78 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



April, 



mauuiacturer, was not allowed by the 

 court to sliow by bis employees or bis 

 books that paraffin bas never been 

 bougbt by bim. To guard against adul- 

 teration of wax it would be necessary 

 to bave every cake of wax cbemically 

 tested, a tbing not practicable. 



Finally, being physically unable to 

 continue lawing about the matter he 

 bad to give up carrying the case into 

 a higher court. 



Wurth recommends the following 

 method to test the purity of wax: A 

 email piece of wax is covered in a 

 glass with benzine and left standing 

 for two hours. If pure the wax will 

 be dissolved into tine scales. Paraf- 

 fin and other wax of vegetable ori- 

 gin retain their shape. A mixture of 

 beeswax and other waxes dis-solves 

 partly— Die Biene. 



O. L. Hershiser has a competitor 

 who advertises for "Slumgum" in Die 

 Biene. 



Bienen-Vater reports Dr. Dzierzon 

 being ill and confined to his bed. 



DAHOMEY. 



It is often Stated that there are 

 many drawback-s to bee-keeping in the 

 South, of which we know nothing in 

 the North. So it is in Dahomey. 

 A dark colored lizard is a great bee- 

 enemy tliere and is so plentiful that 

 one cannot take a step without start- 

 ing up half a dozen of the«e vermin. 

 They are not only found in the field*^ 

 and forests; they are also found in 

 the house-s, on the roofs and every- 

 where. They devour innumerable in- 

 sects such as mosquitoes, ants, etc., 

 and thus serve a good purpose. But 

 they are just a« anxious after bees and 

 it is a problem how to protect the 

 hives against their depredations.— 

 Der Lehrmeister in Garten und Klem- 

 tier hof. 



FRANCE. 



Mr Huillon made some experiments 

 on the evaporation of nectar during its 

 transformation into honey. The honey 

 extracted after being sealed has (in 

 his locality) a density of 1.424. He 

 took out all the combs of three colonies 

 except those containing brood only. 

 Early in the morning he gave them 

 emptv combs. At night he took the 

 combs out of one colony and found 



that the honey, or rather nectar which 

 they contained had a density of 1.394 

 The combs of the second colony wer^ 

 taken out on the morning of the nexi 

 day. The density of the honey waj 

 1.413. The third colony at the end oi 

 the first day had been transported to 

 a cellar and left there three days. The 

 honey therein was found of a density 

 of 1.432 that is, heavier by O.OOS than 

 the ripe honey is usually. 



N'Qiw it is admitted that the nectar 

 such as it is in the flowers contains 

 80 per cent of water and 20 per cent 

 of sugars or about. This would give 

 a density of 1.106. 



But the honey or nectar found in the 

 combs at the end of the day in whichf 

 it was gathered had a density of l.S^i 

 which gives 26 per cent of water and 

 74 per cent of sugars. The quantity 

 of water has considerably diminished, 

 On the next morning we find a den-t 

 sity of 1.413 corresponding to 22 per 

 cent of water and 78 per cent of sugi 

 ars; that is, the honey is nearly ripe 

 so far as the evaporation is concernedi 

 At the end of three days the hooej 

 was found fully evaporated. But judgi 

 ing by the rapidity with which th 

 evaporation went on during the firs 

 day. it was probably accomplishe«i 

 through the next day. since there wa 

 but 2 per cent of water to evaporate 

 Taking the above figures for a basis 

 we find that 1000 grains of nectai 

 such as it is in the flowers, contain 

 200 grams of sugars and 800 of wate* 

 During the same day it is gathered i 

 loses 930 grams of water; during th 

 following night only 14 grams and snl 

 sequently grams more. It is the 

 honey containing 20 per cent of wate 

 and 80 per cent of sugars and of 

 density of 1.424. 



Or. taking it from another stanc 

 point, the 1,000 grams of nectar hav 

 Iiecome 2.50 grams of honey— La Revu 

 Eclectique. 



A correspondent claims that whe 

 the queen and all the unsealed broo 

 are removed, no laying workers ai 

 produced. He says he has tried : 

 repeatedly. He thinks that the layin 

 workers are from larvae fed with tb 

 royal jelly, but were already too ol 

 to become queens. He also recalls tt 

 fact that the colonies which lose thai 

 queen during the winter never deve 

 op laying workers. 



i 



