420 THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



Two of Europe's Most Noted Apiarists 



C. P. DAD ANT, Hamilton, Illinois 



Given at the National Convention, Denver, Colorado, February, 1915 



Since I have lately made a protracted visit to Europe, I have 

 been expected at Beekeepers' conventions, to bring information 

 concerning European bee-culture. But our President has slightly 

 changed my program this time, by asking me to speak of some of 

 the most capable beekeepers of modern Europe. The subjects I 

 have chosen are Thomas Wm. Cowan, of England and Edward 

 Bertrand, of Switzerland. 



Mr. Cowan is one of the best known bee students, and perhaps 

 the best posted in the entire world. For forty years chairman of 

 the British Beekeepers' Association, editor of the British Bee Jour- 

 nal which has now entered the forty-second year of its existence 

 and is the only weekly bee magazine published at present, Mr. 

 Cowan is a man of most extraordinary attainments. 



He is now seventy-seven years old. He and his wife celebrated 

 their golden wedding May 19th, 1914. His home is at Taunton, 

 England. But he spent a number of years with his wife and his 

 son in California and at different times spent the summer in Swit- 

 zerland. He has been very fond of travel. When a discussion 

 arose concerning the so-called 'Tunic bees" of Tunis, claimed to be 

 an entirely different race from the common "apis mellifica" and 

 called by some "apis nigra," he made a trip to Africa and ascer- 

 tained that the bees of Tunis and Algeria differed little if any from 

 the above mentioned race. 



Mr. Cowan is the author of several important works on bees. 

 The British Beekeepers' Guide Book, of which some 80,000 copies 

 have been issued, describes the modern methods and recommends 

 the use of a movable-frame hive very similar to the Langstroth. 

 Mr. Cowan recognizes the great superiority of the Langstroth 

 hanging frame system over all other systems. 



His most scientific work, however, is entitled "The Honeybee" 

 and is a thoroughly descriptive work on the anatomy of the bee, its 

 natural history, microscopical studies, parthenogenesis, comb con- 

 struction, etc. 



Another exhaustive work of Mr. Cowan is entitled "Wax 

 Craft." It gives a historical study of the past and present uses 

 of beeswax, its chemical composition, adulteration, tests, production 

 by the bees, rendering of combs, purifying and bleaching. 



