THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



1905. 



Dr. Raimondo has of late Invented a bees- 

 wax extractor, the construction of same, 

 however, is not given in Leipz Bztg from 

 which the above is taken. 



251 



BELGIUM. 



Voices are heard in Belgium in defence of 

 their native honey-bee. It is thought by 

 some that it would pay to Improve their 

 bees by selection, etc., rather than by im- 

 portation of new races. 



more or less impure quality, and the Impuri- 

 ties ought to be easy to detect, being mostly 

 lime, gypsum or sulphuric acid or the im- 

 purities contained in the lime and sulphuric 

 acid used. This last very often contains 

 some arsenic. 



AMERICA. 



In a letter sent out by the Apicultural 

 Department it is said that the common blaclc 

 bees and certain strains of Italian bees have 

 deteriorated. 



Mr. Alex. Astor left, by mistake, a comb 

 containing eggs in his workshop. During 

 the night the temperature went down to 

 about fifty degrees. Next day the comb 

 was given to a colony and the eggs hatched 

 out as well as any other. — La Revue. 



Out of seventy-five bees which had laid 

 on the snow twenty hours only a dozen 

 failed to revive when warmed up. — La 



Revue. 



Souvenir postal cards received by us from 

 time to time from Professor F. Benton in- 

 dicate the course of his travels. 



The German apicultural press is com- 

 menting on the gigantic undertaking of the 

 Department at Washington, sending out a 

 man to obtain new races of bees, and have 

 him travel over the different continents for 

 this purpose. 



FRANCE. 



TESTING "WAX. 



It is sometimes difficult to ascertain 

 whether wax bought is pure or not, especi- 

 ally when the adulterant is only in small 

 quantity. L'Abbe Butet tests for the pres- 

 ence of ceresin by putting a little of the 

 suspected wax, previously melted, in a boil- 

 ing solution of soda. The wax will form a 

 beautiful white soap with the soda, while 

 the ceresin will remain intact. 



Mr. Hommell suggests that a test with 

 benzine might often be useful. The wax 

 will dissolve entirely in the benzine and 

 the dissolution will be perfectly clear, while 

 a large number of the possible adulterants 

 will either not dissolve or give a clouded 

 solution. — L'Apiculteur. 



At a bee-keepers' convention, Mr. G. 

 Lichtenthaeler stated that he was no longer 

 afraid of foul brood. To cure, he simply 

 cuts out and destroys all the brood. 



HIGH PRESSURE STIMULATION. 



It is stated in the Revue Internationale 

 that Langstroth during his life had once 

 proposed to feed the bees in the spring with 

 a preparation of milk, malt and honey In 

 order to furnish a food ready for the larvae 

 and thus increase brood rearing, especially 

 when and where there is not enough pollen 

 either in the hives or In the field. 



Gerstung came in some time ago with 

 another formula for the same purpose con- 

 sisting of five parts of hiiey, one part of 

 condensed milk, one of Mellin's baby food 

 and a pinch of Dr. Lahmann's fertilizing 

 salts for plants. 

 Next! 



TESTING FOR GLUCOSE. 

 A correspondent in speaking of the diffi- 

 culty of detecting the presence of glucose 

 in honey suggests that it might be easier 

 to detect the impurities that always ac- 

 company the glucose than the glucose itself. 

 As a matter of fact, pure glucose or the 

 syrups made with it would be, and some of 

 those found on the market actually are, 

 nearly as good and as wholesome as pure 

 honey. But the price of such is necessarily 

 at least as high or higher than the ex- 

 tracted honey with which they would come 

 into competition. The glucose used for adul- 

 teration is necessarily of some cheap, and 



STRENGTH OF COLONIES AND QUEENS' 

 CAPACITY. 

 Ph. Baldenssperger thinks that but few 

 queens ever lay three thousand eggs a day, 

 and then only occasionally. The average 

 daily number laid during the whole year 

 was eight hundred and seventy-six. The 

 average during the best laying season, one 

 thousand seven hundred and sixty daily. As 

 at the beginning and end of the season the 

 colony contained ten thousand bees; three 

 hundred thousand bees must have died dur- 

 ing the year, and of course as many were 

 born. That colony yielded one hundred and 

 seventy -eight pounds of extracted honey 

 from April 10th to August 8th. He thinks 

 that in a larger hive the results both in 

 egg-laying and surplus honey would have 

 been better. This was in Palestine. 



A colony observed at Nice gave during the 

 heavy egg-laying term one thousand seven 

 hundred and ninety eggs, but the surplus 



