228 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



tively little transaction of bee business 

 mingled in. 



November, 



AUSTRIA. 



Jung Klaus endorses, in the Imker, the 

 following advice given by the editor of 

 Leipz. Bztg. : "Not to disturb the tivood 

 chamber after the end of August." but should 

 it be necessary to do so, th^n to always 

 return the combs in the same order as they 

 were taken out. 



Jung Klaus adds: All colonuis shouid 

 go into the winter strong in numbers, have 

 a good queen, and their hive should be well 

 ventilated. 



Jung Klaus, the compiler of the Sammel- 

 Korb, a department in Deutsche Imker sim- 

 ilar to the Bee-Keeping World of the A. 

 B. K., is inclined to poke fun at the many 

 inventors of apiarian clap- traps, and per- 

 haps has good reason. 



FRANCE. 



TOP ENTRANCES. 



Fricoire Brothers report that last year 

 they tried to put the entrances of the hives 

 during the honey flow, between the brood 

 nest and the supers, says L'Apiculteur. They 

 tried only 20 colonies that way. They re- 

 port that so far as the surplus was concerned, 

 they think there was but little difference, 

 if any, between these twenty colonies and 

 the others. The queens did not go in the 

 upper stories, the brood nests remained 

 where they were. The "floors" of the hives 

 were as clean asthose that had the en- 

 trances at the usual place. Contrary to 

 what might have been expected, the brood 

 nests were fuller of honey. On the other 

 hand, the partition of the combs near the 

 entrances were neglected. They will try 

 again. 



On the same subject a correspondent 

 of the Rucher Beige states that with the 

 entrance above, the ventilation is easier since 

 the warm, vitiated air naturally raises. Such 

 being the case, the ventilation might be too 

 free. If the entrance was too large. 



Of all the reports, I have met so far, this 

 is the first that does not give a considerable 

 increase of surplus as the result of having 

 the entrance above. 



agement, etc., all have an influence, and 

 some of the items that appear in this de- 

 partment look "fishy" to the American 

 reader. Don't be in too big a hurry to con? 

 demn them. It may be merely a questioi. 

 of "locality." • 



In order to avoid too great a misunder- 

 standing. I have often put in (for better 

 or worse) a word or two of explanation 

 when the difference of conditions between 

 here and Europe seemed to me to justify 

 it. 



A few days ago it occurred t"o me that I 

 have at least made one mistake. I often 

 said that it must be remembered that the 

 users of movable frame hives in Europe 

 work for extracted honey exclusively or prac- 

 tically so. And that is true. But here 

 in America working for extracted honey, 

 if I mistake not, is understood invariably as 

 giving to the bees all the empty combs tnoy 

 may need even if it is necessary to extract 

 those already filled during the honey flow 

 and return them to the bees. In Europe, 

 it is customary to wait till late and extract 

 all together. It is very seldom that a 

 bee-keeper has enough combs to fully ac- 

 commodate all his colonies. The result is 

 that almost every colony receives a few 

 combs and a number of Jrames 'sometimes 

 filled with foundation, but more often with 

 only starters. 



So these colonies are really in a condi- 

 tion not very unlike ours when working 

 for comb honey; or, more properly, for 

 chunk honey, and this should be borne in 

 mind. 



AN EXPLANATION. 

 Before going Into the papers before me, I 

 think a little explanatory preface would not 

 be amiss. As insisted on, time and again, 

 lately, the conditions under which a bee- 

 keeper operates should be fully understood 

 before a safe opinion can be rendered in 

 regard to his assertions. "Locality," that 

 is, climate, time of the year, nature of the 

 flow, kind of hives used, methods of man- 



PROGRESSIVE BOX-HIVE BEE-KEEP- 

 ERS. 



The American reader may not be much 

 surprised to read that the number of box- 

 hives or straw -hives, is, in Europe, several 

 times greater than the number of movable 

 frame hives, but he may be surprised to learn 

 that a number of the very best bee-keepers 

 and writers there prefer the box- hives, and, 

 furthermore, get as good results from them 

 as others do from the frame hives. 



However, there are box-hives and box- 

 hives. The right kind consists of a brood 

 nest and a super of sufficient size. When 

 the flow comes, the super is put on and is 

 filled, if there is enough bees in the hive 

 and enough nectar in the flowers. The 

 swarming question is managed on some plan 

 more or less similar to our "shook swarm- 

 ing." This being kept in mind, will often 

 help to understand some of the statements 

 made in this department, which otherwise 

 might appear inconsistent. 



