German and Austrian Convention. 



BY BUDOLF MAYEEHOEFFEB. 



I herewith present the many readers of 

 the Amebican Bee Joubnai, with a short 

 report of the XXIII Annual meeting of the 

 German and Austrian Bee-Keepers' Con- 

 vention, which was held at Greefswald, in 

 Pomerania, from the 10th to the 13th of 

 Sept., 1878. About 900 bee-keepers were 

 present and participated in the deliberations. 

 The weather was excellent. The city has a 

 population of 18,000. They are generally 

 very intellectual, and of an exceedingly 

 humorous disposition. Our re-union was 

 quite an event for the exceedingly quiet 

 community. Nearly all the houses being 

 decorated with flags and the people in holi- 

 day attire. Although I have attended many 

 similar meetings, i am obliged to avow that 

 this was one of the most successful and 

 interesting. The success was attributable to 

 the very excellent preparation and manage- 

 ment of the two Presidents— Count Behr- 

 Negendank, and Professor Munter — and the 

 Secretary, Lady Munter, an exceedingly 

 accomplished and amiable lady. 



The exhibition was grand, and demon- 

 strated the state of perfection to which the 

 bee-keepers of Pomerania had arrived in 

 scientific apiculture. The display of honey 

 and wax was splendid. M. De Corswant 

 brought a nice collection of honey in the 

 comb put up in fanciful shapes, resembling 

 pieces of cheese, butter, oranges and other 

 fruits. 



Another exhibit in the shape of a crown, 

 was very much admired. Still another dis- 

 played a nice comb, 3 feet in height ! 



Pastor Babborn and his lady exhibited 

 liquors made with honey, and fruits pre- 

 served in that delicious nectar. 



Also boxes of honey, from 3 lbs. to 1 lb. 

 each, known as Pomeranian honey, were 

 exhibited. Many of such are exported to 

 St. Petersburg annually. A very nice col- 

 lection of these small boxes was displayed 

 byM. Biesenshall. 



In the group of bee hives some of the 

 American hives were shown. Also the 

 rotating hive from Biga, but bee-keepers 

 did not generally approve of it. Another, 

 intended for migratory bee-keeping, was 

 exhibited by M. Hilbert. 



The greatest attraction was the new 

 invention of M. Pastor Knoblauch for arti- 

 ficially sealing the cells. It is called Colum- 

 bus' egg, but I should call it Satans' egg. 

 It can be of no practical use to bee-keepers. 

 When honey is unripe, it is useless to seal 

 up the cells. Only adulterators will favor 

 it. The sealing is coarse and rough, but it 

 may in time be improved, so that it may 

 equal natural sealing, but of what use is it 

 to honest bee-keepers ? 



The questions discussed I will leave to 

 another letter. 



The next meeting will be held at Prague. 

 My proposition to make that meeting an in- 

 ternational exhibition receives much favor. 



Prague, Austria, Dec. 17, 1878. 



Foreign Items. 



GLEANED BY FRANK BENTON. 



Swallows- Prof. Cook says in his "Man- 

 ual," that, though European swallows do 

 capture and eat worker-bees, in view of the 

 good they do in destroying injurious insects, 

 be would be slow in recommending the death 

 warrant for them. Herr Julius Lippert, the 

 learned author of the German work, " The 

 Farmer's Guests in House and Yard, Mead- 

 ow and Field," is a zealous defender of the 

 swallows, lie says in the work just men- 

 tioned : "Swallows live exclusively on fly- 

 ing insects, but not on such as possess 

 poisonous stings. "The editor of the Bie- 

 nen-Zuechter remarks : " We request our 

 readers to make exact observations relative 

 to the possible damages inflicted in apiaries 

 by swallows, and to communicate the same 

 to us. Let us, however, always be merciful 

 toward these sprightly little creatures, 

 which, only now ai;d then, when other food 

 fails them, attack our bees." 



Melii.ot.— Of melilot (Melilotus offici- 

 nalis) Ch. Zwilling, one of the editors of the 

 apiarian journal of Alsace and Lorraine, 

 says: "Its little pendant yellow flowers, dis- 

 posed in delicate, elongated racemes, exhale 

 an agreeable odor and are very rich in honey. 

 They are assiduously frequented by the bees 

 till they commence to fade." 



Honey Adtjltebation in Fbance.— 

 From ISApicultewr (Paris) the following 

 is taken: " During the years of medium har- 

 vests, and consequent high prices of the pro- 

 duct, adulterators spring up. Our attention 

 is called to a suit pending at Amiens, 

 between a purchaser to whom native honey 

 was to have been supplied, and a Parisian 

 dealer who, it is claimed, furnished instead, 

 honey from Chili, re-melted and more or less 

 sweetened. We shall endeavor to ascertain 

 the decision of the jury. What ought to be 

 asked of the judges, is, publicity of the 

 decision, if they do not wish similar cases 

 to be repeated ; for the scoundrels fear 

 neither fines nor imprisonment ; they only 

 fear publicity, which alone is able to keep 

 them from becoming rich. 



"We will not change the subject much if 

 we proceed to consider the enticers— those 

 who deceive the public by means of labels, 

 and they are quite numerous. There are, 

 for example, those who deal in honey said 

 to be from Narbonne, Chamouny, the upper 

 Pyrenees, etc., but which is gathered at 

 Pantin or Pontoise (villages in France). 



"For some time there has been before the 

 stores of dealers in comb honey the adver- 

 tisement in large characters: 'California 

 honey,' by the side of that announcing 

 Mocha from Zanzibar or from Pondicherry 

 (read : chiccory fiom Cambray). It appears 

 that the consumers who have suffered them- 

 selves to be taken by this and have tasted of 

 honey fraudulently labeled as coming from 

 the land of golden ingots, have found at the 

 first trial the expression which best tells 

 the quality of it : Pooh !" 



