156 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



August 



ing the quantity of honey necessary for 

 production of a given quantity of wax, 

 say one pound. Among the ligures quoted 

 we find: Milnes, Edwards & Dumas, 30 

 ft)s; Byrlepsch, 10 to 12ft)s; Viallon and 

 DeLayens, about ftjs; Hamet, 3 to Sfts. 

 Mr. L. Maupy, from a theoretical stand- 

 point, thinivS 2h fts the lowest limit 

 admissible. The chemical analysis shows 

 that 100 pounds of wax contain, chemic- 

 ally, 81}'^ tbs of carbon, UX fts of hy- 

 drogen and 5 fts of oxygen. On the 

 other hand the honey averages about— 

 for 100 pounds— 30 fts of water, 33 ft)S 

 of carbon, 6 ftis of hydrogen and 43 fts 

 of oxygen. The water, though composed 

 of hvdrogen and oxygen, is here separat- 

 ed because it is mixed with the other 

 constituents of the honey, and not chem- 

 ically combined. It follows then that to 

 furnish the 813.< pounds of carbon neces 

 sary to 100 pounds of wax, a consump- 

 tion of 350 pounds of honey will be re- 

 quired, since 100 pounds of honey could 

 furnish only 32 pounds or thereabout. If 

 I am not mistaken, Viallon, De Layens 

 and many others have experimented with 

 bees confined; feeding first just enough 

 to keep them alive, then as much as they 

 would eat; weighing bees, feed and wax 

 in all stages of tiie experiment. Their 

 object was to find out how much of the 

 food consumed was used merely to sus- 

 tain the life of the bees, and how much 

 was employed to the actual production 

 of wax. The defect of such methods is 

 that bees in confinement are noi in a 

 normal condition and it is very doubtful 

 if the conclusions thus deduced can apply 

 to bees under normal conditions. Mr. 

 Sylviac (Revue Iiiterudtiotinlc) has, dur- 

 ing the last three years, experimented 

 on bees under normal conditions and 

 during the honey ttow. The descriptions 

 of his experiments were given at the 

 time,, but the communication I have be- 

 fore ine gives only the final results ob- 

 tained. When working, a colony of 

 approximately ten thousand bees will eat 

 daily for merely life sustaining purposes 

 about nineteen ounces of nectar. It 

 takes three pounds of nectar to produce 

 one pound of wax. He says "nectar,'' 

 and I suppose meant such as it is brought 

 from the field. Nothing is said about 

 the brood; I suppose the colonies experi- 

 mented on were not allowed to raise any 

 brood. More will follow in future issues. 

 Q 

 Mr. Jules (Revue Inteni'tUonalc) has 

 made an improvement on the spur imbed- 

 der used to fasten the foundation to the 

 wired frames. It appears from his con- 

 tribution that the European bee-keepers 



heat their imbedders in order to make 

 the wax adhere better to the wire; but 

 the spur, being small, loses its heat rap- 

 idly and requires constant re-heating. 

 Mr. Jules attaches the spur to an ordin- 

 ary soldering iron. The iron keeps the 

 heat a long time, comparatively. One 

 instrument is heated while the bee- 

 keeper uses the other. It seems to me 

 that a spur, or roll, could be made large 

 enough to keep the heat as long as a 

 soldering iron. 



Adrian Getaz. 



OER3IANY. 



Germany's bee-keepers are anxious to 

 have a special law enacted against adul- 

 teration of honey. The government does 

 not favor the idea because it is claimed 

 that the adulteration can not be proven 

 by chemical analysis. 



Schools teaching bee-keeping are not 

 a new thing in Germany and have been 

 held there as well as in Austria for many 

 years. The instruction given includes 

 the manufacture of hives, straw skeps, 

 comb foundation, solar wax extractors, 

 bee escapes etc. The terms are short, 

 lasting but ten days; tuition or admission 

 is free. 



m 



A new style of honey extractor is ad- 

 vertised and described in Lclpzkjer 

 Blencn ZcUuun about as follows: When 

 using our improved extractor the work is 

 simplified and made easy on account of 

 having dispensed with the cumbersome 

 metal can or wooden -tub. We need no 

 uncapping can. The comb baskets are 

 hinged at the bottom of the revolving 

 iron frame and may be dropped down 

 like the leaf to a writing desk, when the 

 combs of honey can be laid upon the 

 wire screen of the basket; in this posi- 

 tion they are uncapped, then turned 

 over. Now th^ comb baskets are raised 

 to their proper position ready for ex- 

 tracting. On account of the pleasing 

 form and the elegant finish the extractor 

 may be used as a flower stand when not 

 in use otherwise. Price complete, 8(5 m. 



m 



Gundelach, Berlepseh and Donhoff 

 have proven by their experiments that 

 bees consume ten parts of honey to pro- 

 duce one part wax. The Dees were kept 

 confined. Collin declares, during a good 

 honey flow wax costs but little honey. 

 According to Apiculteur Sylviac found 

 that under favorable conditions one part 

 honey would produce an equal amount 

 wax. Hamet thought that two or three 



