-THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



205 



aus in aid of their businesss ? Might they not 

 be more extensively used ? And how ? 



Mr. Dzierzon remarked that this question had 

 no direct reference to beeculture as such; yet, if 

 the business is not to be prosecuted for mere 

 personal gratification, but become, through its 

 products, an important branch of national econ- 

 omy, beekeepers must strive to make it yield the 

 greatest possible profit. It must be made a 

 mercantile business, the beekeeper seeking to 

 make merchandise not only of his honey and 

 wax, but of his bees and epieens likewise. In 

 this view, to aid in rendering beecuhure pro- 

 fitable, railroads might be used with advantage 

 for the transportation of stocks from one dis- 

 trict to another, from places where pasturage is 

 exhausted to others where it is just beginning 

 to abound. Colonies might also be sent from 

 districts plentifully supplied, to others -where 

 they are still comparatively scarce ; and a lu- 

 crative and mutually advantageous traffic be 

 thus originated. 



Mr. Dathe stated that, in Hanover, railroads 

 were already much used for the transfer of 

 colonics, in the spring from the yet unproduc- 

 tive heaths to the marshv districts where early 

 flowers are in bloom. Again, in the fall, col- 

 onies are sent " by rail " to the heaths, from 

 districts which have ceased to furnish supplies ; 

 and thus railroads facilitate communication, in 

 this particular, between sections which pre- 

 viously had no intercourse. More still might 

 l)e accomplished in this way, if the railroads 

 passed through or led directly to honey produc- 

 ing districts. But such is not the case in every 

 instance, and where watron carriage must be 

 resorted to, for the transfer of stocks from the 

 line or the terminus of a railroad to the hill- 

 sides or villages where the coveted pasturage is 

 found, the expenses necessarily incurred leave 

 a narrow margin of profit. Again, pasturage 

 is not equally good every year, even in the 

 same districts, and disappointment and loss 

 sometimes await the "enterprising" bee- 

 master, who has spent time and money in trans- 

 porting his bees. Thus, though he had himself 

 to transport his stocks only one mile, the cost 

 incurred last season was not compensated by 

 the returns. 



Mr. Geilen said that he annually sent his bees 

 twenty -five miles by rail, safely and cheaply. 

 The agents do not hesitate to receive stocks as 

 freight at moderate charges. The cost would 

 be still less if a number of beekeepers were to 

 unite and hire a car in common. Loading and 

 unloading would then not have to be hurriedly 

 done, while mutual assistance and supervision 

 would prevent damage or loss. He had heard 

 it stated that movable comb hives were not 

 adapted for transportation ; but his own expe- 

 rience satisfied him that this is not correct. If 

 the surplus honey boxes are emptied, the 

 the entrances closed by perforated tin 

 slides, and the hives properly placed and secured, 

 no misgivings as to the result need be enter- 

 tained. 



The President now remarked that as the day 

 was far spent, he would suggest that the consi- 

 deration of the remaining questions be post- 

 poned. It had not been intended, w r hen so 



large a number was proposed, that all of them 

 should be discussed at this time. Those not 

 now disposed of, might be taken up by the Con- 

 vention next year. 



This Convention — the fifteenth — comprised 

 three hundred and eighty -four members. Of 

 these fifty-three were exhibitors ; and twenty, 

 four prizes, amounting to two hundred and 

 fifty florins were awarded by the committee. 



[From the Bieueuzeitunc 



Pure Fertilization of Queen Bees. 



The process for securing the pure fertilization 

 of queen bees, recommended by Kohler and 

 Dathe, which requires that the hives contain- 

 ing the queens and drones should be placed in 

 a dark cellar several days, then replaced on 

 their stands and opened in the evening, when 

 common drones are no longer flying, is certainly 

 an important advance in practical beeculture. 

 Nevertheless, it has some objectionable features. 

 That it involves some trouble is undoubtedly 

 true ; but that is not properly a matter for com- 

 plaint, because the bee-culturist must never be 

 unwilling to incur any reasonable amouut ot 

 trouble in the prosecution of his business. A 

 more material objection is found in the fact 

 that some beekeepers, though they have gar- 

 dens, have no cellars suited for the purpose ; 

 and that where large bee pavilions and double 

 or twin hives are used, the process is literally 

 unavailable. 



The method which I am about to communi- 

 cate differs from the former in this, that it dees 

 not require the removal of the hives from their 

 stands, is available with every description ot 

 movable comb hives, is convenient and easily 

 practicable everywhere, and is altogether cer- 

 tain in its results. 



It is presupposed that every beekeeper en- 

 gaged in rearing Italian, Egyptian, or other 

 queens, knows the day on which the young 

 queens will leave their cells — a knowledge 

 which is presupposed likewise w T hen the Kohler 

 or Dathe process is employed. By careful ob- 

 servations made by the Baron of Berlepsch, it 

 has been ascertained that young queens do not 

 leave their hives to meet the drones before the 

 fifth day after emerging from the cell ; and the 

 eighth day may be assumed as the period of full 

 maturity. On that day, if fair and mild, they 

 will certainly leave the hive, if they have not 

 previously done so. This fact, stated already 

 by Dzierzon, I have fouud verified in numerous 

 instances ; bad weather alone causing a post- 

 ponement of the excursion. Therefore, to guard 

 against anticipation, on the fourth or fifth day 

 open the hive containing the young queen, search 

 for her, and confine her under an open-base wire 

 gauze cage on the comb on which she is found, 

 pressing the edges of the cage into the comb fully 

 to the septum or middle partition. To confine 

 her earlier might impede or prevent her perfect 

 development. I prefer using the kind of cage 

 mentioned, because the queen has then the comb 

 for a foothold while she remains confined, feels 

 more contented and at ease, and finds herself at 



