

 frames all at equal distances. Will some one 

 enlighten me ? Supposing the combs all built 

 nearly, uniform as mine have been so far. 

 J- Now, Mr. Editor, lam afraid this looks too 

 much like advertising a patent hive, but I own 

 no right except an individual one, and have no 

 interest except to wish to know which ^■s t/iebest 

 hive for us all to use. 



The inventor has no knowledge at all of what 

 I am writing, and if any of your subscribers 

 am inform us how the Langstroth hive can be 

 used just as well and as easily in the points 

 mentioned, I shall be very much obliged to 

 ihem. 



The first item mentioned is the most im- 

 portant, as bee-keepers here have agreed that 

 the old bee-hive is much better than Lang- 

 etroth's for wintering. What is the objection 

 to the movable side ? Any information on the 

 above points will be thankfully received by — 



A Novice. 



Statistics of European Bee-Culture. 



FROM HAUSNEK's "COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OP 

 EUROPE." 



Relative Tenacity of Bee Life. 



One of the nests of Bombus ferm'dus I kept in 

 a box for somf^ time and Avatched the action of 

 the [humble] bees; but as I then neglected to 

 make full notes, and iis ray first observations 

 vrere confirmed b}' later ones, I allude to them 

 here only to introduce an incident which has 

 relation to the duration of life of the various 

 kinds which alwa.yrt compose the communities 

 of humble bees Upon leaving Warwick I left 

 my valise, in whicli was a nest of bees, at the 

 depot. Two months atterwards, in November, 

 it was brought to me, when upon examining 

 the nest seveial large queen-bees were found 

 in a lively condition, while the males, small 

 females, and workeis were all dead. When the 

 valise was left at the depot, there was but one 

 ciueen in the nest. This incident proves that 

 the Ciueeus are not only late in leaving the cells, 

 but that they are capable of enduring cold 

 which is fatal to the other bees. — F. W. Put- 

 nam's "iYoies on the Habits of the Humble Bee.'''' 



One community of humble bees kept by Mr. 

 F. W. Putnam under glass on a window, with 

 free ingress and egiess, continued Avorking 

 until, on a very hot day, liie young became 

 l)ak('d in their cells hy the heat of the sun. 

 Then 'he old ones lei't, a h\ did not return. 



The ascertained number of stocks of bees in 

 Europe (with the exception of Denmark, Swe- 

 den, Norway, the Netherlands, and Turkey) is 

 21,784,000, distributed as follows: 



In Russia 13,.')00,000 



Austria, (1857) 3,000,000 



France, (1858) 2,200,000 



Italy 1,250,000 



Spain, (1861) 863,000 



Prussia 400,000 



Switzerland 320,000 



Greece, (1860) 235,000 



Bavaria, (1863) 233,000 



Hanover, (1861)..- 201,000 



Portugal 160,000 



Wurtemberg 104,000 



Great Britain 100,000 



Belgium, (1859) 61,000 



Saxony, (1801) 51,000 



Fcsse, (1859) 41,000 



Baden, 1861) 25,000 



Hesse-Darmstadt, (1858) 19,000 



The rest of Germany ' 120,000 



In the area of Europe there are on 



an average on each square mile 7 hives. 



In Switzerland 21 " 



On the Ionian Islands 15 " 



InGnlicia 15 " 



Wurtemberg 14 " 



Hanover 14 " 



Italy 12 " 



Austria 13 " 



Greece 13 " 



Hesse 18 " 



France 10 " 



Saxe- Weimar 9 " 



Nassau 9 " 



Bavaria 8 " 



Eussia 6 " 



Hesse-Darmstadt " 



Belgium 5 " 



Spain 4 " 



Baden 4 " 



Portugal 4 " 



Prussui 4 " 



Great Britain 1 " 



On the entire area of Europe there is on an 

 average one hive to everj^ 11.7 inhabitants. Tn 

 Greece, one to every 5.5; in Russia, one to 5,."); 

 in Switzerland, one to 7.5; in Hanover, one to 

 9; in Galicia, one to 11; in Austria, one to 11; 

 in France, one to 10; in Wurtemberg, one to 

 10; in Spain, one to 18; in Italy, one to 18; in 

 Bavaria, one to 20; in Portugal, one to 23; in 

 Nassau, one to 29; in Saxony, one to 43; in 

 Hesse-Darmstadt, one to 45; in Prussia, one to 

 40; in Baden, one to 54; in Belgium, one to 77, 

 in Great Britain, one to 291. 



The annual product of honey and Ava.v in 

 Austria, France, and Greece is as follows: 



IIONKY. AVAX. 



Austria 17,000,000 lbs. 11,220,000 lbs. 



France 16,020,000 " 3,840,000 " 



Greece 880,000 " 880,000 " 



