14 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



stream of honey flow into the center of the jar, and 

 not so quickly as to allow any vacuum for air between 

 the honey and the sides of the jars. 



Here's a waj' the Eng-lish have of teach- 

 ing- the rising- generation something about 

 the mysteries of the hive; and it's a good 

 way too — through "eye-gate," as Dr. Tal- 

 raage used to call it. 



A lecture was given before the Children's Guild, at 

 Manston Schoolruom, Cross Gates, near I,eeds, by Mr. 

 Gilsou. over seventy children being present, besides 

 numerous bee keepers and adults. The lecture, which 

 was one of a series on natural-history subjects, was il- 

 lustrated by over thirty lantern slides ; and Mr. Gil- 

 son told how the queen, living five years would lav 

 from 200,000 to 400,000 eggs per annum (110 times her 

 own weight); and as she olten lays from 2000 to 8000 

 eggs per day, and sometimes twice her own weight, 

 she lays during her lifetime upward of 1,500,000 eggs, 

 which, if put end to end, would reach 1% miles. 



In speaking of pure English honey as 

 contrasted with imitation hone}', S. Baring- 

 Gould, author of that celebrated h3mn. 



Onward, Christian soldiers. 

 Marching as to war, 



says in one of his books: 



From the blossoms of the furze the bees derive their 

 aroniatic honey which makes that of Dartmoor su 

 preme. -Yet bee-keeping is a diffirulty there, owing to 

 the gales that sweep tlie busy insects awaj-, so that 

 they fail to find their direction home. Only in shel- 

 tered hives can they be kept. The much relished 

 Swiss honey is a manufactured product of glycerine 

 and pear juice ; but Dartmoor honey is the sublimated 

 essence of ambrosial sweetness in taste and sivor, 

 drawn from no other source than the chalices of the 

 golden furze, and compounded with no adventitious 

 matter. 



Now, who has some Dartmoor honej' for 

 sale, either comb or extracted? 



EL COLMENERO ESPANOL. 

 Continuing his review of bee culture in 

 the various countries of the world, the edi- 

 tor has this to say of Austria, which I take 

 from the Spanish: 



This country stands fully abreast with Germany so 

 far as apiculture is concerried. The Emperor Francis 

 Joseph is a great enthusiast in bee matters. He has 

 brought the prestige of his. office to bear on apiculture 

 to the extent of instituting an academy in Vienna, for 

 the advancement of a knowledge of bees. Over this 

 academy the Emperor pre.sides in petson. In the va- 

 rious functions of his office he performs no small part 

 in the development of apicultuial interests. 



The railroad companies of Austria have in their 

 warehouses bee supplies, to be distributed among their 

 hands who may wish to Cevote themselves to the care 

 of bees; and there are railroads that are lined with 

 apiaries belonging to the employees of said compa- 

 nies. The companies distribute premiums to reward 

 those who make the best record in caring for bees. 



Apicultural instruction is paid for by the .state, and 

 this teaching is done by professors who travel around 

 from place to place. 



The late Empress of Austria was equallj' 

 enthusiastic in the study of the bee, and 

 was an honorary member of at least some 

 of the Austrian bee keepers' societies. The 

 whole constitutes a very pleasing picture. 



Speaking of Russia the editor says: 



In Russia, from very early times theoretical and 

 practical apicultural schools have been established ; 

 and the pupils therein according to an imperial de- 

 cree of 1828, are exempt from military service. There 

 are many thousand apiaries there, but most of them 

 are conducted in the old-fashioned way ; however, the 

 modern ways of keeping bees on movable frames are 

 much better known in Russia than in Spain. 



AN OUT-OF- SEASON CONVERSATION; PRE- 

 VENTION OP' AETER-SWARMS. 



" Say, Doolittle, have you been asleep? '" 



'* Well, I generally sleep some each 

 night. But why do you ask that question, 

 Mr. Mills?" 



** Because j'ou told me last May that you 

 would tell me in Gleanings during the 

 summer something about preventing after- 

 swarms, and you did not do it." 



"I did forget, surely. Do you remember 

 now what you asked of me? " 



'• As nearly as I can remember I wished 

 to know if a queen-cell just about to hatch, 

 or a virgin queen, introduced into a hive 

 immediately alter its colony had cast a 

 prime swarm, would not prevent after- 

 swarming by the young queen tearing down 

 the queen cells left in the hive before they 

 were ready to hatch; and, if so, would there 

 not be a great advantage by furnishing the 

 colony a laying queen much sooner than 

 they would otherwise have one, besides 

 stopping after-swarming? " 



"Your question seems very simple, and 

 easy to answer at first thought; but as I 

 think longer and more closely on the mat- 

 ter I find it to embrace some of the most 

 perplexing questions that ever come up to 

 the thoughtful, practical apiarist. 



" Why so? I do not understand." 



" Let us talk it over from a logical stand- 

 point, and see what we can find out in the 

 matter. Your question would assume that, 

 if a queen-cell or virgin queen is given to a 

 parent colony immediately after it has cast 

 a swarm, said queen, from the cell or oth- 

 erwise, will go to tearing down the queen- 

 cells left in the hive when the swarm issued 

 therefrom. Is this rit-ht? " 



" Yes. That is as I intended." 



" I think this a mistake; for, in nineteen 

 cases out of twenty, if the swarm is hived 

 on a new stand the cells will «t>/ be torn 

 down, and not once in three times where 

 the old colony is removed to a new stand, 

 the swarm being hived where the old colony 

 stood — at least this has been my experience 

 in a practice of nearly a third of a centu- 

 ry" 



" I thought it would work, and neighbor 

 Jones told me, when I put this question to 

 him, that he was sure it would. Why will 

 it not? '■ 



"Because the bees do not want those 

 cells torn down, for in them is cradled the 

 choicest thing they have — something that 

 they value more than they did their own 

 dear mother, and that which sent her out 

 from her own home to seek a new one in 

 some strange land; and if they consider 



