330 



THE BEE'lEEPERS' REVIEW. 



having seen other European manuals, I 

 should guess that this is one of the best ; 

 and it it had been adapted to American con- 

 ditions, the same could have been said of it 

 as compared with our own manuals. The 

 notion that Europeans are far behind us in 

 practical apiculture could not be held by 

 anyone who had read this book. This idea 

 probably arose from the fact that their jour- 

 nals are necessarily adapted to farmer bee- 

 keepers rather than to specialists, of which 

 there are but few ; and also because the 

 majority of their writers, belonging to a 

 more intelligent class of people than the 

 average American who keeps bees, have 

 little of our Fhilistiue rigidity in matters of 

 fact, and do not disdain an occasional ex- 

 cursus into the region of pure theory : which, 

 however, is generally labeled as such, so 

 that he who runs may read. 



This time to make a correction of a state- 

 ment in the first of these papers. The 

 terms " warm " and " cold " position of the 

 frames do not refer, as there stated, to the 

 position of the frames with reference to 

 their dimensions, but to their i^osition with 

 reference to their entrance. The warm 

 position is when the frames are parallel to 

 the entrance : the cold position, when they 

 are perpendicular to it. The cold position 

 is almost exclusively in use in the United 

 States, and tlie warm position in Germany. 

 A few years ago a querist in the American 

 Bee Journal asked about the relative merits 

 of the two positions. Most of those who 

 replied thought it made no difference, ex- 

 cept in leveling the hive. But the author of 

 the Conduite du Rucher says that wheu the 

 warm position is used, it is indispensable to 

 use the equivalent of a Hill's device; and 

 the last thing in preparing for winter 

 should be to replace the two frames next 

 the entrance, which are more or less empty, 

 with fuller ones taken from the back of the 

 hive. For three years, I have had two hives 

 with frames parallel to the entrance, which 

 was at the top. With one exception, the 

 colonies in them either died or were s{)ind- 

 ling each spring, and the front frames were 

 entirely empty. 



MUENOHENER BlENENZEITUNG. — N. Ludwig 



uses dipping-boards to remove wax from 

 the surface of water. It is usually more 

 practical to dip with a ladle, and lay aside 

 the last layer, when cold, to go with the next 

 batch of wax, but it may be well sometimes 

 to know how to get nearly the last drop. 



The boards area little less than the diame- 

 ter of the vessel in length, and ;^i inches or 

 less thick, with a plug in the center for a 

 handle, and each edge leveled sharp on 

 both sides. These are previously soaked in 

 cold water, then one dipped horizontally 

 in the vessel deep enough to just let the 

 wax run together over its upper surface. It 

 is then lifted above the surface a moment, 

 and dipped again. After this is repeated 

 several times it is returned to the vessel of 

 cold water, and another dipping-board used. 

 The wax is readily removed by cutting 

 around the edges. 



Alois Alfonsus of Vieund has bred nearly 

 all the varieties of the honey-bee in his own 

 yard. The results obtained in crossing 

 were similar to those olitained by W. Vogel, 

 and also by Mohatsehek, an extensive bee- 

 keeper who has experimented largely in the 

 same direction. It is evident that two prim- 

 itive varieties existed, the black and the 

 yellow. The number of varieties is now 

 twelve. The black variety includes 1, the 

 common black bee; 2, the heath bee; ;}, the 

 Carniolan; 4, the Lower Australian; ;">, the 

 Banater ; the crosses of the black and Yel- 

 low are (>, the Italian; 7, the Greek or 

 Cerespian; 8, the Caucasian; 9, the Cyprian; 

 10, the black bee of Northern Africa ; and 

 the yellow variety is composed of 11, the 

 Egyptian and 12, the Syrian. 



Of the crosses, the Italian bee is native 

 to one part of the Tyrol, and also south- 

 east Switzerland, as well as Italy. By ex- 

 periments in breeding, Mohatsehek conclu- 

 ded that the Cyprian bee was a cross of the 

 Greek bee ( itself a cross ) with one of the 

 primitive yellow varieties. The (xreek bee 

 resembles the Italian in appearance and 

 nature, though a little darker. Its proper 

 home is in Greece ; but it was also found by 

 Mohatsehek in some regions of Cyprus. 

 The Caucasian bee excels the Italian in 

 beauty, and is said to be the gentlest of all 

 varieties; the black bee of North Africa has 

 some southern blood in it. ( What I have 

 read elswhere of the Caucasian bee some- 

 what conflicts with the statement above. 

 The editor of La Revue Internationale re- 

 ceived a Caucasian queen from M. N. 

 Schawroff, director of the Silk-worm and 

 Apicultural Station at Tiflis. Her bees were 

 very gentle, but of a gray color, somewhat 

 resembling the Carniolaus. M. Schawroff 

 stated that there were two races in the Cau- 

 casus, of different colors, l)ut having the 



