56 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURI8T. 



FOREIGN NOTES. 



By Akthuk Todd. 



The consumption of honey in Eng- 

 land seems to be on tlie increase to 

 judge by the Custom House returns, 

 which shows that while in 1883 

 there was imported ^166,000.00 

 worth, in 1884 the imports nearly 

 doubled, and in 1885 almost reached 

 the same figures. 



The British Bee Journal (now a 

 weekly) calculates that the imports 

 for 1885 represent £ 2,738,347 and 

 urges its readers to consider the 

 great efforts they as beekeepers 

 must put forth to checkmate these ' 

 imports and reduce their amount. 

 The B. B. J. sensibly says "There 

 can be only one way by which this 

 can be done, and that is, that the 

 honey placed before the British 

 public should be of superior quality, 

 and not exceeding in price that im- 

 ported into this country." 



A great deal (far more than the 

 average beekeeper has any idea of) 

 of foreign honey is brought into the 

 United States, and after paying a 

 duty of 20 cts. per gallon enters in- 

 to direct competition with the home 

 product. 



The American beekeeper must 

 also place his honey of superior 

 quality, and not exceeding in price 

 that imported, before manufacturers 

 and buyers generally, if he wish it al- 

 ways preferred. 



I know factories using hundreds 

 of barrels of honey per annum and 

 they won't use American honey, be- 

 cause the price has not been right 

 as compared with the equivalent 

 saccharine matter, and flavoring 

 powder obtained from the foreign ar- 

 ticle. 



Christian Lichler, in the Deutsche 

 Illustrirte Bienenzeitung, gives his 

 experience of wintering three stocks 

 of bees by burying them in the 

 earth. A hole was dug in the 



ground three spades deep, one 

 metre wide, and two metres long 

 and as the ground was level, another 

 and a deeper hole was dug close by 

 to receive the water draining from 

 the former. 



The hole for the reception of the 

 hives had a layer of straw placed at 

 the bottom about a hand high, and 

 the sides were also lined with straw. 

 The hives were covered with cloths, 

 and the entrances were protected 

 against mice by means of perforated 

 zinc. On the 2nd of November, 

 1884, it being a fine day, the bees 

 thus prepared were weighed and 

 placed in the hole. Straw was 

 placed over the hives, and on these 

 a spade depth of earth was put, 

 then a layer of manure, just as pota- 

 toes are kept through the winter in 

 northern Germany. No air hole 

 was provided. 



It being fine on the 2nd of Feb- 

 ruary, 1885, and bees in the apiary 

 flying freely and collecting hazel 

 pollen, the opportunity was taken to 

 examine the hives. On withdraw- 

 ing them from the hole, they were 

 found not only alive, but in a flovu-- 

 ishing condition showing no signs of 

 damp or dysentery spots. The av- 

 erage loss in weight per stock was 

 two pounds during the three months. 



As soon as the bees were placed 

 on their stands they commenced fly- 

 ing out, and they were at once ex- 

 amined. 



The first one opened had seven 

 frames of which six were covered by 

 bees in the autumn. Now there 

 were enough bees to cover five 

 frames, the third and fourth frames 

 being filled with capped brood. The 

 other hives were in an equally satis- 

 factory state. The development of 

 the bees in these three stocks was 

 much more rapid than in any of his 

 other hives. 



No. 16 of "Die Natur" contains 

 an article by Herr Gunnerig of Lassin- 

 gen on German bees as storm warn- 

 ers. 



