60 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. Hans, St. Petersburg, Russia, 

 from whom all these queens and colo- 

 nies had been obtained, admitted the 

 robbing propensities, docility, ex- 

 cessive breeding, and consequently, 

 little honey. His bees were conlined 

 218 days during the cold winter 

 weather. 



Mr. Hilbert remarked that the color 

 of the pure Caucasian was a dark 

 gray, and not like the Italian, to 

 which he did not get an opposing 

 reply. 



Mr. Vogel claimed tliat a race or 

 strain of bees may be pure witliout 

 preserving the color of the queen or 

 colony bred from because sucli a con- 

 stancy did not exist in nature : nature 

 was not encased in an iron jacket, but 

 changable. 



Mr. Waither substantially admitted 

 the points Mr. Hilbert stated. 



Dr. Dzierzon said that he was the 

 first who imported Italian bees into 

 Germany, and wherever the purity of 

 the race had been preserved, they had 

 always been observed to be more ser- 

 viceable tlian any other, being more 

 docile, prolific and good honey gath- 

 erers ; as a criterion, on first sight, lie 

 would consider the color. To this last 

 remark Mr. Hilbert objected, as Cyp- 

 rians were better colored, but worse 

 to handle. 



Rev. Deidrert claimed that there 

 was no constancy of color with Cyp- 

 rians. 



The next question considered was, 

 how to insure successful and profit- 

 able bee-keeping in Germany. Bee- 

 keepers there claiming, that on ac- 

 count of the large importation of 

 adulterated honey [I suppose, glucose 

 — Translator.] they couldnot sell their 

 honey at a reasonal)le figure, and it 

 was resolved to petition the govern- 

 ment to raise the duty on all imported 

 honey and wax, from S:! cents per 100 

 pounds, as it has heretofore been, to 

 $2.2.5 per 100 pounds for honey, and 

 for wax, from 88 cents to S4.50 per 

 100 pounds. United States money and 

 weights. Several bee-keepers claimed 

 to have traced foul brood to American 

 honey, where bees had liad access to 

 empty honey barrels, the contents of 

 which had been used by confectioners. 

 Having discussed this question in all 

 its bearings, the Convention adjourned 

 to meet next year in Wiener, Austria. 



[It seems to me our German bee- 

 keeping friends are very unreasonable 

 as to prices obtainable for wax and 

 honey, tor one bee-keeper says, live 

 years ago he got SI per pound for wax, 

 and now he cannot get more than 22 

 cents. That is still more than we can 

 get here, leaving out of consideration 

 that one dollar goes much further in 

 Germany than in this country. So 

 also for honey, they ask for buck- 

 wheat, in comb, 18 cents, can any bee- 

 keeper in this country ever get such a 

 price for such honey y Wlien they ob- 

 ject to adulterated honey they are per- 

 fectly right, and it seems to me to be 

 within the jurisdiction of Congress to 

 forbid the exportation, sale or manu- 

 facture of any sweet under any other 

 but its real name, as it injures a large 

 trade in honey and wax. The bee- 

 keepers of this country will soon feel 



the duty imposed upon honey by the 

 German government. The attention 

 of the Imperial health office in Ger- 

 many has been called to this fraud, 

 after having it forbidden in Germany, 

 they will next likely forbid importa- 

 tion of that stuff called clucose or 

 manufactured grape sugar, and adul- 

 terated honey in any shape, especially 

 if they regard foul brood as having 

 been imported from tliis coimtry. — 

 Translator.] 



SEt-^S^^mOM 



wm% 



Flights in Winter. — Is it indicative 

 of the normal condition of a colony 

 of bees in the cellar, with mercury 

 at 40°, to continue a humming sound V 

 2. Is it better to give them a fiy in the 

 open air, if the tempei'ature is right, 

 once or twice during the winter? I 

 have thought they might become so 

 thoroughly aroused as to consume a 

 large amount of honey, also cause the 

 queen to commence rearing brood, 

 which nlust perish before maturity. 

 W. Wakepteld. 



St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 13, 1882. 



[1. The humming noise should be 

 almost inaudible; butwedoubt if they 

 are ever perfectly quiet when in a 

 normal condition. 



2. We would, by all means, give 

 them one or two good cleansing 

 Hights, if the tempei'ature is suitable, 

 allowing tliem to remain outside until 

 they become quieted from chilling, 

 when they can be put back in the 

 cellar without damaging results. Dur- 

 ing the few days in winter when they 

 can fly, the queen cannot be induced 

 to deposit eggs enough to work any 

 harm, or to cause an unusual con- 

 sumption of honey. — Ed.] 



Syrian Bees. — Please give a descrip- 

 tion of the Syrian bee in the Jour- 

 nal, and address of some one who 

 has them for sale. Otto S. Derby. 



Portland, Mich., Dec. 31, 1881. 



[The Syrian has been several times 

 described in back numbers of the Bee 

 Journal. For names of dealers, see 

 our advertising columns. — Ed.] 



What Ails my Bees? — Last winter 

 my bees nearly all died, with plenty 

 of honey; this winter, they come out 

 of the hives and do not go back. 

 Every morning I find nuniljers of them 

 lying in front of their hives. They 

 are on the summer stands, raised up 

 1^ incli, with small blocks. Last night 

 about five inches of snow fell, and 

 this morning you could see dead bees 

 lying all around on the snow. The 

 hives feel heavy, and they certainly 

 must have honey, as they were all fed 

 until very late in the fall. What is 

 wrong? and how can I remedy it? 

 Tliey never acted this way before. 



They seem to come out of all; I have 

 14. Samuel M. Lilley. 



Montgomery Sta., Pa. 



[Those are old bees, most or all of 

 which come out of the hives to die. 

 It is better they should come out and 

 perish, than remain to die in the hives- 

 before spring.— Ed.] 



Timber for Sections.— Will you 



please state whether honey in one-lb. 

 sections, made of basswood lumber, 

 sells as readily and at as high a price 

 as the same quality of honey in the 

 same size sections made of poplar. It 

 is claimed by those liaving the pof)lar 

 sections for sale, tliat honey in them 

 will sell for 2 cents a pound more than 

 if in basswood. W. N. Howard. 

 St. Johnsbnry. Vt., Dec. 30, 1881. 



[It is certainly a mistake; basswood 

 makes quite as pretty and durable a 

 section as poplar, when nicely dressed 

 and sand-papered. — Ed. 



My First Year's Experience.— One 



year ago I put 10 good colonies of bees 

 in the cellar; 8 of them came out in 

 good condition last spring; 2 were 

 weak in numbers, but plenty in stores. 

 I increased to 20, bought 3, and one 

 came to me. I took 1,.500 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 30 lbs. of comb honey. I 

 put in the cellar 24 good colonies in 

 good condition on Xov. 5. 



Samuel Sanderson. 

 Glenallan, Ont. 



Box-Hive Men not Progressive. — 



There are but few who keep bees in 

 this section; which are kept mostly 

 in box hives, and it seems almost 

 impossible for such persons to change 

 their opinion in regard to hives and 

 management of bees. At our county 

 fair I exhibited honey, and distribu- 

 ted copies of the Bee Journal 

 among tliose who were interested ii> 

 bee-keeping. I hope that I may de- 

 rive as much information from the 

 Bee Journal during the coming 

 year as I have the past. 



Theo. D. Thomas. 

 Pleasant Valley, N. Y., Jan. 16,1882. 



Well Satisfied.— I have kept bees- 

 for 13 years, beginning with 3 colonies, 

 and have had varied success. I now 

 have 130 colonies. Last year was a 

 famous season for honey, the white 

 clover being simply immense. I da 

 not get as much honey as some of 

 whom we read in the Bee Journal, 

 but I assure you I had a large quan- 

 tity last fall." I am satisfied if I get 

 40 lbs. of box honey i)er colony. I 

 liave so much farm-work to do that I 

 cannot run my bees just as I would 

 like to, but you never saw a nicer 

 bee-yard than mine. Abram Hunt. 



Rodman, N. Y., Jan. i), 1882. 



Fall Honey for Winter.— Bees are 



wintering well, so far, in tliis locality. 

 The weather has been mild, and the 

 prospect is good for an early spring. 

 The bees gathered enough honey last 

 fall to winter on, from buckwheat 

 and wild flowers, which was rather 



