May 30, 1907 



455 



American Me Journal 



Chambers describe more fully his re- 

 queening- and non-swarminp boards, 

 and their use. Perhaps he has some 

 pictures of them that could be used to 

 make everything^ plainer. — Editor.] 



The American Bee-Keepers 

 Criticised. With Side- 

 Lights of German 

 Bee- Keeping 



BY F. GREINBR 



Dr. Bruennich, of Zurich, accuses 

 the American bee-keeper (in Leips. 

 Bztg.) of esteeming no one higher 

 than himself; that he regards himself 

 smarter, as we often say, than the bee- 

 keeper of any other country ; that he 

 is a long ways ahead of all, and that 

 all nations have a reason to look up to 

 him. In the line of practical results 

 the Doctor may make some conces- 

 sions, but he says bee-keeping on the 

 large American scale is an absolute 

 impossibility in Europe. In the line 

 of breeding we have not even learned 

 the a b c. In breeding fowls he thinks 

 we have made achievements, but in 

 breeding bees we can show nothing. 

 As a characteristic proof he cites from 

 Gleanings : The $200 red clover queen 

 that did not reproduce herself in her 

 daughter — nay, that she did not pro- 

 duce even one daughter her equal ; and 

 that Root is now willing to give S500 

 for a queen as good as the one spoken 

 about. Dr. Bruennich holds that this 

 lack of stableness has no other cause 

 than our crazy passion for new races 

 of bees, and the constant crossing 

 which has resulted in a cross without 

 any fixedness. He censures us for im- 

 porting all sorts of bees — Italians, Car- 

 niolans. Funics, Cyprians, and now 

 the Caucasians — and possibly some 

 other races that Prof. Benton may 

 have hunted out on his trip around the 

 world. We dream of the ideal bee, but 

 are very far from it. A similar craze 

 was raging in Europe some years ago, 

 he says, but they have freed themselves 

 from it, and they have found that by 

 keeping a race pure they can attain 

 that stableness desired, which makes 

 their " Switzer Bee " reproduce itself. 

 The purer their bees the surer they 

 transmit their qualities to their off- 

 spring ; we know that particularly in 

 breeding bees it is a most dangerous 

 sport to keep crossing our bees, mix- 

 ing in new blood. Just as long as the 

 bee-keeping masses are not enlight- 

 ened by their press, so long there will 

 be no stable American bee, but simply 

 hybrids. The Doctor is apparently 

 pretty well posted, for he says : The 

 black bee is constantly being run down, 

 although such a bee in its pureness 

 does not exist any more in America. 



How nearly right Dr. B. is in his 

 analysis and criticism I can not say, 

 but it may do us good to see ourselves 

 once as others see us. If the Ameri- 

 cans have been guilty of looking down 

 upon their European brothers in the 

 past, it is my impression the Ameri- 

 cans have been treated similarly by the 

 Europeans. It, however, seems to me 

 that of late years we have become bet- 

 ter acquainted with each other, and 



that superior feeling is fast giving 

 away to esteem. Conditions are so 

 totally different on the different con- 

 tinents that it is difficult for one to set 

 himself up as a judge. If the reader 

 will bear with me I will give him an 

 example of a practise that would per- 

 haps not appeal to him as one to fol- 

 low in America, and yet in Europe it is 

 all right : 



lienerally speaking, bee-keeping is 

 not carried on in Germany as a pro- 

 fession as is the case in America ; still 

 in certain parts of Germany it is. The 

 "heath beekeepers" have a great 

 reputation. Their hives are straw- 

 skeps ; their heath-bee is much like 

 the Carniolan bee, inasmuch as they 

 are great on swarming. The swarms 

 are all hived, and the heavy colonies 

 are brimstoned in the fall, also driven, 

 and the bees sold. There exists a reg- 

 ular trade in these bees in the fall, 

 many less fortunate beekeepers pur- 

 chasing them to strengthen their weak 

 colonies. The hives full of comb and 

 honey are an article of commerce. 

 Some of these bee-keepers go to a 

 large city like Hamburg, Berlin, 

 Bremen, etc., and take a hundred or 

 more of the beeless hives with them. 

 They rent a little room in an out-of- 

 the-way corner of the city, where they 

 do their work. Evenings the combs 

 are cut out of the hives and assorted in 

 trays. 



During the day they peddle the honey 



on the street ; they are neatly dressed, 

 white apron and cap, carrying the 

 honey in a neat, clean, wooden tray 

 with nickel trimmings. It can not be 

 denied that such honey, presented in 

 this fashion, attracts, often more than 

 our beautiful honey in sections. It is 

 certainly much cheaper to produce 

 such honey than such as we produce, 

 and still it brings twice as much as we 

 are realizing. There are no compli- 

 cated honey-cases or supers with 

 cleated separators, no sections to buy ; 

 no work with frame hives, wiring 

 frames, buying comb foundation, etc. 

 When the honey is cut out of the straw- 

 skeps the empty shells are shipped 

 back home and are ready again to ac- 

 cept new swarms. It is a simple 

 method, with few expenses. What 

 American, up-to-date comb-honey pro- 

 ducer would want to advise these men 

 to adopt American hives and American 

 methods as long as the dear public is 

 willing to pay good prices for these 

 honeys of the Eueneburg-heath bee- 

 keeper ? 



Some of us may have looked down 

 upon these beekeepers who have prac- 

 tised such methods for many, many 

 years, and do not seem to advance. 

 But when we look into the matter we 

 will find redeeming features even in 

 such bee-keeping, and we will also find 

 many a " bee-master " in the ranks of 

 these men. 



Naples, N. Y. 



C^oiivention 



^ 



Report of the 37th Annual Conven- 

 tion of the National Bee-Keepers* 

 Association, held in San An- 

 tonio, Tex., Nov. 8-10, '06 



(Contiaued from pa§re 436.) 



Getting a Larger Convention At- 

 tendance. 



"While endeavoring to increase the 

 membership to the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, would it not be well 

 to try to touch the tariff on passenger 

 transportation, whereby more members 

 might be enabled to attend the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, and see new 

 flowers bloom, bees' tongues grow long- 

 er, and, indeed, see honey grow sweet- 

 er? I believe such a move would bring 

 many into the National, who to-day are 

 non-members." 



Mr. Holekamp — A cheaper rate can 

 easily be obtained if there are enough 

 bee-keepers attending a meeting. 



Mr. Kimmey — You can always ob- 

 tain a special rate by going before the 

 proper authorities, and by getting 100 

 members. 



Mr. Anderson— Now, then, right there 

 is the point. Some of us can not even 

 get a return iicket, while some got great 



reductions. I believe this thing should 

 be taken up in the proper way, and we 

 will all be treated right. There are a 

 great many sorrowful-looking faces back 

 our way, just simply because the rail- 

 road companies said they knew nothing 

 about our convention. Some of them 

 got so disgusted that they thought that 

 if the Association would not look out 

 for us so as to get rates, we were not 

 wanted, and we will drop out; but if 

 you swell a fellow's pocket a little, and 

 they see they are going to get a reduced 

 rate, it will be an inducement to bring 

 them in. 



Mr. Kimmey — I move that the Gen- 

 eral Manager be instructed to make ar- 

 rangements with the different Passen- 

 ger Associations for reduced rates to 

 and from all annual meetings here- 

 after. 



Dr. Bohrer— I second the motion. 



The motion as put was unanimously 

 carried. 



Mr. France— I have tried to secure 

 these rates so far as my influence would 

 go. I believe that the rates from the 

 different places should be considered. 

 What rate can we secure if we go there, 

 and it is almost depends upon the rate! 

 Now we would not have met in St! 



