438 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 10, J902. 



discovery had been put into practice years ago in Europe, 

 by the box-hive bee-keepers. 



In his Cours D'Apiculture, the first edition of which was 

 published in the SO's, Hamet, the well-known champion of 

 the bos and eke hives in Paris, describes his method of re- 

 turning- the swarm to its parent colony. This method he 

 uses for all secondary swarms, and he considers it necessary 

 in order to secure strong colonies, or rather to prevent the 

 " swarming to death " that weakens the parent colonies and 

 furnishes worthless swarms. His method is to hive the swarm 

 as usual in a plain box, and on the evening of the following 

 day return this swarm to the hive from whence it issued, by 

 shaking it in front of that hive. 



His explanation of what happens is that by the end of 

 the second day the bees have usually destroyed all queen- 

 cells and have kept but one young queen. When the swarm 

 is returned thus unexpectedh-, the two queens come together 

 and have a duel, in which one of them is killed. It would 

 perhaps serve the purpose still better if the queen of the 

 swarm that is returned was killed by the apiarist at the 

 time when the swarm is returned. 



As I said before, Hamet used this method only upon 

 secondary swarms. It is quite likely that he had never 

 tried it on primary swarms, for the reason that natural 

 swarming was considered by him as the best method of in- 

 crease, but my accidental trial and further experiments 

 have convinced me that it works nearly as well on a pri- 

 mary swarm as on a secondary swarm. 



Bear in mind, however, that this method is not infalli- 

 ble. The conditions which cause the bees to make prepara- 

 tions for swarming being still there, it is quite likely that 

 other preparations may be made a few days later, but if the 

 apiarist takes the pains to increase the space, giving room 

 and additional ventilation so the bees may not find them- 

 selves too crowded — if he sees that the hive is as well shel- 

 tered as possible from the heat of the sun during the warm 

 part of the day — this method will prove most successful. 

 Returning the swarm on the same day will not do; the ex- 

 citement is not over, and several young queens may be 

 roaming about the hive, or the additional queen-cells may 

 still be intact. It would be better to wait two days, if for 

 some cause the swarm can not be returned on the second 

 day. 



This method I gave several years ago in Gleanings, 

 and perhaps also in the American Bee Journal, and a num- 

 of apiarists have reported favorably upon it, though it has 

 not been uniformly successful in all instances. But there 

 is nothing which is at all times a success, and exceptions 

 only strengthen the rule. If in dry weather all signs fail, 

 it is also true that in a crazy swarming-time all methods 

 will fail to keep the bees within reasonable bounds. But 

 this method is worthy of a trial by those who have small 

 hives and wish to keep down the increase as much as pos- 

 sible. Hancock Co., 111. 



History and Condition of Bee-Keepin§ In Brazil. 



BY K. GRKINEK. 



The original stock of bees now kept in Brazil was im- 

 ported from Europe in 1839 by Carneiro. Of the 100 colo- 

 nies he started with from Portugal, he lost 93 in transit. 

 Later a German emigrant, whose name is not now known, 

 brought several colonies with him to the province Rio 

 Grande. These few colonies, it seems, were sufficient to 

 stock up the immense forests of Brazil. A few old inhabi- 

 tants are still keeping the small, native Brazilian bee with 

 some profit, but the products are principally used for pre- 

 paring medicines. On the whole, her European sister has 

 crowded the native bee out. 



The climate of Brazil is quite favorable for keeping 

 bees, especially as to obtaining increase. Drones are found 

 in nearly all strong colonies the whole year around. Several 

 swarms are cast by every colony, and every prime swarm 

 again swarms several times. This excessive swarming, 

 however, is of no advantage to the ordinary bee-keeper, as 

 many swarms fail to store enough honey to bridge over the 

 rainy season, and die. The apiarist who understands his 

 business, however, can reap bovintifully. 



Mr. A. Hannemann developed the method of hiving ten 

 or more swarms in one large, giant hive, caging all queens. 

 Thus he has immense quantities of honey stored, practically 

 exchanging the bees for honey, for in the end he has 

 scarcely enough bees left to make one good colony. Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers try to accomplish the same object by con- 

 traction of the brood-chamber and uniting at the close of 

 the season. 



In the mountainous part of the province Rio de Janeiro 

 the bees begin to fly in Jul}', and the main harvest comes in 

 August, at the time of orange-bloom. The swarming-period 

 has its beginning also at this time, and continues till away 

 into October. After this month there is little honey to be 

 gathered. Soon the rainy season commences, which often 

 extends into January or February. The then following dry 

 and cool spell does not hinder the bees from flying and leav- 

 ing their hives, but they find so very little bloom that their 

 stores become wonderfully reduced, and" many colonies 

 starve and die. June is the coldest month of the 3'ear, and 

 is the trying one for the bees and their keeper. 



The hives mostly used by the common run of bee- 

 keepers consist of all sorts of miserable boxes, which often 

 fail to give sufficient protection. They leave them scat- 

 tered about wherever it happens to be. Only a very few 

 bee-sheds may be found which provide shelter and shade, 

 and give some comfort to the bees. 



Natural enemies of the bees are numerous. Ants and 

 moths are at all times ready to embrace every opportunity 

 to put in their destructive work, and are a constant annoy- 

 ance to the bees. The bee-keeper himself, who should be 

 the protector, is of questionable advantage to them, and 

 often robs the poor creatures of all their sealed stores, leav- 

 ing them only the unsealed, poor honey gathered late in the 

 season. In consequence the bees do not remain healthy, 

 and often die with the dysentery during the wet season. 



The lack of proper bee-supplies, and the general igno- 

 rance of the masses, are responsible for the fact that Bra- 

 zilian honey is in no demand. The wealthier land-owners 

 do not seem to take any interest in bee-culture. Their 

 coffee-plantations take up their whole niind and being, and 

 they look down upon other branches of agriculture with 

 contempt, especially when such do not promise large re- 

 turns. A change for the better in the near future is inevi- 

 table. Since the abolition of slavery (1888) many land- 

 owners found themselves without the necessary help to work 

 all their land, and had to dispose of the greater part of it, 

 dividing it up into small farms. Many of these were 

 bought up by European immigrants, who brought with 

 them the knowledge of apiculture. Through this element 

 the progress is expected to come. In particular will this 

 be the case in the State of Rio de Janeiro, where conditions 

 are most favorable for a most extensive production of cofi^ee. 

 So far, then, apiculture is not in a very flourishing con- 

 dition nor of great importance in Brazil, but as knowledge 

 increases apiculture will come to the front. When better 

 constructed hives are adopted some of the pests will be 

 more easily held in check. The native small bee is much 

 inclined to rob ; she has the very best chance with such 

 hives as are now in use, and which are usually full of 

 cracks and holes. With well-made hives her European 



