438 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 11, 



view. I like to work with bees, but lean get just as much 

 pleasure out of 10 colonies as 100, and I want to know how 

 towork the other 90 and get the most honey with the least 

 expense of labor and capital. 



"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." Mr. 

 Bevins recently said that apiculture is one prolonged, never- 

 ending interrogation point. In the May Apicoltore, the bee- 

 journal of Italy, this remark is quoted, as one of the choice 

 "straws " gleaned from bee-papers of other lands. 



The Puzzled "Gleaner." — The joke is on me (page 

 381). I thought Gleaner meant an eighth larger than the 

 common or Langstroth size, and was referring to Dadant and 

 his followers, whose frames, roughly speaking, would be about 

 a fourth larger than the Langstroth, if of the Langstroth 

 length. I don't see now how I came to think so. I am much 

 obliged to Gleaner for the correction. Arvada, Colo. 



Length of Life of the Hotiey-Bee. 



BY DR. B. GALLUP. 



Now let us try to get at the facts about the length of life 

 of the honey-bee. (See page 328, an article by H. P. Willson.) 

 Take a black colony and introduce an Italian queen in the 

 height of the honey-flow or working season. In 21 days from 

 date of introducing, the blacks are all hatched out, and in 30 

 days from that date we have an Italian colony, and frequently 

 scarcely a black bee left. From frequent experiments we 

 have demonstrated that the life of a working bee in the work- 

 ing season does not exceed from 50 to 60 days, and yet in 

 their wintering condition they frequently live 8 months, as I 

 positively know. Now you can see the importance of having 

 a good and prolific queen during the working season in order 

 to keep up the strength of the colony. 



Friend Willson says that he has no doubt that many of 

 the bees now in the hives were matured last August. Now if 

 they were matured in August, and September was a good 

 working mouth, there would be but a very small percentage 

 alive on April 24, if ady. They lie comparatively dormant, 

 and their age does not advance until they commence work in 

 the spring. 



There are many curious facts in nature. I will give one 

 here. A young girl had her right foot and limb paralyzed at 

 the age of 10. The limb was dead, withered and cold, and 6 

 inches shorter than the other. I started the life or magnetic 

 current, which was cut off at the hip-joint. After she had ob- 

 tained her growth and size, the dead or paralyzed limb kept 

 on growing for five years, until it became the same size and 

 length of the other. The age of the dead limb was only 10 

 years when the other was 15. Animation was entirely sus- 

 pended for 5 years. I have had plenty of other demonstra- 

 tions of the same kind. 



Now we can see by the above facts that the age of the 

 bees do not advance while they are comparatively dormant in 

 winter ; but we must have a good queen in the spring, or the 

 colony dwindles away to nothing in short order, soon after 

 their out-door labor commences. Now, providing we introduce 

 an Italian queen late in the fall to a black colony, we will dis- 

 cover the blacks in full strength in the spring ; but we soon 

 have an Italian colony, and not a black bee left. 



Santa Ana, Calif., May 27. 



^ 



A Freuch Bee-Keepers' Union. 



BY CHARLES NORMAN. 



Like us on this side of the Great Pool, who have our 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Association, so there exists a 

 similar institution in France, with its seat at Paris. Its his- 

 tory is this : 



In 1856 an intelligent and progressive French bee-keeper, 

 Mr. Hamet, encouraged by the Marquis d'Hautpoul, a mem- 

 ber, and at the same time referendary of the French Senate, 

 held a course of apiculture at that well-known public Paris 

 garden, the " Garden du Luxembourg." This course having 

 been quite a success, the government had an apiary erected 

 there, and Mr. Hamet founded " La Societe Economique 

 d'Apiculture" (The Economical Society of Apiculture.) Simi- 

 lar courses have since been held there, year after year, from 

 the first of April until the first of June, and the participation 

 of the would-be bee-keepers in them has always been a right 

 satisfactory one. The society also holds exhibitions there, 

 twice a year. In 1859 the first bee-keepers' congress took 

 place there. In 1875 the society changed its name, and as 

 many distinguished entomologists had become members of it, 

 the study of insects was added to the one of apiculture : the 

 title of the society now is, " La Societe Centrale d'Apiculture 

 et d'Insectologie." (The Central Society of Apiculture and 

 Insectology.) 



In 1877 the government conceded to the society a space 

 of 2,5-4-0 square meters in the park of Montsouris, for the es- 

 tablishment of a school of apiculture and agricultural insectol- 

 ogy. The society has not been able yet to have a proper edi- 

 fice erected there, but an apiary has been established where, 

 like at the Luxembourg Garden, apicultural courses and con- 

 ferences are held. The area conceded to the society has been 

 utilized for the cultivation and study of melliferous plants, as 

 well as of mulberries, with a view to finding out the best way 

 or ways of rearing silk-worms. The government has also 

 otherwise assisted the society — in ISO-i it allowed them a 

 subsidy of 1,500 francs. 



There is, outside of Paris, a considerable number of pro- 

 vincial or local bee-keepers' unions in France; since 1891 

 many of them have affiliated with the Societe Centrale, and 

 "apiculture has entered into a new era of prosperity since 

 that epoch." 



The society possesses quite a library, which is continually 

 increasing by donations, exchanges, purchases of books, etc. 

 They also have an album which contains the photographs of 

 many of the members, as well as of other prominent persons. 

 Since the two apiaries of the society have been established, 

 never a complaint has been preferred against their bees — on 

 the contrary, they always have been an additional attraction 

 for the visitors of those public gardens. 



The society consists of three kinds of members : honorary 

 members — persons who by their scientific performances or 

 their prominent position can render useful services to the 

 society (among them I notice the name of a-Chinese General, 

 Tching-ki-Tong); foundator members — those whb contribute 

 to the society at least 100 francs in one sum; active members 

 — those that join the society and pay 10 francs a year. Any 

 person, without distinction of residence or nationality, can 

 become a member. The council of administration is composed 

 of a president, an honorary president, three vice-presidents, 

 seven members, and two honorary members, a general secre- 

 tary, three secretaries of the sessions, a treasurer and deputy, 

 a librarian-archivary and deputy. 



Anything that pertains to apiculture or insectology is an 

 object to the society. For instance, new inventions (regard- 

 ing hives, tools, insecticides, etc.) are produced and discussed. 

 Has a person made, or rather (what is more often the case) 

 does a person imagine having made an invention ? A descrip- 

 tion of the thing (in a sealed envelope, if preferred) can, for 

 a future proof of its priority, be handed to the society to be 

 deposited in their archives. Recompenses can be accorded 

 "to persons who make known interesting works, new in- 

 struments, essays on useful or injurious insects, and who in- 

 dicate the means of destroying the latter." A Mr. Decaux is 

 so anxious of acquiring prominency that he does not, like 



