252 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



December/ 



was less than half that of the PaUstlne 

 colony. 



Commenting on the above, the editor says 

 that he has often had reports of greater 

 egg- laying than that, and thinks that the 

 mortality in bees is greater in warm coun- 

 tries than farther north, and for that rea- 

 son the •gg-laying or rather, brood-rearing, 

 cannot reach as great a development. He 

 says that in Switzerland colonies can be 

 found having a population of seventy thou- 

 sand to eighty thousand bees and even mor«. 

 A queenless swarm belonging to him hived 

 the 24th of July had eight thousand bees on 

 the 22d of November. In his locality (the 

 editor's) the main crop lasts from two to 

 four weeks, more or less interrupted by rains, 

 yet one hundred pounds of surplus are fre- 

 quently obtained. With a honey season as 

 long as that of Palestine, one hundred and 

 seventy-eight pounds does not seem to be so 

 very big after all. — La Revue Internationale. 



IDENTIFYING HONEY. 

 Dr. Pfister claims that by observing under 

 the microscope the grains of pollen founJ 

 in the honey, it is possible to determine 

 from what source it comes. The dandelion 

 pollen was the most often found. Honeys 

 from tropical countries show different pollens 

 from those of Europe. Those from Chili 

 and North America can scarcely be dis- 

 tinguished from those of Europe. That of 

 Australia shows the pollen of the eucalyptus. 



OLD BEES FOR NURSES. 

 One of the experimental stations of Switz- 

 erland made several swarms with only old 

 bees. It was found In every case that a 

 portion of them did the work usually al- 

 lotted to the young bees, acted like young 

 bees and even assumed In some respects 

 the appearance of young bees, with well- 

 filled abdomen and a propensity of falling 

 from the combs. 



BRUSHED SWARMS. 



One of Gravenhorst's methods of forming 

 brushed swarms is to brush all the bees 

 from a colony and put them on a new 

 stand leavlnrg the combs on the old stand. 

 That is precisely the reverse of the usual 

 process. Most of the bees will remain if 

 the operation has been done early in the 

 day, before the bees take their play-spell, 

 and if given a chance of filling with honey 

 before being shaken. 



If a very strong colony is desired, two 

 or three swarms thus made can be united 

 or brood from other hives can be added. 



STARTERS FOR SWARMS. 

 When hiving a swarm, Gravenhorst gives 

 only a few frames and these with starters 

 only, about what the swarm will build of 

 worker comb. After these are nearly full, 

 and when drone comb would likely be com- 

 menced, he completes the brood nest with 

 foundation. 



CAUCASIANS. 



Adulterated Foundation, Etc. 



By E, F. Atwater. 



FRIEND HILL:— Several items in 

 the October American Bee-Keep- 

 er have aroused my interest. I 

 have a Caucasian, and also a Caucas- 

 ian Carniolan colony from the govern, 

 ment stock, and I am going to ask 

 you to, tell you readers, in detail 

 your experience in regard to the 

 Caucasian bees, and the experience of 

 others, with which you are familiar. 

 It might ,save some of us an unprofit- 

 able experience. Are you aAvare that 

 Mr. Herman Ranchfuss, of Colorado, 

 after several years' trial, considers 

 them the best bees, all things consider- 

 ed? He says they equal Italians for 

 honey, gentler than any other I'ace, 

 use propolis freely, make white capped 

 comb-honey, and build many queen 

 cells. 



With faith in my heart I planted the 

 "Agricultural Department's" seeds of 

 honey plants. I had better fed them 

 to the chickens. 



About adulterated foundation — I had 

 100 lbs. at one time, and 10 lbs. at 

 another, from a western manufacturer, 

 that was probably adulterated. I 

 sent a sample to an Eastern ifirm to 

 be tested. They Avrote that it seemed 

 to have been made from cheap West 

 Indian wax, too soft to make good 

 foundation; that their wax-testing 

 apparatus was out of order, but that 

 they would repair it, and then test the 

 wax, and report. They have never 

 done so. You could not put enough 

 wires in a frame but this worthless 

 foundation would sag and tear off. 

 I know from friends whose experience 

 was the same as mine, that the 

 foundation which I received was not 

 an exceptionally poor lot. I will send 

 the name of this firm to anyone who 

 will write me enclosing a two cent 

 stamp, that others may avoid my ex- 

 l)erience. 



Boise. Idaho. Oct. 17, 1905. 



