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DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XIX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., NOVEMBER 14, 1883. 



No. 46. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 



Mr. Gravenhorst's New Bee Book. 



Mr. G. has kindly sent us a copy of 

 his new book, entitled : " Der Prak- 

 tische Imker," (The Practical Apiar- 

 ist) of which w€ will give a short 

 review. 



On page 11, a cut represents the hive 

 he uses. It is made of straw, after the 

 fashion of the straw skepof the " days 

 of yore," but its shape is such as to 

 admit of the use of frames ; all being 

 of the same size. The base of the 

 hive has a rectangular shape, but the 

 upper part or cover has a cylindrical 

 form, and is perfectly tight. This 

 makes it necessary to have the upper 

 part of the frames of a round form, 

 and they are accessible only after hav- 

 ing the hive turned " upside down." 



To keep the fratues in position, the 

 upper part of the same catches in 

 notches, in a bar fastened in the crown 

 of the hive, while the projecting 

 shanks, having holes, are fastened to 

 the hive with iron pins or wire nails. 

 The hive has two or three entrance 

 holes, the main one being in the lower 

 half, and the others in the upper lialf 

 of the hive, being about equally dis- 

 tributed on one side of the hive. 



As the large hives take 15 framas, 

 of nearly the same size as a Lang- 

 stroth, it enables the apiarist, by the 

 aid of division-boards, to winter two 

 or three small colonies in one hive. 

 Mr. G. claims for his liive certainty 

 of wintering without loss and rapidity 

 of handling the bees. 



The hive is especially adapted for 

 extracting ; surplus honey is obtained 

 l)y side storing. Though sections may 

 be put into the large frames, as shown 

 on page 170, but leaving, of course, 

 empty corners on account of the 



round shape of the large frame. Un- 

 questionably the bees will winter well 

 in this hive, but we doubt whether the 

 yield obtained by side-storing will be 

 as large as by top-storing. 



The engraving, intended to a Lang- 

 stroth hive, is quite inaccurate, for it 

 conveys the idea that the top-bar of 

 the frames is an inch or more below 

 the upper edge of the hive, when it is, 

 in fact, only % of an inch below ; and 

 as shown in the hive, the top-bars 

 seem to be closed, which is not the 

 case. Otherwise, the cuts and general 

 make-up of the Ijook are a credit to 

 the publishers, C. A. Schwetschke & 

 Son, Braunschweig, Germany. 



One very important chapter is 

 omitted, viz. : the one on honey plants; 

 to provide pasturage in case of failure 

 at certain seasons, the apiarist is ad- 

 vised to practice migratory bee-keep- 

 ing. In fact, this is practiced to a 

 very large extent in Germany, gen- 

 erally with success, especially if the 

 distance is not very great, so as to 

 permit occasional visits. In this case, 

 they consider over-stocking out of the 

 question, for upward of a thousand 

 colonies are sometimes placed in one 

 range. 



In the chapter on stimulative feed- 

 ing, in spring, l)esides the flour of 

 wheat, rye, oats and peas, a diet of 

 milk and eggs is advised. The use of 

 the latter diet requires the hand of a 

 master, in preparation and feeding ; 

 withal, the book shows the hand of 

 an experienced master. 



The entomological part is written 

 in a very concise and comprehensive 

 manner, describing and illustrating 

 only such parts and their functions as 

 are absolutely necessary for an apiarist 

 to know in order to understand the 

 economy of a colony of bees. The 

 illustrations on page 70 and 71 are ex- 

 cellent, and give a better idea of the 

 abdomen of a queen and the relative 

 position of its parts in the body, than 

 many pages of description. 



Two remedies are given to cure foul 

 brood ; one by the aid of salicylic acid 

 dissolved in alcohol, and the other by 



the use of carbolic acid. Whether or 

 not the author has tried this remedy, 

 he does not say, but if we remember 

 correctly, Prof. Butlerow's attempts 

 to use it have not been very satis- 

 factory ; because of the disagreeable 

 penetrating odor, the bees would leave 

 the hive within live to ten minutes 

 after the disinfectant had been used ; 

 and much less than one per cent, 

 mixed with their food was sufficient 

 to poison them ; but the methods em- 

 ployed may make all the difference. 



We shall take the liberty to occa- 

 sionally give extracts of such chapters 

 as may prove interesting to our readers, 

 and would ^recommend our German- 

 speaking apiarists to procure a copy, 

 as the book contains many valuable 

 hints not only to beginners, but to the 

 experienced also. 



^"We have received 3 numbers of a 

 new French bee paper called Le Con- 

 servatexir des Abeilles, edited by Mons. 

 A. Fournier, and published at 27 rue 

 Vandamme, Paris, at 3J^ francs (75 

 cents,) a year. It represents the more 

 progressive of French apiarists. 



i^ We have received a copy of the 

 Dairy and Farm Journal, published 

 monthly at West Liberty, Iowa, and 

 notice that the Rev. £. L. Briggs is 

 one of the associate editors. 



i^And now comes Mr. P. Brickey.of 

 Kentucky, with a club of 28 7jew sub- 

 scribers, besides quite a number of 

 smaller clubs. Our new premiums for 

 clubs (found on another page,) are 

 attracting considerable attention; and 

 as the time is now at hand for getting 

 up clubs, we hope to send out hun- 

 dreds of premiums to enrich the 

 libraries of our friends. 



^i"We have received No. 1 of a new 

 German bee paper— the Deutsche lllus- 

 trierte Bienenzeitung — edited by C. J. 

 H. Gravenliorst, Braunschweig, Ger- 

 many, and published monthly at $1 a 

 year. It contains 16 pages, and is the 

 best printed bee paper in Europe. 



