►-H-M-^-f- 



GERMANY. 



By. F. Greiner, Naples, N. Y. 

 It is a well-known fact that the 

 honey-bee is endowed with two sets of 

 eyes. Two larjre eyes at the sides, 

 readily distinguishable, and th!e three 

 eyes in the forehead, which are not 

 so eonsi)ieiions. To find out something 

 about the functions of the two sets of 

 eyes Dr. Buttel, in the presence of 

 two other well-known men, made the 

 following experiments. First, he cov- 

 ered the three eyes in the forehead of 

 a l)<>e with black paint. The bee was 

 not inconvenienced by this, but flew 

 to the window. But when the large 

 eyes were covered only, the bee so 

 treated showed no inclination to fol- 

 low the light. Dr. Buttel says this 

 experiment does not prove that the 

 three small eyes do not serve some 

 purpose. He surmises they do at very 

 close range, perhaps within a few cen- 

 timeters of objects to be examined. — 

 Centralblatt. 



Prof. Bachmetjew has lately discov- 

 ere<l slight differences l)etween normal 

 and abnormal drones. (The scientific 

 terms used by the Professor have no 

 meaning to the average bee-keeper and 

 I abstain from using them.) 



Arndt makes the assertion in Preuss. 

 Bztg. that it is not always owing to 

 failure of queen when a colony is not 

 breeding up properly, but tha,t very 

 often lack of nurse-bees and pi'oper 

 food are the principal causes. 



It is advised in "Neue Bztg." to use 

 only rain-water in rendering or clari- 

 fying beeswax. Well, or spring water 

 is said to often contain iron, especially 

 where there is red clay soil or sub- 

 soil. The iron discolors the wax, no 

 matter how careful one is in conduct- 

 ing the work. 



According to Neuman, Sec. of Cen- 

 tralverein, Germany is still far from 



having a foul brood law. He says, 

 without the bee-keepers co-operate 

 with the government, furnishing mate- 

 rials for experiments, such as qu<?ens 

 from badly diseased colonies, diseased 

 brood, honey from foul-broody hives 

 etc., also freely report and give thfeir 

 experience with the disease, there is 

 no telling when a law will be made and 

 come in force 



Freudenstein resurrects the claim in 

 Neue Bztg. that bees need no pollen 

 for safe wintering, and that sugar is 

 entirely sufficient. He also claims that 

 nectar is nothing but pure sugar-water, 

 and that bees change the one as well 

 as the other into honey. Practically 

 he advocates what Lizzie Cotton did 

 about 30 years ago, viz.: That bee- 

 keeping can be made very profitable 

 by sugar-feeding. American red clover 

 queens are also a hobby of Freuden- 

 stein; he is keeping them for sale. 

 The leading bee-keepers of Germany 

 are in the opposition, perhaps rightly 

 so. 



Dzierzon is opposed as much as ever 

 to the Gertsung hive and all others ac- 

 cessible from the top. It seems he has 

 never operated such hives, still he con- 

 demns them in the strongest terms, 

 and says they will be the ruination of 

 bee-keeping. 



Dickel has recently found a second 

 in Dr. Albrecht Bethe, of Strassburg 

 University. — BienenVater. 



TURKEY. 



The followers of Mohammed have 

 singular customs as to bee-keeping. It 

 is a great sin to buy or sell bees. They 

 may be given away and one may ac- 

 cei)t a gift in return. Decoy hives are 

 placed about in bushes and trees to 

 catch absconding swarms; said hives 

 are rubbed over with certain herbs, 

 the names of which are kept secret. 



