THE AMERICAN APJCULTUIilST. 



115 



88, of the Api, any queen in the 

 apiary can be foitilized liy any 

 drones desired. Of tliis nmlter, I 

 will si)ealv Curtlicr hiter in llie sea- 

 son. 



I Since the foresoiiip; wiis written we have 

 recfivfil sfvciil nioie siimples ol niet;il IVoni 

 l>r. Tinker, 'riiev .-no tlie same a.s tlie Ueese 

 metal, aiut if Dr. Tinker lias not readied the 

 lop rnund in the hnliU'r or)>erlecti<tn no other 

 person is lilcely to. II' the reailers (U'sire to 

 use |iertor;iteil zinc honey-boanls as Dr. Tin- 

 ker does, by all means «;<.•[ the Tinker hr.-md of 

 perfonited metal. When you see a saniiile of 

 the metal yon will he likely to say tlial we 

 h.Mve not '• .-loppoil over" in our oimiioii of 

 this metal."] 



FOREIGN. 



Appreciation. — The quotation, 

 given below, is from the British 

 Bee Journal of March 22, 1888. 

 We are glad to note the fact that 

 the Apr and its able contributors 

 are appreciated to sudi an extent. 



PRACTICAf, mXTS FROM COUSIN 

 JON.XTHAN. 



Among-st American bee-papers, for 

 practical iiifonnation the American 

 -4joict(Z^rmi bears tiie pahu. At inter- 

 vals of a few months an extra-good 

 number comes from the desk of Mr. 

 Henr}' Allej\ The number for March 

 is so exceptionally good that I have 

 condensed the following hints from it 

 — wiiich is always a difficult matter — 

 and do justice to the writers at the 

 same time. Several other subjects 

 were treated, l)ut I have used what I 

 thought would be of most interest to 

 readers of the — Amateur Expert in B. 

 B.J. 



AKTIFICIAL FECUNDATION. 



As a skilful beekeeper here in Den- 

 mark (Mr. P. O. Herg, Torring) has in 

 the last two seasons tried some very 

 interesting experiments in this dii-ec- 

 tion, I siiall relate these to you, as 

 they may, perhaps, lead to some very 

 important discoveries on this head. 

 Mr. Berg's experiments were made at 

 the same time as Professor MacLaiii's 

 in North America, but wiiliout his 

 knowing the latter, and the former are 

 in .several respects better arranged. 



Mr. Berg has not caught his drones 

 among the multitude of drones in a 



strong stock (as did MacLain), i)ut at 

 the eiitnmre of the hive, -at the moment 

 wlicn tiie dioiie intended lo take a 

 wedding fligiit. Tliis accounts for 

 Maclvain's coniphiint lliat most of his 

 tirones were not fit for the purpose, 

 while with Berg every one of his was 

 suitalile for fceundiitiou. He seizes 

 the maiden queen by her wings with 

 the tliuinl) and forefinger of the left 

 hand. In this siluation the queen will 

 bend her abdomen downwards towards 

 the thorax. Then he seizes with the 

 riiiht liand thuinl) and forefinger the 

 drone on both sides of thorax, and 

 cautiously pressing the abdomen, tlie 

 desired eftect is produced, and fecun- 

 dation may be accomplished. Mr. 

 Berg tells us that the queen when 

 released will disengageherself in some 

 fifteen minutes. He has in this man- 

 ner artificially fecundated six queens 

 in the season 1886, and four in the last 

 season, and in all ten cases with an ex- 

 cellent result. 



As these very remarkable experi- 

 ments, if they are confirmed, undoubt- 

 edly will lead to very important pro- 

 gress in apiculture — that is, to an 

 easier and more sure fecundation of 

 the queens — I hope tJiat you are will- 

 ing to acquaint your readers with them 

 through your valuable Journal.— Rxas 

 Ekslky, Editor of the Danish Bee Jour- 

 nal. — Brilish Bee Journal. 



[Experiments similar to the above were 

 coiuhifted in our apiary more than twenty 

 years ago, but with no satisfactory results]. 



DRONE TRAPS. 



Under the head of " A Review of the 

 Bee Literature of Germany and Aus- 

 tria," we find the following: 



" Dione-traps are described" as dangerous 

 appliances which should not be used in the 

 apiary on any account, as they frequently 

 cause the loss of the queen." 



Well, isn't that rich? Where one 

 queen would be lost by using the trap 

 one hundred queens would be saved. 

 Wontler what sort of drone-traps those 

 fellows use? 



We use traps here in America, be- 

 cause they save not only oZZ the queens, 

 but all the bees as well. 



LIKES THE API BEST. 



Canajoharie, K. Y. 

 Editor Api: Last 3'ear I took 2,J00 lb». 

 of honey from live colonies of bees. How was 

 that for a jioor season ? 



I like the " Api " better than any other bee- 

 journal 1 take. 



J. S. Ellithkop. 



