120 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' liEVIEW- 



Hauptverein. would soon put themselves 

 under its wing. " 



Leipzigeb Bienenzeitung.— Dr. Riehm 

 contends that it is false philosophy to say 

 that the moisture-laden air of a hive is 

 heavier than dry air and therefore sinks, to 

 find its way out at the bottom entrance. Wa- 

 ter in the form of vapor is two-thirds lighter 

 than air. Hence he prefers a small top en- 

 trance. Condensed vapor ( mist ) is of 

 course heavier ; but it should escape from 

 the hive before it becomes condensed. 



A, von Rauschenfels, commenting on Dr. 

 Dzierzon's remark " We are not working 

 for bees, but for honey " and preference for 

 a small chamber, says " We here 

 1 [n Italy ] want large hives, such as pre- 

 mit the utmost development of the 

 colony ; the more bees, the more honey. 

 We only winter strong colonies. We set 

 aside 15 to 20 per cent, of the colonies for 

 the sole purpose of furnisliing young queens, 

 strengthening material and empty combs to 

 the rest, and we feed for stimulating in 

 spring. How otherwise would it be possi- 

 ble to obtain a richly paying crop from only 

 a spring flow ?" 



He has however practiced uuqueening 

 with success on 70 colonies, but requires 

 that the colony should reach its highest 

 possible development before the main How, 

 that the bee-keeper should be capable of 

 judging when the queen is to be removed ( if 

 the flow lasts 15 or L'O days, it should be on 

 the third or fourth day ), and the interrup- 

 tion or restriction of egg-laying should un- 

 der no circumstances last more than 8 or 10 

 days. He concludes that to interrupt or re- 

 strict egg-laying is in the power of the bee- 

 keeper, when he considers it advantageous ; 

 but to call forth legions of honey- gatherers 

 by a stamp of his foot just when he needs 

 them is not in his power. 



L'Apiculteur. — M. Coltel is of the opinion 

 that in localities of but one important flow 

 that the maximum of population should be 

 reached about the begiiming of the flow, 

 which me.ans that hives need be of no larger 

 size than to provide room for that develop- 

 ment of brood which can be attained about 

 a month before the flow. This is never so 

 much as it would be in an unrestricted 

 chamber at the beginning of the How. The 

 editor agrees with him. 



It is worth noticing that his and other 

 localities which are said to require restrict- 



ed brood-chambers have more or less of A 

 minor flow before the main flow. 



La Revue Inteknationale. — Ph. Balden- 

 sperger thinks that not more than one queen 

 in a hundred lays 3000 eggs a day, and 

 then only in exceptional circumstances. 

 The average daily number of eggs laid the 

 year round, in a colony observed in Pales- 

 tine in 1891, was 87(5 ; its daily average for 

 the period of most abundant egg-laying 

 was 17(;0. At the beginning and end of the 

 year the colony contained 10,000 bees, hence 

 300,000 died during the year. It yielded 178 

 pounds of extracted honey, from the 10th 

 of April to the Hth of August. He thinks in 

 a large hive it would have done no better. 



A colony observed in 1895 at Nice aud in 

 the Maritime Alps gave an average of 1790 

 eggs daily during the period of most abun- 

 dant egg-laying, but scarcely half as much 

 honey as the one in Palestine, though fre- 

 quently extracted from. He has never 

 found his hives too crowded. 



The editor says he has many times re- 

 ceived reports of hives containing G or 7 

 large frames completely filled with brood 

 ( 18G sq. in. in each. ) He believes colonies 

 rather often attain a population of 70 to 80, 

 000, and sometimes more. The mortality of 

 bees is evidently greater in Palestine and 

 the Maritime Alps than in Switzerland and 

 similar climates, for which reason egg-lay- 

 ing can not attain as great a development in 

 the former countries. A queenless swarm 

 belonging to the editor, hived the 24th of 

 June, had about 8,000 bees left on the 22nd of 

 November. 



The yield of 178 pounds from the Palestine 

 colony was not surprising, as it extended 

 over so great a space of time. At Nyon, 

 Switzerland, the main crop lasts from two 

 to four weeks, interrupted by rains. Yet 

 yields of 1('>0 pounds or so are not infre- 

 quent. To obtain such crops from a short 

 flow he considers that large populations 

 are necessary. 



The above, of course, does not touch on 

 the case { rather rare where honey-produc- 

 tion pays fairly well) in which one specialist 

 bee-keeper has the opportunity of getting all 

 the nectar of a district, and wishes to know 

 whether he should do so by a large number 

 of small hives, or a smaller number of large 

 hives. 



An article on several or any number of 

 colonies in one hive is accompanied by an 

 editorial foot-note " leaving to the writer 



