I!.t04. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



cells, and the glass was scraped off 

 when the bees rebuilt the comb. 



Some interesting questions are asked 

 by Ivellen in Leipz. Btzg., which are 

 not yet fully answei'ed. American bce~ 

 Iceepers might take a hand in helping 

 to clear the mist. 



First question: Why is it that bees 

 will live and work in the dark? 



Second question: Queen-cells are 

 built perpendicularly, worker-cells and 

 drone-cells horizontally. What are the 

 reasons? 



Third question: Why the shakin,:^ 

 and vibrating of the abdomen of the 

 workers so often seen inside the hives? 



Fourth question : How long can eggs 

 be kept in good condition? 



Fifth question: Queenless bee.s, do 

 they prefer to construct queen < ells 

 over larvae or eggs? 



Seventh question: Are the drones 

 reared from eggs laid by fertile woiii- 

 ers virile. 



Eighth question: How much honey 

 i.s used up by the bees to produce 

 one pound of wax? 



Alfalfa clover produces honey oiily 

 in certain sections in Germany. In 

 other parts the bees ignore ilie bloom 

 entirely. 



top, keeping the bees quiet, and strik- 

 ing the combs as they are taken out. 

 It also keeps off whatever robJier bees 

 might try to pounce in. Tlie matter of 

 fuel is also discussed. I don't think 

 that the readei's of this paper would 

 be able to guess what fuel Mr. Cou- 

 terel prefers. It is nothing more or 

 less than cow-dung, well dried. I think 

 that in our Western States such fuel 

 is used for other purposes under the 

 name of buffalo chips. As a smoke 

 fuel it is used in a portion o'' I^'rance 

 (the Landes) in preference to all oth- 

 ers, though wood is plentiful there. 

 The smoke produced is abundant, ef- 

 fective, and has the advantage of not 

 affecting the eyes of the operator — 

 From the Revue Eclectique. 



The application of warm honey 

 three times each day for four succes- 

 sive days is said to cure caked bag in 

 new milch cows. — Die Bieae. 



FRANCE. 



Mr. Conterel, the apiarist of Model 

 Apiary of Barbast (France), prel'ers 

 the automatic smoker to the ordinary 

 one. The one invented by Mr. De Lay- 

 ens, he thinks, is the best. Perhaps 

 some of the readers of this paper do 

 not know exactly what is nn^aiit by 

 an automatic smoker. It is an instru- 

 ment with a compartment for the fuel 

 and another with a clock movement. 

 The clock movement runs a fan which 

 does the blowing. The blo>ving is not 

 very strong, but continuous. One wind- 

 ing runs the movement half an hour. 

 The instrument is placed on a corn-T 

 of the hive (after the cover is of!:) and 

 blows the smoke horizontallv over the 



A question recently discussed in the 

 European bee papers was the influence 

 of the heat on the production of wax 

 and general welfare of the colonies. 

 To arrive at something defirite the 

 Apicultural Society of the Meuse re- 

 quests its members to expe'iment on 

 the subject. Five prizes of twenty, 

 sixteen, twelve, eight and four dol- 

 lars are offered to those who will make 

 the best and most conclusive experi- 

 ments. The lines to be followed are 

 to compare hives of oi'dinary construc- 

 tion (single walls) with what we 

 would call here chaff hives. The walls 

 of these must be four inches thick. 

 The supers and covers must also be 

 constructed on that principle. Either 

 permanent pacKing, or outer cases 

 with movable packing can be used. 

 The two classes of hives are to be sub- 

 divided. Some will receive only start- 

 ers, others sheet of foundation, and 

 others ready-built combs. All will be 

 worked for extracted honey. It is re- 

 quested that enough supers shall be 

 added (if necessary) so the bees will 

 not have to slack or stop work for lack 

 of room. One of the objects in view Is 

 to ffnd out if it would be more profit- 

 able to melt the combs than to return 

 them to the bees, considering the in- 

 creasing A^alue of the wax. The pro- 

 duction of comb honey is not consider- 

 ed as in Europe the difference of price 

 between comb honey and extracted 

 honey is very small. — From the Revue 

 Eclectique. 



