March. 1913 



American ^ae Jonrnal 



rolled in the flour. In about two hours 

 they had it all stored in the combs, so 

 I gave them another spoonful. Next 

 morning that was also gone and 1 

 save them three more. The elm be- 

 gan to bloom on the 16th. Since then 

 all mv colonies have done their utmost 

 at ga'thering pollen and breeding up 

 rousing colonies. , 



" After I learned that this colony in 

 the house was so much in need of pol- 

 len I thought it best to go out and in- 

 vestigate mv other colonies. I put a 

 quart cupful of flour near their usual 

 feeding place, and you should have 

 seen those bees scampering over each 

 other and carrying the pollen home. 

 Some of them fairly rolled in the flour 

 and were as white as could be, and 

 there was a constant stream of bees 

 flving to and from every colony. It 

 only took them part of an afternoon to 

 carrv this amount to the hives. 



"Now, I believe that if bee-keepers 

 were to feed their bees some substi- 

 tute for pollen in the early spring of 

 the latter part of the winter, they 

 would have rousing colonies with 

 young bees that would be ready to 

 gather the first honey flow." 



[Flour substituted for the missing 

 pollen in early spring is advised by 

 most of our text-books. We usually 

 pack it with the hands, in shallow , 

 boxes, located in some sunny, shel- 

 tered spot, as soon as the bees are able 

 to fly. But we did not know that such 

 a procedure was advisable as far south 

 as Texas or Louisiana. There is no 

 doubt of the efiiciency of this substi- 

 tute, if nothing else is to be found in 

 natural pollen. Pressing the flour 

 down into small ridges or lumps keeps 

 the bees from drowning in it.— Editor] 



Comb or Extracted Honey? 



Well do we remember when bee- 

 keepers discussed the matter of pro- 

 ducing more extracted honey than 

 comb. Some bee-keepers even went 

 so far as to say that extracted honey 

 would replace comb honey altogether. 

 I have been ridiculed for making bulk 

 comb honey production my specialty. 

 But the production of honey in the 

 extracted form has exceeded the de- 

 mand for it, and there has been a 

 greater demand for comb honey. 



There is always a keen demand for 

 all the bulk comb honey that bee-keep- 

 ers produce in connection with ex- 

 tracted honey ; they have no difiiculty 

 in disposing of the former, but it takes 

 them much longer to sell their crop of 

 ■ the latter. I have bought quite a num- 

 ber of lots of extracted honey that the 

 bee-keepers had trouble in selling, 

 although they had disposed of their 

 bulk comb honey early in the season. 



We are making a specialty of bulk 

 comb honey, and this may have a ten- 

 dency to bring us more orders for that 

 kind but we do not advertise, and in 

 sending out our price lists we quote 

 both comb and extracted honey. Even 

 our letter heads show that we are pro- 

 ducers and dealers of both. 



We are not advocating what kind a 

 bee-keeper shall produce. Find out 



what your market requires. Of course, 

 there are other circumstances that 

 must be taken in consideration. Not 

 all localities are good enough for 

 comb-honey production, since the 

 honey flows may not be strong enough, 

 or the source of honey may not be a 

 suitable one for fancy comb honey. 

 In this case it will be better to pro- 

 duce extracted honey. These differ- 

 ences are felt more where section 

 honey is produced, while it is not so 

 difficult to produce bulk comb honey, 

 with which we have to do here in the 

 South to a greater extent. 



A word of caution. It is, as a rule, to 

 the detriment of the apiarist to jump 

 from one thing to another every time 

 something new comes up. It costs 

 money to make rapid changes, and the 

 change may prove an unprofitable one. 

 If it is thought that another method is 

 better, the change should be made 

 gradually. If there is an advantage in 



a change after^-a| fair"trial on a smal 

 scale, it is still time to make a more 

 radical change. 



*-»-^ 



Texas Prospects Most Favorable 



Up to this time the prospects for a 

 honey crop in the great Lone Star 

 State are most favorable. It is to be 

 regretted that we have planned every 

 year lately for a good old-time honey 

 harvest, and have missed our mark. 

 However, this season begins somewhat 

 differently. The great amount of mois- 

 ture from the numerous rains that have 

 prevailed over almost the entire State 

 of Texas during last fall and the past 

 winter, makes the outlook better by 

 far than it has been for several years. 



The bees seem to be in good shape 

 and well supplied. Sometimes the 

 season begins well, to end without a 

 harvest, but it is hoped that this will 

 not be the case this year. 



III., at the 



Honey AND BEE Appliance Exhibit of Louis \\ erner, Lyw ar..»mlle 



Madison County Centennial Fair -Such exhibits at local hairs help greatly 

 to educate the public and increase the demand for honey. 



Conducted by J, L. Byer, Ml. Joy. Ontario. 



Different Climatic Conditions 



Our ideas of the climatic conditions 

 of some other countries are apt to be 

 at variance with reality. For instance, 

 I have alwavs thought that Switzerland 

 had a very mild climate, but judging 

 by what Mr. Anthony Biaggi, of Bel- 

 linzona says, some parts of the coun- 

 try at least have quite severe winters. 



I ordered a few queens from Mr. 

 Biaggi, and writing me a very interest- 

 ing letter, he says : " Here on the Ital- 

 ian slope of the great chain of the 



Alps that bound north Italy, we have a 

 very rigid winter, snow falls in Novem- 

 ber and remains until March." While 

 nothing is said about the intensity of 

 the cold, it must be fairly continuous 

 or else the snow would not stay so long. 

 Our weather in Ontario this winter 

 is rather peculiar, for until Feb. 1 it 

 was much milder than the average 

 winter. Since that date until Feb. 11 it 

 has been quite cold, but at no time 

 this winter have we had more than 6 

 inches of snow, and now we have none 

 at all. How the clover will stand the 



