1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



241 



are taken to see apiaries in various places. 

 There are 258 bee societies, with 9890 mem- 

 bers, who receive subsidies to the amount of 

 21,780 francs from the state. Many of these 

 societies are federated into 9 sections. There 

 is a central syndicate with headquarters at 

 Brussels. They have a selection of 29 bee- 

 books for study, 24 in the French language 

 and 5 in Flemish. They have 5 bee journals, 

 all in French. The hives in use are Dadant- 

 Blatt, Layens', and Voirnot's. How is this 

 for little Belgium ? 



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THE HIVES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 



Every nation or race appears to have its 

 own peculiar idea of the eternal fitness of 

 things, for by no other reason can we account 

 for the extraordinary variety of hives now 

 in use in Central Europe, by which is meant 

 Germany, Poland, Austria-Hungary, and Bo- 

 hemia. There the races of men refuse to blend 

 in one common mass as they do in this 

 country, and we have Croat, Saxon, Czech, 

 Vlach, Hun, Slav, Pole, Jew, Magyar, and 

 all the rest united in an agreement to be dis- 

 united, each apparently firmly convinced his 

 way is by far the best. Dr. Dzierzon, owing 

 to his commanding position in the world 

 of bee-keeping, succeeded in a considerable 

 measure in beating down some of this preju- 

 dice so far as it applies to bee-keeping. But he 

 was himself a victim of prejudice, for he 

 persistently refused to accept the Langstroth 

 hive in its entirety, though he recognized the 

 value of movable combs in frames. Had he, 

 with his great prestige, advocated with all 

 his vehemence (which was not small) the 

 Langsti'oth hive pure and simple, it is per- 

 fectly safe to say apiculture in Central Eu- 

 rope would have progressed to a point far 

 beyond its present position, and probably 

 be abreast of the best American practice. 

 But the opportunity was lost, and we are 

 waiting to observe developments, for these 

 races generally prefer to follow a leader. 

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SWEET CLOVER AND LOCUSTS FOR BELGIUM. 



The Bee-keepers' Association of Belgium 

 met in Brussels on the 28th of October, un- 

 der the presidency of Mr. Henry, Professor of 

 Botany in the college at Flobecq. The pres- 

 ident is a bee-keeper who has made an ex- 

 haustive study of bee pasturage. One pro- 

 posal which came before the conference was 

 to vote a sum of money to bUy 440 ll3S. of 

 sweet-clover seed (white) for free distribution 

 among the members in 25-gramme packages. 

 They Know where they are at in Belgium. 



Professor Henry has an article in Le 

 Progres Apicole for November on the locust- 

 trees as honey-producing plants, and it may 

 not be generally known that locusts are 

 much more appreciated in France, Belgium, 

 and Holland than they are in this country, 

 the home of some of them. He calls atten- 

 tion to the fact that the leaves and small 

 twigs of these trees form a food equivalent 

 to alfalfa as a food for sheep, deer, and rab- 

 bits. This should be noted by game-preserv- 

 ers. Locust-trees of many species are very 



important to bee-keepers the world over, in 

 the United States, in Mexico, where the na- 

 tional "dulce" is the pod of a locust; in 

 Hawaii, where the "algorroba" produces 

 great yields of honey; also in Cuba and Porto 

 Rico; in the French West Indies, where the 

 "quadoo" pods are valuable, and in South 

 America, where the ombu is important. 

 St. John the Baptist lived on locust-pods 

 (husks). 



At the annual meeting of the Vermont 

 Bee-keepers' Association one gentleman gave 

 his experience in building up weak colonies 

 by the Alexander plan of setting the weak 

 colony over a strong one, and pronouncetl 

 the method a great success. It would seem 

 that the art of bee-keeping was never ad- 

 vancing so rapidly as at the present time. 

 .& 



Mention has been made in one or two 

 numbers of Gleanings of the high price of 

 honey in England. We have taken some pains 

 to get quotations from there, if we might know 

 the truth of such high prices; but quotations 

 are only three to six pence a pound. Mean- 

 while some one has been selling honey in 

 Chicago for 50 cents a pound — two better 

 than in England. A few days ago a gentle- 

 man told me that his own honey was retail- 

 ing in New York, Brooklyn District, for 30 

 cts. a pound. It looks hopeful. 

 ^> 



What do you mean, Mr. Editor, when you 

 say, page 18, "Even the doctors must show 

 what they put into their medicine when they 

 give it to a patient"? Does this mean that 

 their prescriptions must all be correctly la- 

 beled ? I have found by inquiry at a drug- 

 store that patent-medicine men are not com- 

 pelled to divulge how or of what their med- 

 icine is composed, and print it on the label. 

 They give the government their formula, 

 and then are required to stick to it, while 

 those who take their medicine remain in 

 blissful ignorance of what they are swallow- 

 ing. 



In Mr. Holtermann's intei'esting notes 

 from Canada he states that, within a circle 

 of two miles, and in the city of Brantford, 

 he counted up over 1000 colonies of bees. 

 Supposing they fly two miles on every side 

 beyond this circle, this would make 1000 col- 

 onies occupying about 27 squai'e miles, or 

 not far from 37 colonies per squai'e mile. 

 Presumably the bees, many of them, fly 

 more than two miles; but then he tells us 

 that there are quite a few bees kept outside 



