174 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



NOTES FROM FOREIGN BEE JOURNALS. 



L. THOMPSON. 



Ae cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good 

 news from a far country.— S/Si£ 



German beginners in bee-culture in this 

 country, who read English with difficulty 

 or not at all, may learn the elements of 

 contemporary honey production in Amer- 

 ica in their own language, in a book writ- 

 ten by J. F. Eggers, of Grand Island, 

 Nebraska. It is entitled " Bienenzucht 

 und Honiggervwnung nach der neaesten 

 Methode " ( Bee-Culture and Honey Pro- 

 duction by the Latest Method). Like 

 Mr. Benton's book, this work is not easy 

 to review, for the same reasons, adher- 

 ing as it does closely to standard meth- 

 ods and implements, and giving the most 

 essential points in simple language. The 

 following recommendations and state- 

 ments, while practiced and confirmed by 

 many, savor more of an individuality in 

 the author, so as to be either not approv- 

 ed by all, or suited rather to particular 

 localities: feeding of substitutes for pollen; 

 watering; production of extracted honey 

 by putting the brood in the upper story 

 and leaving the queen below the excluder, 

 repeating the process in three weeks; fall 

 feeding to promote brood-rearing when 

 the bees stop breeding early; assigning as 

 one reason for recommending full sheets 

 of foundation in the brood chamber (ex- 

 cept when swarms are contracted), that 

 the bees consume lo to 15 pounds of hon- 

 ey to produce one of wax; stating that, 

 only half as much comb as extracted hon- 

 ey can be produced; reconnnending a 

 self-hiver ( Kretschmer's ) ; and stating 

 that other bee-diseases than foul brood 

 are of little significance. The latter 

 statement may stand, if applied to the 

 comparative frequency of severe out- 

 breaks of paralysis or "evaporation;" 

 but certainly the latter are far worse than 

 foul brood when they do occur. On the 

 whole, the book is evidently the work of 



an experienced and practical bee-keeper, 

 and will serve its purpose admirably. 

 The treatments of comb-honey produc- 

 tion, increase and queen-rearing are par- 

 ticularly likely to be stimulating to the 

 beginner, while at the same time safe. 



L'Apiculteur. — In a discussion on 

 moving bees, M. Beuve called attention 

 to the fact that as long as the vehicle is 

 in motion, all is probably well, but at the 

 least stop the bees are greath- disturbed 

 and become heated. M. Minoret said 

 that in his experience colonies transport- 

 ed in the state of a swarm gathered more 

 than those moved with combs and all. 

 Frere Jules moves bees and brood separa- 

 tely, leaving only a few workers on the 

 brood. He has noticed that the workers 

 carry in pollen only 20 minutes after the 

 entrance is opened. 



In a subsequent article, M. Minoret 

 states his practice of migratory bee-keep- 

 ing, on the plan practiced by an old bee- 

 keeper with a hundred colonies for the 

 last fifty years, modified by extensive ex- 

 periences of his. own. He does not move 

 established colonies, but swarms only, 

 procured artificially. None but large 

 swarms are transported. Two swarms 

 weighing five kilos (about 11 pounds) 

 will yield much more surplus ^dth much 

 less trouble than five swarms weighing 

 two kilos. Plain light boxes are used, 

 containing frames with starters, and cov- 

 ered with wire cloth. The same boxes 

 serve for hives after the arrival. When 

 the destination is inaccessible bj^ wagons, 

 narrow boxes with wire cloth sides are 

 temporarily substituted. To procure the 

 swarms, the transportation-box is set on 

 the stand of a strong colony, two combs 

 containing a little honey and brood of all 

 stages removed and set in it, then the 

 bees brushed into it from the rest of the 

 combs. The old hive with its combs is 

 then set on the stand of another colony, 

 and the latter tnoved to a new location, 

 after brushing the bees from three or four 

 frames, so that the brood of the hive set 

 in its place will not become chilled. When 

 evening comes, the transportation-boxes 



