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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



had made a desideratum ; and as conducing to 

 the further improvement and advancement of 

 practical beeculture. The Rev. Mr. Kohler re- 

 marked that as the introduction of movable 

 combs was an improvement in the ratio of tioo 

 to one, so the invention of the honey-emptier 

 might he considered as a further advance in the 

 ratio of four to one. 



A doubt having been expressed whether the 

 machine could be used for extracting either 

 candied honey, or the tough, viscid honey gather- 

 ed from blooming heather, Dr. Pollmau stated 

 that this could be done, the difficulty having 

 been overcome by a young man residing in his 

 neighborhood, who Immersed in tepid water 

 the combs containing such honey, which 

 then readily yielded to the action of the ma- 

 chine. 



The inventor, Major Von Hruschka, being 

 present, stated that he deemed it practicable to 

 extract such honey by the machine without im- 

 mersing the combs. He had made some recent 

 improvements in his invention, and among 

 them was an arrangement for warming the 

 combs by the use of a spirit lamp, which en- 

 abled him to operate the machine in cool wea- 

 ther, and even in winter ; and he doubttd not 

 that he could thus extract candied or viscid 

 honey. By a further improvement now in pro- 

 gress, he expected to be able to dispense with 

 the uncapping of the cells; and thus a trouble- 

 some and tedious operation would be got rid of. 

 Major Von II was requested to report the re- 

 sults of his experiments in the Bienenzeitung; 

 which he promised to do if he succeeded in ren- 

 dering the uncapping unnecessary. 



Making Artificial Colonies. 



Question 14 regarded the best mode of mak- 

 ing artificial colonies. 



Dr. Pollmam said he would communicate his 

 process. " I have only one apiary," said he, 

 41 though I make artificial colonies. I usually 

 make them with the queen. I take from a pop- 

 ulous colony several combs with brood, on one 

 of Avhich the queen is seen. I transfer these to 

 an empty hive, add some empty combs, and set 

 the hive on the stand of the parent stock, re- 

 moving the latter to some other part of the 

 apiary. If this is done when the weather is 

 tine and while the bees are flying briskly, we 

 may feel assured that before night all the old 

 bees will have left the parent hive and joined 

 the new colony. This latter has the queen aud 

 a supply of empty combs in which she may at 

 once proceed to deposite eggs and the old work- 

 ers may forthwith store honey. The parent 

 stock, too, is speedily recuperated from the 

 brood it contains, which is maturing from day 

 to day ; and as in the best days of summer the 

 queen lays from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs daily, a cor- 

 responding number of bees will issue daily, 

 and thus speedily repopulate it, though all the 

 old bees that leave fail to return. In the course 

 of a week it will have recovered its normal 

 number, and resume its pristine activity. " 



Mr. Ilempel remarked that, with some modi- 

 fication, he regarded the process just described 

 as one of the best in use. " I have," said he, 

 " for some time past, made my artificial colonies 



mainly in this manner, though for convenience 

 I make some changes. 1 do not remove the parent 

 hive, because in some cases that would be diffl. 

 cult, if not impracticable ; but I remove all the 

 combs. That'is, I transfer all the combs from 

 the parent stock to an empty hive, catching the 

 queen and retu.ning her to the old hfve, and 

 placing her among the bees remaining there. 

 All the bees which had previously flown out, 

 will speedily return to the parent hive, and, 

 with those remaining there, soon cons'itute a 

 strong swarm, which I am careful to furnish 

 with plenty of worker guide comb. An artificial 

 colony thus made will build as freely and rapid- 

 ly as a natural one. The transferred stock, too, 

 placed on a new stand in another part of the 

 apiary, though the bees cease flying for a few- 

 days, will thrive satisfactorily, having a store of 

 honey, and nearly all the young bees, with plenty 

 of maturing brood from which its numbers will 

 be rapidly reinforced. When old slocks thus 

 treated are as populous as they should be to jus- 

 tify division, artificial colonies can in this way 

 be best and most easily made, no second or 

 distant apiary beiug required. " 



Mr. Dzierzon observed that it was hardly 

 possible to say which is the most unexception- 

 able mode of making artificial colonies, as, in 

 every case, much depends on the kind of hive 

 employed and on various attending circum- 

 stances. "I have," said he, " several objec- 

 tions to the mode just recommended, by which 

 the combs are transferred and the older bees 

 return to their late home, uniting with the arti- 

 ficial colony there, which retains the queen. I 

 have learned from experience that a queen so 

 situated is apt to be killed by some of her own 

 bees, returning from the new location on the sec- 

 ond or third day. The most advantageous mode 

 unquestionably is that which most closely re- 

 semb.es natural swarming; namely, driving or 

 drumming out, when the driven swarm can he 

 sent to a distant apia r y. If this cannot be done, 

 other modes must of course be resorted to, such 

 as that proposed by the second speaker, as Ave 

 then have the queen aud bees together immedi- 

 ately, and need not wait for a gradual accession 

 of numbers to constitute a colony." 



Mr. Hempel remarked that, of course, he 

 made his artificial colonies only on days when 

 the bees were flying briskly, w r hen assuredly 

 very few old bees will remain with the trans- 

 ferred stock, because the absence of the queen 

 causes alarm and excitement among them, in- 

 ducing them to leave and return to their old 

 stand on the same day. Long as lie had prac- 

 ticed this method, he had never lost a queen 

 thereby. 



Form and Size of Hive. 



Question 15. What is the preferable form 

 and size of a hive — more especially of the brood- 

 ing apartment ? Mr. Klipstein, who had pro- 

 posed this question, said that reasons deduced 

 from physical laws had, on a former occasion, 

 led to the conclusion that a globular form of 

 hive, or some near appioximaiion thereto, fur- 

 nished the most suitable and best brooding 

 apartment. To restate those laws and reeapitu- 



