66 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



out her — she who had been my comrade and 

 helper toward all that is good almost ever 

 since the days of my boyhood. May God be 

 praised that she is now, Jan. 13, though 

 still very weak, on the road to recovery. — 

 A. I. R.J 



'^JifeioJibor^Jieldj 

 By 



5? 



Ju.'t as the old year finds its close, 



The honored soldier, patriot, man, 

 L,a> s down for aye the battered sword 



Hediew when war began. 

 Cover him o'er with the flag he loved, 



And lav him away to his rest ; 

 His conflicts are over, the victory gained, 



He's entered the land of the bleil. 



A French writer says that the ends of oak 

 twigs, well dried, make a good smoker fuel. 

 They produce a very pungent smoke, are 

 easily gathered, and are of no other use. 

 \t/ 



A German writer has shown, to his own 

 satisfaction at least, by examining the fec- 

 undating fluid of drones that only those 

 drones that come from a fertile queen are of 

 any value. He says if this is true there 

 will be a good many theories to modify and 

 practical applications to make. 



BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 



The clipping of queens' wings is not very 

 much practiced in England. 

 \h 



I am pleased to note that Mr. Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan's ' ' British Bee-keepers' Guide-book" 

 has just been translated into Dutch, lor the 

 use of people in South Africa, lately con- 

 quered by the English. The publishers 

 will please book our order for a copy. 



EL COLMENERO ESPANOL. 



Continuing his review of bee culture in 

 different parts of the world, the editor, the 

 late Mercader-Belloch, has this to say of 

 Belgium: 



This small country, which all Europe beholds with 

 admiration and respect for its iniporlant manufacto- 

 ries for having the greatest number of railroad lines 

 ■per' square mile of anv country in the world and, 

 finally for being the only nation in the world that 

 competes with England in every class of manufacturts, 

 and which has pushed public education to the height 

 of perfection has n t overlooked bee culture Hence 

 it is that the government itself, as well as corporations 

 and individuals lends great aid to the development of 

 apicultur-l science by means of medals and other wa\s 

 of stimulating effort ; and thi-, is iht- rea.-on whv, with- 

 in a few years Belg an apiculture has reached as high 

 a point as in any other nation. 



From the same source we learn that 

 Switzerland is as far advanced in apicul- 

 ture as any other nation. It has great bee- 



keepers who may truthfully be called pro- 

 fessors. Mr. Ed. Bertrand, in Nyon, pub- 

 lishes the Revue Internationale, one of the 

 best bee-journals in the world [noAr discon- 

 tinued]. In Sivitze land the old-fashioned 

 skeps are no longer known, for everybody 

 has been converted to modern methods. 

 v(> 

 England has a large number of apiaries 

 on the movable system; has several bee- 

 journaU and various bee keepers' associa- 

 tions. In fact, she stands among the great 

 powers of Europe in regard to bee-keeping 

 progress. 



EL APTCULTOR. 

 The first number of this fine Spanish 

 bee journal has reached us, dated Jan. 1. 

 It seems to be the result of a disagreement 

 between the managers of El Colnienero Es- 

 panol, another Spanish bee-journal. The 

 journal in question is well printed, pages 

 the same size as this. It contains a large 

 amount of original matter, and is a great 

 credit to the projectors of it. I am sorry to 

 read in it of the death of D. E. de Merca- 

 der- Bel loch, proprietor of El Cobnenero Es- 

 panol, from which I have made translations 

 above. Mr. Mercader-Belloch was well 

 known in Europe as a bee-keeper, and was 

 president of the Spanish Apicultural Soci- 

 ety. He died on the yth of December, aged 

 73 years. These two papers are published 

 in Barcelona, Spain, and, so far as I know, 

 are the only Spanish bee-papers published. 



■^ 





LONG HIVES VS. TIERING UP. 



"Good evening, Mr. Doolittle. Fearful- 

 ly cold to-night outside." 



"Yes. I think this will be the coldest 

 night of the winter, so far. I see the mer- 

 cury was ten degrees below zero just before 

 dark. I always feel quite comfortable on 

 such nights as this, when I think of the 

 bees all safely housed in the cellar with the 

 temperature alwaxs at forty- five in there. 

 Always seems as if those outdoors would 

 suffer on such nights, but perhaps they do 

 not." 



"I had not thought of it in that light. 

 My 87 colonies are all out on their summer 

 stands, well packed, and I was congratu- 

 lating myself on this fact." 



"Well, they may come out as well in the 

 spring; but from an experience of over a 

 quarter of a century, with bees wintered 

 both ways, the underground cellar gives an 

 advantage of fully 10 per cent on number of 

 colonies successfully wintered, over what 



