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THE 



Bee « Keeping World 



staff Contributors : F. GREINER and ADRIAN GETAZ. 



Contributions to this Department are solicited from all quarters of the earth. 



BRAZIL. 



Uiulei' the initials .J. v. B., ;i (lesc-rip- 

 tioii of ail ant, very hostile to the hon- 

 i*y bee, is given in the Bienen-Vater. 

 The ant is small, hiiii-dly one centimeter 

 in length, reddish in color, and very 

 strong. t:'he lives in hollow and de- 

 cayed logs, and trees, nnder stones and 

 other hiding places. Attacks on bees 

 are made only dnring the night. The 

 first colony, the writer says, he had 

 was completely destroyed the first 

 night. Colonies i>nrchased afterward 

 were placed on cement foundations 

 and surrounded by water. But even 

 this did not always prove effectual. 

 Sometimes a palm leaf would drop 

 from overhead touching a hive at some 

 point and thus form a convenient 

 kc'idge for the robber ants; or a blade 

 of grass would find a lodging place in 

 the water some way as to form a 

 bridge etc., etc. The ants would al- 

 ways be very quick to take advantage 

 of any such accident. The first ant 

 Avhich succeeds and reaches the hive 

 entrance returns to its home and 

 spreadsthe news and an army of ants 

 at once starts out. A short battle is 

 fought at the entrance. It fequires 

 two bees to kill one ant and they have 

 to make the atLick together, one from 

 the rear, the other from the front, and 

 even then one of the bees generally 

 loses its life in the battle. If the ant 

 colony is a populous one. and they vnn 

 fall upon a lie^ colony with an ai'niy 

 from ().0(l() to 20,()()() strong, the swarm 

 is soon whipped out. At first the bees 

 fight like tigers, but after a while they 

 become discouraged and then only tiy 

 to fill themselves witli honey. The 

 ants, however, are not satisfied to take 

 possession of the stores, their aim also 

 is to kill or so mutilate all the bees as 

 to make them useless for the future. 

 They do this by cutting off their wings 

 and then dragging them out of the 

 hives. A strong ant colony often 

 cleans out a hive in one night com- 

 pletely, bees, honey and brood. The 

 writer of the article says that he has 



seen armies of ants sevtcal millions 

 strong and that he has not found a 

 practical method to destroy them. 



RUSSIA. 

 A peculiar method of migratory bee- 

 keeping is practiced in Russia on the 

 larger rivers flowing south, according 

 to the Rhein. Btzg. Large log rafts 

 are constructed and covered with soil 

 upon which some gardening is done. 

 An apiary is located upon it and the 

 attendants put up a tent for their shel- 

 ter. I surmise the moving is done 

 nights, rests are taken during daytime. 

 The rafts are floated down the rivers 

 during the season. The final stop is 

 made at the end of the season in a sec- 

 tion of the country whose timbe*r is 

 scarce. The rafts are taken apart and 

 the timbers sold. Bees and honey are 

 disposed of and the attendants make 

 their way homeward by rail or steam- 

 boat. 



ENGLAND AND IRELAND. 

 The British Bee Journal reports 

 heavy winter losses throughout the 

 Empire. Never before have bee-keep- 

 ers had so many weak colonies in the 

 spring. 



GERMANY. 



A good, honey crop is reported from 

 many places in Germany. The win- 

 ter iKis been mild and the spring early. 



Fcft- years I have had a feeling that 

 the writings of the American Bee-Mas- 

 ters did not receive consideration 

 of the German bee-keepers as they 

 should. The editor of Gleanings has 

 of late expressed a similar opinion in 

 his .lournal wliic-h induces Pfr. Buch- 

 holz to niiiJve the following reply in 

 Deutsche Bienenzucht: It is an undis- 

 putable fact that we in Germany may 

 learn a good d«kal from the Amen-ican- 

 bee-keepers; but when all one's knowl- 

 edge of a foreign people is based upon 

 translations, misconceptions often re- 



