THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



i7b 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



See that the Bees hare Honey.— The 



Prairie Fanner advises all to now 

 look well to the bees, and adds : 



The first week in April was de- 

 liglitful— we ate it, drank it, and 

 rolled in it. How the bees improved 

 it— the young sporting in the glad sun- 

 shine, and the workers with heavily 

 laden paniers, sailing into port. On 

 Sunday the 9th inst., we divided our 

 time between the peach bloom and 

 the bees. The bloom was almost con- 

 tinuous on tlie branches of the peach 

 trees, and tlie liumming of the bees, 

 as they passed from flower to flower, 

 reminding us of the time when bass- 

 wood is rich in nectar. We sat on a 

 rustic seat, and watched tlie bees rush- 

 ing in and out of the hives, intent on 

 making the most of the bloom and 

 fine weather. It is well they im- 

 proved it, for how soon the pet;"ils of 

 the peach bloom werelimp and wilted, 

 from freezing. 



The mild winter and spring has 

 been very favorable for brood rearing, 

 and nat\iralists tell us, that an insect 

 during its larva; state consumes more 

 food than during the rest of its life, 

 consequently large quantities of 

 lioney have been consumed. No honey 

 has been gatliered since the freeze, 

 and if this cool weather lasts mucli 

 longer, it will result in the destruc- 

 tion of many fine colonies, unless they 

 are fed. We liave known colonies to 

 starve in May, during a dearth of 

 lioney. Every colony sliould be care- 

 fully watched and fed, and none left 

 to perish, as there are not enough 

 bees in the country now to gather the 

 nectar and fertilize the bloom. 



Rules for Economic Apiaries Compe- 

 tition. — Tlie London (Eng.) Journal 

 of Horticultui'e gives the following as 

 the rules adopted by the British Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, for the govern- 

 ment of competitors at the bee and 

 honey shows. It will interest some of 

 our readers in tliis country as well as 

 Europe : 



1. Tlie object of this competition is 

 to show the relative merits of differ- 

 ent systems of bee-keeping, and to 

 prove that bee-keeping if conducted 

 on economical principles is highly re- 

 munerative to the bee-keeper. 



2. Competitors shall be members of 

 county associations affiliated with the 

 British Bee-Keepers' Association re- 

 siding within the recognized bound- 

 aries ot tlieir res|)ective counties, or 

 members of the British Bee-Keepers' 

 Association residing in the county of 

 Middlesex. Each competitor shall be 

 limited to one entry, and shall pay an 

 entry fee of 53. 



3. Prizes of £6, £5, £4, £3, £2, and 

 £1 shall be awarded in the order of 

 merit to the competitors who shall 

 derive tlie greatest profit from an ex- 

 perimental apiary on not more than 2 

 hives at the outset, which may be in- 

 creased to any extent by natural or 

 artificial swarming. The total capi- 

 tal to be employed in commencing 

 and maintaining the apiary must not 

 exceed £2, and the competition to ex- 

 tend from May 20lh, 1882, to August 

 80lh, 1H83. . 



i. Tlie apiary shall be established in 

 tlie garden of some cottager to be 

 selected by the competitor and ap- 

 proved by the Secretary of the County 

 Association, or in tlie case of the 

 county of Middlesex by the Secretary 

 of the British Bee-Keeepers' Associa- 

 tion. 



5. The competitor shall keep a diary 

 (a duplicate of whicli shall be kept at 

 the cottage), in which all transactions 

 connected witli tlie apiary shall be re- 

 corded, and each item of expenditure 

 and receipt entered ; such diary to be- 

 come the property of the British Bee- 

 Keepers' Association at the close of 

 the competition. 



6. Eacti hive shall be weighed, and 

 the Vi'eight minus the roof and cover- 

 ing shall be recorded in the diary. 

 The hives shall be stocked with bees 

 without combs ; the bees to be valued 

 at 4s. per lb. Comb foundation may 

 be used at any period of the compeii- 

 tion at 2s. 6d.' per lb. for thick, and 3s. 

 per lb. for thin. No bees, brood, or 

 natural comb to be imported into the 

 apiary after commencing. Queens 

 may be introduced into the hives at 

 any period of tlie competition, and 

 shall be valued as follows : In the 

 month of May, .Ss. each ; in June, 63. 

 each ; in July, 4s. each ; and any other 

 month, 3s. each. All expenses in- 

 curred after the commencement of 

 the competition must be defrayed 

 from the original capital of £2. 

 Vouchers must lie produced for all 

 purcliases made throughout the com- 

 petition, including hives, bees, and 

 any appliances used at the commence- 

 ment. 



7. Each competitor may make his 

 own hives and supers, but vouchers 

 for the cost of the materials must be 

 produced, and the workmanship 

 valued by the Secretary of the County 

 Association or an expert appointed by 

 liim. 



8. Every amount expended in the 

 apiary for food or any other inciden- 

 tal matter of whatever nature shall 

 be charged against the apiary, and 

 everything legitimately sold shall be 

 set down in its favor. Vouchers must 

 be produced for all bees and honey 

 sold during the competition, accord- 

 ing to the printed forms supplied to 

 eacli competitor for tliis purpose. 



9. The Secretary of the County As- 

 sociation may visit the competing 

 apiary at any reasonable time, or may 

 appoint an expert to do so. The 

 record of such visits, together with 

 any remarks which it may be advis- 

 able to make, to be entered in the 

 diary, whicli shall always be accessible 

 for the purpose. 



10. The competitor shall certify 

 that during its continuance he has 

 fulfilled all the conditions imposed by 

 tliese rules, and that all his entries in 

 the diary are true. The Secretary, or 

 his expert, shall certify as to the 

 quantity and value of the honey pro- 

 duced by each competitor. 



11. Any attempt at fraud will be 

 punished by disqualification. 



12. All entries must be made on the 

 proper printed forms and accom- 

 panied with the entry fees on or be- 

 fore May 1st, 1882. Application for 

 entry forms to be made to the As- 

 sistant Secretary, Mr. J. Huckle, 

 King's Langiey, VV afford, Herts. 



Snceessful.— The Union, of Oneida, 

 N. Y., gives the following : 



About the most successful apiarist 

 we know of, in this section, is Ed. B. 

 Beebee, who has been experimenting 

 with the " little busy bodies " for 

 several years. Out of the 94 colonies 

 which he had last fall, lie has suc- 

 ceeded in wintering 90, all of which 

 seem to be in a thrifty condition. His 

 bees consist of the Italian, Syrian and 

 Cyprian varieties, which are conceded 

 to be superior to our native breed. 

 In addition to producing honey, Mr. 

 Beebee turns his attention to the 

 breeding of queen bees and manufac- 

 turing honey comb foundation, for 

 which there is a wide-spread demand 

 among apiarists. Mr. B. expects with 

 proper management this season to 

 reap a harvest of 10,000 lbs. of honey, 

 and have at least 200 thrifty colonies 

 on hand to winter. 



A Bee Lawsuit in Germany.— Mr. 



Alfred Neighbour, of London, Eng- 

 land, translates the following from the 

 Bienen-Zeituny of Jan., 1882, on the 

 above subject. The translator says 

 that the damages awarded shows that 

 there must have been 900 colonies on 

 one farm : 



The Royal High Court of Justice 

 here has recorded a judgment which 

 is ot great importance to bee-keepers. 

 For more than 15 years many bee- 

 keepers of Ilhineland and Westphalia 

 had been in the habit of removing 

 their bees to the fields of a farmer 

 whose estate was adjoining a moor 

 belonging to the brothers Von Raes- 

 field, which was visited by the bees 

 in their search for honey. The 

 brothers Von Raesfeld objected to 

 this, and summoned the bee-keepers 

 for trespass, but the case was dis- 

 missed. Thereupon they ordered some 

 boxes to be exposed on the heath. The 

 inside of these was covered with 

 lioney, and when a considerable num- 

 ber of bees had collected there the 

 lids of the boxes were closed and the 

 bees killed with brimstone by men 

 specially engaged for the work. This 

 conduct was tlie cause of an action by 

 the bee-keepers against the Raes- 

 felds, who were condemned by the 

 Court to pay damages at the rate of 

 5.80 per hive, amounting to 5.000m. 



