THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



213 



reducing to the freedom of liquidity mole- 

 cules which have been previously locked in 

 one another's embrace, and knowing these 

 things, as practical V)ee keepers, we know 

 about all we need concern ourselves about 

 on the subject. 



Whilst the molecular force, to which Frof- 

 fessor Tyndal refers is present and active in 

 many substances it is either absent or latent 

 in others. It is botli present and active in 

 cane and grape sugar, of which the greater 

 part of honey consists, hence we have can- 

 died or crystallized honey. It is either absent 

 or latent in fruit sugar, which is also a con- 

 stitutent of honey. As this cannot be crys- 

 tallized it floats on top of the candied mass, 

 in a glycerine-like substance, generally in 

 small, but sometimes in considerable quan- 

 tities. 



Owen Sound, Out. 



July 28, 1894. 



i^c<^^::^<r^ 



Notes From Foreign Journals. 



KATHBINE M. INGLIS. 



rnHERE are few of us who have not at 

 iT' some time had our sympathy awakened 

 for Bulgaria by the political position of that 

 country ; but from an article published in 

 the Deutsche Illustrierte Bienenzeitung for 

 April, it would seem that she has a special 

 claim upon bee-keepers for sympathy. The 

 writer, Herr Stoiko Demitrieff, represents a 

 sad state of affairs. Bees "are to be found 

 indeed in almost every village, but no care 

 is taken to keep them to advantage. The 

 usual hive is formed of roots woven together, 

 and plastered inside and out with cowdung. 

 It has a diameter at the bottom of 45 cente- 

 meters, and running up to a point is from 

 .50 to .55 centemeters high. Sometimes the 

 proportions are even smaller. The hive is 

 generally set on the damp ground, and the 

 whole under margin forms the entrance. 

 The bees find their way out on all sides and 

 the vermin as easily find their way in. 



Little work is made of caring for the bees. 

 Except for hiving the swarms nothing is 

 done for them. In September peddlers, for 

 the most part Jews, come around and buy 

 the bees of the farmers to "take up." 

 Twenty-five to forty per cent, of the colonies 

 lose their lives in this way. The dealer ex- 

 tracts the honey by means of warm water 

 and sells it in the cities. 



Few bee keepers make any preparation 

 for wintering their bees, and those who do 

 simply raise the earth around the hives from 

 twenty to thirty cm., then cover the whole 

 with manure from the cow stalls. In spring 

 there is great rejoicing if even a small part 

 of the colonies survive. When there is no 

 protection, which is generally the case, even 

 the weather hardened bees of Bulgaria can- 

 not survive the cold North-Bulgarian win- 

 ters. 



One is glad to record a brighter side. The 

 bee pasture in Bulgaria is excellent, and con- 

 tinues without break from May till the 

 frosts. The present king in his care for his 

 people has turned his attention to bee-keep- 

 ing. Premiums are offered to all bee-keep- 

 ers owning ten or more Dzierzon or one 

 hundred or more old style hives with fixed 

 combs. To students in the State Institute 

 hives and furnishings are given gratis. 

 There is need, and hope, of a Bulgarian bee 

 literature, particularly a text-book and a 

 journal. Then the way is opening for a 

 school of bee-keeping and a bee-keepers' 

 society, so that dark as the present may be 

 the out-look for the future is brighter and 

 more hopeful. 



A pleasant side-light is thrown on the 

 character of Frederick the Great in an ex- 

 tract from Herr Hilcher's new book. His- 

 tory of Bee-Keeping in The Province, pub- 

 lished in the Deutsche Bienenzeitung for 

 March. We find the following quotations 

 the first from an ordinance published by 

 Frederick in May 1771. 



"In the electoral province there are 900 

 villages, and if each village in time pro- 

 daces ten pounds of silk, then we will need 

 9,000 pounds less of foreign silk, and will 

 keep the price of it in our own country. 

 Bee-keeping is also a useful matter. If each 

 farmer in the districts where it is practica- 

 ble, possessed a few hives, he would earn 

 something from them, and in time the prof- 

 its from the silk-worm culture and the bees 

 would reach the amount of his taxes, and 

 then the grain and whatever he earns now 

 would remain clear profit to him." 



In a decree published first in June 1775, he 

 says : 



"If anyone offers for sale any injurious 

 poisonous substance mixed with honey, by 

 means of which, not only is the Royal wish 

 in regard to the protection of the most use- 

 ful bee trade frustrated, but injury is also 

 inflicted on others, six years' imprisonment 



