THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 



the little experiment suggested by 

 Mr. Root, or by clieniical auiUysisV 



Searcliiii!^ for what inrorniatioii I 

 <;oiiki in reKanl to tlie excreta of l)ees, 

 I lind thai Dr. Doiiliol'fs analysis 

 gives ••one-lhinl uric and hipiniric 

 acitl, and the residue of indigestible 

 portions of pollen. "" Has this analy- 

 sis ever t)een corrected V If not, how 

 does the no-jiollen theory S(|uare with 

 ity I don't know whether theexcreta 

 iinalyzed were summer or winter, nor- 

 mal 'or abnormal, but, anyhow, here 

 is a doctor of no mean repute, who 

 states that these excreta contain two- 

 thirds "of indigestible portions of 

 pollen."' 



My library is not extensive ; I am 

 not a professor either of entomology 

 or chemistry ; the study of apiculture 

 can only be with me a species of knit- 

 ting-work, hlliiig up the interstices 

 of leisure woven into a very busy life; 

 and I assure "'my learned friend," 

 that I write these" things as a docile 

 disciple, rather than as a dogmatic 

 teacher. I am one of a very big class, 

 gatliered every week in the school of 

 the A:siEKicAN Bee Journal. We 

 are not much past "' the A, B, C, of 

 bee-keeping." and if this article 

 •moves the Professor to give us a lec- 

 ture, many others will be thankful for 

 it as well as myself. 



Listowel, Ont., Jan. U, 1882. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1882. Time and Place ol Meeting. 



Jan. 24. 25— Indiana State, at Indianapniis, Ind. 



25— Northeastern, at Utica, X. Y. 



Geo. W. House, Sec, Fayetteville, N, V. 



Feb. 8, 9— N. B. O. & X. W. Pit., at Jamestown. Pa. 

 W. D. Howells. Sec., Ashtabula. Ohio. 



9 — Northeastern Maine, at Dexter, Maine. 



April 11— Eastern Michigan, at Detroit, Mich. 

 A B. Weed, Sec. Detroit, Mich. 



25— Texas State, at McKinney, Texas. 



Wm. K. Howard, Sec. 



2G, 27- Western Michigan, at Crand Rapids. 

 Wm. M. S. Dodge, Sec, Coopersville, Mich. 



27— Kentuclcy Union, at Eminence. Ky. 

 G. W. Demaree, Sec, Christiansburg, Ky. 



May Champlain Valley, at Bristol, Vt. 



T. Broolcins, Sec. 



25— lowu Central, at Winterset. Iowa. 



Henry Wallace, See. 



tW In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- El>. 



1^ The Northeastern Bee-Keepers' 

 Association of Maine, will hold its 

 second annual meeting at Grange 

 Hall, Dexter, Me., Feb. 9, 1882. An 

 invitation is extended to all persons 

 interested in bees and honey, to at- 

 tend, and bring tlieir pet bee hives, 

 smokers, extractors, etc.. that we may 

 •compare the merits of eacli different 

 kind. The President will give an 

 address, and we shall hear the Secre- 

 tary's report, and elect oflicers for the 

 •ensuing year. Wji. Hoyt, Sec. 



Translated by A. R. Kohnke. 



Austro-German Convention. 



The Austro-(;ennan Convention 

 met at Erfurt, Sept. •)-8, 1881, ;ind was 

 probahly the largest in the world, 

 being aitended by more than 7(10 bee- 

 keepers from all parts of Europe. 



One of tlie first acitions of the Con- 

 vention was to elect Mr. Vogel, of 

 Lehmannshoefel. near Cuestrin, Per- 

 manent Vice President of the Associa- 

 tion. Having paid due homage to 

 their deceased riiembers, especially, 

 their former Vice President, A. 

 Schmid, \'on Berlepsch and others, 

 and disposed of other matters of 

 minor importance, the debate was 

 opened by Dr. Dzierzon, who re- 

 marked that the practical part of bee- 

 keeping liail made wonderful progress 

 since the days of Aristotle and Virgil, 

 as also the theories or natural history 

 with reference to the bee, but there 

 were still some mysteries left unex- 

 plained, for instance, What is it that 

 transforms a worker bee larva into a 

 queen'? Does it depend on the quan- 

 tity or quality of the foodV He sup- 

 posed it to be the latter;* for, wlieii- 

 everroyal jelly was transferred from a 

 queen cell to a worker cell containing 

 a larva, the bees would invariably en- 

 large that cell to rear a queen. 



Anotlier question to be answered 

 was: When and how are workers qual- 

 ified to lay eggs sometimes, even in 

 colonies having a good queenV A 

 third point was t;o the speaker not yet 

 perfectly clear, viz: The preparation 

 of royafjelly to feed larva and queen. 



Mr. Vogel answered this last ques- 

 tion, referring to Dr. Leuckart's and 

 V. Siebold's investigations,! stating 

 also that royal jelly stood in the 

 same relation to the bee, as the milk 

 to mammals, viz: being a secretion of 

 certain glands. Queen larvie got this 

 exclusively as foixl, while worker bee 

 larva> obtained that only during the 

 first 5 or G days, and before sealing 

 the cell containing the same they are 

 provided with a store of lioney and 

 pollen. 



Rev. Rabbow mentioned another 

 point not yet explained, viz: What is 

 the cause that on crossing two differ- 

 ent races of bees, tor instance, Ger- 

 man drone bee and Italian queen, the 

 progeny of such a queen is at the be- 

 ginning purely Italian, then purely 

 German, and finally mixed V 



Mr. Ilgen mentioned another mys- 

 tery, viz: Why do young queens sud- 

 denly become barren, after having 

 been very prolific V Exhaustion by 

 over-exertion and exhaustion of 

 sperm in tiie seminal sack were given 

 as reasons, and concurred in by Hil- 

 bert and otliers, who also said that 

 instead of sending money to foreign 

 countries for bees and queens, the 

 latter of which arrived very often in 

 an injured condition by rough. liand- 

 ling during transportation, over which 

 the shipper bad no control, the bee- 

 keepers should aim to improve the 



• It is rather surprising to observe a doubt about 

 this matter with an old, experienced bee-keeper, 

 as Dr. Dezierzon is, after the investigations or V. 

 Siebold in Is72.— TRANSLATOR. 



rrhe salivary glands of the bee by Siebold, 1.S7-'. 



— ritAXSI.ATOK. 



Stock they liad, by selecting first-class 

 colonies to l)reea from, and if bee- 

 keepers in ( jermany liad to buy queens, 

 to get them of bee-keepers or (pieen- 

 breeders of (Jermany wtio were re- 

 liable, and were known for the purity 

 of their strain of bees. 



Messrs. Lehzen, Gravenhorst and 

 otliers concurred witli reference to 

 using perforated zinc to confine the 

 queen to a limiter number of brood- 

 combs, their experience being that 

 the use of the same was injurious — 

 1st. Because loaded bees on coming 

 home would with their load go to the 

 brood-combs first, trying to find room 

 in or near there to deposit the 

 gathered stores, and only after a vain 

 effort would return to the honey de- 

 partment; this consumed some time 

 and tired the bees, hence proved to be 

 a loss insteatl of gain. 2nd. Bees or 

 colonies, where the queen is thus con- 

 fined, are not as industrious as otliers 

 w'liere that is not done. 



The next question considered was 

 " the value of the different races of 

 bees." Those considered were the 

 Cyprian, Syrian, Eg.yptian, and es- 

 pecially the Caucasion bee. Mr. 

 Hilbert opened the discussion by say- 

 ing that with reference to the Cau- 

 casian, their character ran to extremes. 

 The pure race, as imported, could 

 hardly be induced to sting being very 

 docile. 2d. They were extremely lazy. 

 .Sd. Very poor breeders, beginning 

 later in the spring and stopping sooner 

 in the fall, than any other race. (Mr. 

 H. experimented with .5 Caucasian 

 colonies). But on rearing queens from 

 such an one, this second generation, 

 or cross between them and any other 

 proved to be indefatigable fighters, 

 excelling in this respect the Cyprians 

 by far ; besides that, the pure race, as 

 laz.v^as they are, are born robbers, at- 

 tacking the strongest colonies. As 

 to Cyprians, be said they were very 

 prolific, good honey gatherers, but 

 when he wanted to take the honey 

 from such a colony, tliey would most 

 of the time get the better of him, 

 stinging everything coming within 

 their reach. 



Mr. Vogel, in stating his experience 

 with 12 pure Caucasian colonies, said 

 that his colonies in the spring of 1879 

 built up very well, in fact, better than 

 any others, and were his strongest 

 colonies in July, but — no honey. 

 Could not be induced to sting on the 

 hottest day, or when queenless. They 

 wintered very well from 1879 to 1880 ; 

 in the spring of 1880 developed the 

 same as before— hives being chocked 

 full of bees and brood in July, but no 

 honey. I 



Getting rid of those he had. be sent 

 for 4 others, from the same source, 2 

 of which proved to be the very op- 

 posite of what he had had before. In 

 the fall they were very populous and 

 heavy with honey. In color they were 

 almost identical with the Italians. 



Mr. Dathe, Jr., said that a cross be- 

 tvi'een the Caucasian and German bees 

 produced very irrascible bees. 



J There seems to be a limit to prolitlcness. as 

 stated in my article on " coming bee " sent to the 

 AMEUICAS BEE JoURXAT.. Those hees probably 

 used up all their honey they gathered, to rear 

 brood. 



