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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



ing comb, so a queen-cell, if just completed, 

 is aged in appearance if on old comb. Al- 

 most any material is used, yet not extrava- 

 gantly. So economical are the bees that they 

 "pit" the cell till it has the roughness of a 

 peanut. This arrangement of material gives 

 greater strength than the same amount would 

 give in a layer of uniform thickness — on the 

 principle that a certain amount of material 

 is stronger in a large hollow cylinder than 

 in a smaller one that is solid 



Bees change readily from the building of 

 worker-cells to drone-cells. They seem to 

 have no trouble in making correct adjust- 

 ments and angles. It is not at all uncom- 

 mon to see a group of drone-cells near ad- 

 joining worker-cells on the same comb. One 

 wonders why the bees change the size of the 

 cells. When capped over for honey, both 

 are of the same height; but when with brood 

 the drone-cell cappings stand above the sur- 

 rounding worker-cells. The cappings of the 

 drone-cells are made stronger by six bracing 

 ribs or buttresses. Fig. 7. This gives the 

 whole capping a most beautiful appearance 

 when viewed as an opaque object under a 

 microscope. The cappings of both cells, 

 though extremely thin, are not air-tight. It 

 is wonderful to observe how the bees adapt 

 the comb to the form of the hive, often curv- 

 ing it, and sometimes making it cylindrical. 

 In the arrangement of the several combs of 

 a hive there is wonderful provision for the 

 ventilation of every cell, and for the conven- 

 ience of the workers in the various depart- 

 ments of labor. What a wonderful coinci- 

 dence (or shall we say purpose?) is it that 

 honey-bees do not make their cells of paper 



as do wasps, yellow-jackets, bumble-bees, 

 and hornets! If they did so, the luxury of 

 comb honey would be unknown. Honey- 

 bees place their combs perpendicularly. All 

 paper combs with which I am familiar are 

 horizontal. 



THE HOME OF THE BANATER BEES. 



AVhat Hungary is Doing for Apiculture. 



BY RALPH BENTON, B. S., 



Assistant in Entomology, University of California. 



In some respects it can be said with truth 

 that the little kingdom of Hungary leads the 

 world in apiculture. The Hungarians are a 

 shrewd, thrifty people, agriculturally inclin- 

 ed — of Asiatic origin, and intensely patriotic. 

 This last characteristic is particularly shown 

 by the fact that the young students of the 

 country even refuse to learn German for 

 fear of Austrian encroachment and domi- 

 nance. Budapest, the capital, is the Paris of 

 Oriental Europe — rich commercially through 

 the business-like qualities of the Jewish-Hun- 

 garian merchant. And it is in the vicinity 

 of this city at Godolo that the Hungarian 

 State School of Apiculture, whence that splen- 

 did system of governmental fostering of bee- 

 keeping is directed, has its location. Here 

 there is offered to the youth of the kingdom 

 a two-years' course devoted entirely to api- 

 culture in all its branches. 



It was with intense interest that, in com- 

 pany with the Under-Secretary of Agriculture 

 from Budapest, we inspected the bee school 

 and larm at Godolo. Vacation was nearing 



AN APIAKY AT TKMESVAK, HUNGAKY; HIVKS OF THE BEKLEPSOH PATTERN. 



