1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



223 



ocean he made a visit to Medina which will 

 be long and pleasantly remembered. He 

 was 73 years of age. He was stunned by a 

 stroke of lightning several years ago, since 

 which time his health has steadily declined. 

 The British Bee Journal gives a very inter- 

 esting sketch of his life. 



Just three days before the death of Mr. 

 Baldwin, father Time claimed as his own one 

 who was, if anybody could claim that dis- 

 tinction, the best-known kee-keeper in Eng- 

 land, his name being familiar in his own 

 land and America. I refer to John H. How- 

 ard, of Holme, Peterboro. The British Bee 

 Journal well says, ' ' Probably no other man 

 in the appliance trade was favorably known 

 to so wide a circle of bee-keepers as John 

 Howard." He was called away without 

 warning, by heart failure. The very warm 

 tribute Mr. Cowan pays to Mr. Howard is 

 fully deserved. 



.^ 



Bee-keepers on both sides of the water 

 will be interested in the following from the 

 British Bee Journal. 



JOHN DZIERZON. 



On January 16 this venerable bee-keeper entered upon 

 his ninety-fifth year, having been born in 1811. He has 

 been a bee-keeper for seventy years, and has a world- 

 wide reputation for his work in advancing apiculture. 

 The principal scientific discovery of his was partheno- 

 genesis—that is, reproduction without fecundation. 

 This was known to existjin other insects in the first half 

 of the eighteenth century, but it was in 1835 that Dr. 

 Dzierzon commenced to think about it, and in 1842 to 

 1844 he made known his ideas in Frauendorfer Blaetter. 

 In 1845 he published his discovery in the Bienenzeitu7ig, 

 and this drew the attention of scientists to the subject. 

 "The Dzierzon Theory," as this was called, was sub- 

 jected to the most searching investigation by Siebold, 

 Leuckart, and others, and, although still denied by 

 some, is generally accepted as true. The Allgemeine 

 Zeitung fur Bienenzucht prints some pretty verses ded- 

 icated to this veteran, and also gives extracts from 

 papers eulogizing him at the time of his bee-keeping 

 jubilee twenty years ago, and mentions the honors con- 

 ferred upon him. We are also sorry to hear that Dr. 

 Dzierzon is at present unwell, and he has our best 

 wishes for his recovery. 



The Superintendent of Railroads of Alsace 

 and Loraine, Germany, has issued the fol- 

 lowing circular to his employees, which I 

 translate from our Spanish exchange. El 

 Colmenero Espanol : 



The success obtained in the cultivation of bees has 

 induced us to recommend it warmly to our employees. 

 Although it presents certain difficulties at first, and 

 requires a certain degree of knowledge, yet we are per- 

 suaded that, after certain trials and several attempts, 

 our employees will overcome these obstacles. Their 

 efforts will be splendidly rewarded with the crop given 

 by the bees. The installation of an apiary should be 

 directed by an experienced bee-keeper. We would 

 especially advise our employees to become members of 

 the A picultural Society, whose president and members 

 will illustrate the subject to them, and give them suit- 

 able advice. The station masters, and especially the 

 watchmen, should be members of these societies, with 

 power to initiate those in their charge in the science of 

 bee-keeping. 



The administration will accord a loan to those em- 

 ployees whose pecuniary position will not permit them 

 to make a start in beos. Likewise it will undertake 

 to plant seeds of honey-bearing flowers along the road. 



The same policy has been adopted in Aus- 

 tria and other parts of Europe. It not only 

 helps the employees to gain a very impor- 

 tant part of the sweets needed in every 

 household, but forms a more friendly bond 

 between workman and employer. 



The following is a translation of an article 

 in Bienenvater, made by Fr. Greiner, Naples, 

 N. Y. It is entitled * ' Bee-keeping on the 

 Shores of the Danube ; Price and Market of 

 Honey in Vienna." 



I commenced bee-keeping in 1890 with three box hives. 

 How I increased my apiary during the following 14 

 years, partly by purchase, partly by natural swarming, 

 need not be told. During the first three years there was 

 no honey to sell; but during the next three years the 

 crops ran between 140 and 200 pounds from the yard. 

 This amount was easily disposed of in my little village 

 at 40 cents per pound. It appeared that 200 pounds was 

 about the maximum I could find sale for in the place 

 The bees, however, kept increasing, so did the honey 

 crops, and soon I had a surplus of 200 pounds, yes, even 

 300, above what I could sell to my neighbors, and the 

 question arose: "What can I do with it?" I put out a 

 sign, " Honey for Sale." I advertised in the papers, 

 putting my advertisement on wrapping-papers of the 

 groceries; I left some honey at the stores, canvassed 

 bakeries, drugstores, etc., and always carried samples 

 of honey in glass vials with me, but I failed to make 

 sale for such a quantity of honey. I succeeded, how- 

 ever, in increasing the sale in my home market by 120 

 pounds, and this was the limit. What now? Must 1 

 sell cheaper or reduce the number of colonies? It hap- 

 pened just at this time that an old schoolmate of my 

 wife, then living in Vienna, called on us. After taking 

 in the situation she suggested, " Bring your honey to 

 Vienna. I warrant you a sale of five pounds in the 

 house where I live." This was considered, and after a 

 few days my wife went to Vienna and took five pounds 

 of honey with her, which she had no trouble in selling 

 at ou r old established price. After one week she made 

 a second trip and took 10 pounds with her which she 

 sold; and after four weeks more a third trip was 

 made, and another ten pounds was disposed of. One 

 family recommended our honey to another, till finally 

 we about monopolized the honey market in this street, 

 having honey customers in as many as twenty different 

 houses. To-day, after five years of persistent efi^oi ts, 

 my wife has sold, from June 16 to Dec. 10, as much as 

 1072 pounds of extracted honey, all at 40 cents. It seem- 

 ed pretty hard work for the first two years to peddle 

 honey. It went somewhat against our grain. Still, 

 wife was always courteously received everywhere, even 

 invited to take meals, etc. She enlightened people, and 

 overcame the mistrust and the notions held by the gen- 

 eral run of people. To think that she succeeded selling 

 nearly 1100 pounds of honey in one year !— what honey- 

 producer could make a better showing ? 



Vienna has a population of 1,500,000. There are 3000 

 streets and 3300 houses. A great deal of honey could be 

 disposed of here in this city if the bee-keepers would go 

 to work systematically. But one must not be ashamed 

 of hard and hone,t work. 



COMMENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR. 



It is an undisputed fact that there is not honey enough 

 produced, either in Germany or Austria, to supply the 

 demand; and still the great problem is not how to pro- 

 duce but how to sell. European conditions are such 

 that " honest work " is just enough humiliating and 

 degrading so that hundreds of bee-keepers shrink from 

 peddling the product of their bees. It is next to an 

 impossibility for the city consumer to meet the producer 

 face to face. The more refined, the better posted and 

 educated the latter is, the greater the barrier that sepa- 

 rates him from the first. He would be ashamed to look 

 other people in the face if it was known he " peddled." 

 The American may do any kind of work and preserve 

 his dignity. ,, . . 



A late article of F. Dickel, in Die Biene, Proposition 

 how to make Bee-keeping more Popular and Better 

 Paying," concentrates its force upon the sale of honey 

 in particular. There seems difficulty in reaching con- 

 sumers. On the other hand, consumers have difficulty 

 in finding the producers of honey. They would like to 

 purchase a pure article, but have no way of finding out 

 where to get it. Dickel has the idea of establishing a 

 honey-exchange, and advertising the same in the city 

 papers, also appointing agents in the different cities to 

 make the sales, for which service the agent is to receive 

 nothing. A price is to be agreed upon. The publishing 

 of articles on bees, of general interest, he also recom- 

 mends. 



From all the above it will be seen that bee- keepers in 

 other lands are wrestling with the same problem we are 

 in America, and are considering the same means to solve 

 it. 



