792 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOIjKINAL. 



Nov. 24, 1904. 



cise for a year or two ? Does the queen help the young- bees 

 fan the hive, or keep herself in trim to stand a journey of 

 some miles with a swarm, by going out for those health- 

 giving- conditions, fresh air, sunlig-ht and exercise? 



If bees have no ears, how originated the idea of rattling- 

 tin pans to cause a swarm to cluster ? One day we had a 

 colony in the operating room (operating in open air not 



being practiced where robbers are so abundant). The bees 

 were all quiet when I started scrapitiy^ a pan. Those in the 

 hive forthwith started to sing "Home, Sweet Home". 

 Those on the floor, and even on the window-sill, started to 

 march toward the hive, singing as they went. If bees did 

 this in Egypt a few thousand years ago, there has been 

 ample time for the idea to grow. Jamaica, W. I. 



Report of the Southwest Texas Convention. | 



BY W. H. tA-WS, SEC. PRO TEM. I 



(Continued from page 77S.) 



Then followed a discussion on the sizes of honey-cans. 

 While there was a decided tendency to reduce the size of the 

 two 60-pounds in a box, both for comb and extracted honey, 

 it was thought best not to interfere at present unless the 

 whole State will agree and adopt something less in size as 

 a standard, for the dealers will have to carry a stock of the 

 size named until all bee-associations in the State will adopt 

 another size. On motion, it was decided to allow the use of 

 the same standard packages as adopted by the State Asso- 

 ciation some years since. 



The matter of transportation was taken up, and W. H. 

 L,aws, chairman of the committee appointed by the State 

 Association, reported that in correspondence with represen- 

 tatives of the various freight and express companies, we 

 are assured that by proper presentation by our beekeepers' 

 associations to the railroad commission, the concessions 

 asked for will be granted. 



The subject of the adulteration of honey was taken up, 

 and it was reported that very little, if any, adulterated 

 honey could be found on the market in Texas. 



It was recommended by the Association that we adopt 

 a trade label guaranteeing the purity of our honey, and, if 

 practicable, join some honey-producers' association, 

 warehouse our honey, and wait the proper time for placing 

 our product on the market, as the rush on the early honey 

 market by all the producers at one time has a tendency to 

 demoralize the market, and prices would rule low the entire 

 season, as they have this season — with a very short crop 

 behind it the honey market is reported bare, and buyers 

 eager, with little honey to be found" It was suggested that 

 in the face of the cry of adulteration it is now a good time 

 for the adulterators of honey to trot out their stuff, and it is 

 conclusive that most of the honey that has been pronounced 

 as adulterated by the ignorant was all pure honey. 



It was ascertained that all the bee-keepers present 

 were producers of bulk comb and extracted honey, and that 

 there was no section honey produced except for exhibition 

 purposes. 



The president then called for those to stand who ex- 

 pected to produce section honey the coming season. None 

 stood. Mr. Hyde then stated that it was his intention to 

 produce section honey, and that the market on bulk comb 

 was in danger of being overstocked. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The following members were appointed to arrange for 

 the entertainment of the National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 if it meets in the city of San Antonio next fall; H. H. 

 Hyde, Udo Toepperwein, and A. I. Davis. 



D. C. Milam, of Uvalde County, then read a paper on the 



PRODUCTION AND GRADING OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 



As I have been asked to talk on the production and 

 grading of extracted honey, I will give a little of my ex- 

 perience in the last 20 years. 



The lirst thing necessary is a good queen and plenty of 

 bees at the right time. In order to have these it is neces- 

 sary, some years, to feed them honey and artificial pollen. 

 The bee-keeper must be the judge of that matter in the 

 locality in which his bees are located. In our locality we 

 need plenty of bees the first of April. 



Another essential is to give the bees plenty of room at 

 the right time. The smaller the hive the oftener one has to 



work them. Having tried several kinds of hives, I find the 

 10-frame dovetail suits me best. And as to the frame used, 

 I prefer the all-wood Simplicity. I, myself, never extract, 

 but always have assistants to do that, and they all prefer 

 that kind of frame. The last two years I have tried shallow 

 extracting frames, but they all prefer the Simplicity. I 

 have also tried the Hoffman, but none of them like it. 



Ten frames to the hive is preferable for extracted honey. 

 In our locality the yframe hive frequently melts down, un- 

 less the frames are well built at the bottom. I also like a 

 queen-excluder over the brood-chamber. 



In order to produce first-class honey it is best not to let 

 it remain on the hives too long. Our early honey is very 

 thick when gathered, and it is often necessary to extract 

 it by the time the frame is two-thirds sealed. If the honey 

 is allowed to remain in old combs long, it will change its 

 color and flavor. It never makes catclaw and " wahea " 

 honey any better to stay on the hives. It should be ex- 

 tracted as soon as it is ripe, and it is often ripe before it is 

 all sealed ; but of course a beekeeper should never extract 

 unripe honey. 



When honey is extracted it should be strained, put into 

 a vessel to stand until it settles, and then drawn off in cans. 

 I find that a galvanizediron tank is best to pour the honey 

 in to settle. A wooden barrel is a nuisance in our part of 

 the country, as it is always leaking. Never draw off honey 

 so low that particles of comb run out of the tank into the 

 can. 



Honey, to be first-class, should be free from foreign 

 substances, light in color, and of pleasant flavor. 



D. C. Mli,AM. 



Considerable discussion followed, in which the fact was 

 brought out that it took some skill in producing a first-class 

 article of extracted as well as of comb honey. Mr. Milam 

 then told how, on one occasion, he had extracted honey too 

 closely, and later his bees were at the point of starvation ; 

 that he had for two weeks gathered the large, ripe prickly- 

 pears that so plentifully abounded in his locality, pounded 

 them up in a large trough, and had not only kept his bees 

 alive, but they had used the juice of the pear in breeding 

 up for the honey-flow that followed, but he advised that it 

 was cheaper and better to buy a low grade of sugar instead ; 

 that the bees only took the pear-juice because they had to. 



On motion a committee was appointed to confer with 

 the associations of the State, asking that a scale of prices 

 be made for first-grade bulk-comb and extracted honey, so 

 that we can in harmony and intelligently price honey to 

 the trade the coming season. 



Willie Atchlev, Dr. C. S. Phillips, Harley Johnson, Dr. 

 J. B. Treon, D. M. Edwards, W. D. Bunting, W. O. Victor, 

 H. H. Hyde, W. E. Rector, and E. Stachelhausen were ap- 

 pointed as such committee. 



On motion the following scale of prices was recom- 

 mended by this Association : Bulk comb, 9c ; extracted, 7c ; 

 taken on a two 60-pound basis. 



The committee is to supply the prices for the lower 

 grades. 



W. O. Victor told of the trapping and killing of eight 

 bears in his apiaries ; also of the experiment of shipping a 

 car-load of bees to Colorado to catch the flow from alfalfa. 

 Although cool weather and frequent hail-storms came that 

 way, the experiment was a success. A vote of thanks was 

 extended to Mr. Victor for his excellent talk. 



Will Atchley told of the successful landing of a car-load 

 of bees in Kansas the present season. 



Then followed a long and interesting discussion on 



