March, 1908. 



American IBae Journal i 



T-m-- 



outhern 

 'IKeedom 



Conductedi-bylLOUIS H. SCHOLL, New Braunfels. Tex. 



A Warm Winter in Toxas — Other 

 Subjects. 



Bees were very busy gathering pollen 

 from mistletoe, cedar, and a very small 

 blue flower that comes up and blooms 

 in January and February. Water elms, 

 wild currant, and "elbow"-bush are just 

 coming into bloom. The last two fur- 

 nish a good supply of honey as well 

 as pollen when the weather is favorable. 

 Unfortunately, though, for both the bees 

 and their keeper, the weather is seldom 

 favorable for best results during their 

 bloom. This is all in January. 



Cause of Rapid Consumption of Stores. 



I don't think it is the frequent flights 

 the bees have here these very warm 

 winters we often have in this State that 

 cause them to use up their stores faster 

 than they do during cold winters, as 

 much as it is the amount of brood 

 reared. I opened a hive on Jan. 15, 

 with a vigorous young queen, that had 

 brood in 3 frames. They had all the 

 way from the eggs to hatching brood, 

 and their stores were disappearing in a 

 hurry, too. 



That "Marigold" Honey. 



I am satisfied now, Editor SchoU, that 

 the bee-keeper mentioned by me as hav- 

 ing to give up bee-keeping in his local- 

 ity on account of his bees gathering 

 honey from wild "marigold" (pages 11 

 and 12) was not what is known to bee- 

 keepers as the wild "marigold" at all, 

 but his bees gathered the strong, bad- 

 flavored honey he had in mind from a 

 yellow flower that grows all up and 

 down the rivers and creeks of this lo- 

 cality. I don't know any name for the 

 flower, but it certainly does furnish a 

 very disagreeable flavored honey. It 

 blooms in March and April, and some 

 few years yields honey very plentifully. 

 I moved most of my bees away from 

 this place, mostly on account of this 

 bloom, and the so-called "honey-dew." 

 If I am unfortunate enough to get some 

 of this honey the present year (I con- 

 sider it a real misfortune to befall a 

 bee-keeper) I am going to mail you a 

 sample. I'll not e.xpect to have to fill 

 many carload orders, though, for you. 



Time for Spring Examination. 



You are right, Mr. Scholl, in saying, 

 "A round to all the apiaries should be 

 made in early spring. The colonies 

 should be examined for stores, queen- 

 lessness, etc." — page 86, in Gleanings 

 for January 15. Would you mind tell- 

 ing us about the proper date you think 

 best to make these examinations? My 

 bees arc all busy gathering pollen now, 

 as stated elsewhere, and all that are 



"queen-right" will soon have brood in 

 several frames. Yet I should hate to 

 open the hives at this date, breaking 

 the glue loose where the bees have all 

 sealed up warm and snug, unless I knew 

 it was absolutely necessary, for you know 

 we often have some of our coldest 

 weather in February in Texas. 



"Hunting Bees in Texas (?)" 



Wasn't that a misprint at the head- 

 ing of that article written by Elias Fox, 

 of Wisconsin, headed, "Hunting Bees 

 in Texas," page 20? Anyway it is very 

 interesting to me, as bee-hunting is a 

 hobby of mine, and his way of hunting 

 and saving the bees is so nearly like 

 mine that it made it the more interesting 

 to me. Like Mr. Fox, too, I don't 

 hunt bees for the dollars and cents there 

 are in it, for, as a rule, bee-hunting is 

 not profitable. Yet I have spent my hap- 

 piest days in the woods, all alone, bee- 

 hunting, and have found and cut many 

 hundred bee-trees. This may sound 

 "fishy," but I seriously doubt there be- 

 ing a man living to-day who has found 

 and cut more bee-trees than I have. 



Rescue, Tex. L. B. Smith. 



There you are again, Mr. Smith, 

 a-teasing me with some honey-plants for 

 which you know no name. Of course 

 I am not blaming you, because not 

 everybody can be a botanist, although 

 that is a valuable "addition" to mix 

 with bee-keeping. 



There is a way of finding names for 

 these honey-yielders, however ; either 

 your humble servant can tell you them, 

 or he can get somebody else to do it. 

 I am very much interested in all the 

 honey-yielders of Te.xas. 



I shojild be glad to receive specimens 

 ■ >1 all the honey and pollen yielding 

 jilants of our State, for my collection. 

 .\Iy herbarium now comprises a great 

 number of such, but I am well aware 

 that there are hundreds more of Texas 

 honev-yielding plants that I have not 

 \ct had. 



In many cases it will be possible for 

 me to give the sender of specimens 

 ihe proper names of such plants, and 

 also their general distribution, if any 

 of our Texas readers see this, and have 

 the time to do so, I would be glad to 

 have them bear this request in mind. 

 When bees are on the flowers — especially 

 such with which you are not acquaint- 

 ed — gather two or more fair-sized speci- 

 mens, being sure to get flowers, and 

 enough of the plant and leaves, and 

 seeds, if possible, so they can be iden- 

 tified. Before mailing them press them 

 between several thicknesses of news- 

 papers for several days, being sure to 

 change them with dry ones every even- 

 ing, or the specimens will mold. As 

 soon as they are several days old, they 

 can be laid in single layers of news- 

 papers, the whole laid between two 

 pieces of cardboard, about 8 by 12 inch- 

 es, then wrapped for mailing. A bulle- 

 tin on "Texas Honey-Yielding Plants," 

 will be gotten out in the near future, 

 and I will see that you get a copy. 



That "round" to the apiaries in early 

 spring should be made as soon as warm 

 weather allows it in January or Feb- 

 ruary. In March, when we have a cold 

 winter. With me it's mostly in Jan- 

 uary or February, when the bees are 

 flying; then it is an easy matter to ex- 

 amine them. All the colonies that are 

 flying in ftdl force, and bringing in pol- 

 len, honey and water, arc all right. 



To find out about their stores, simply 

 "heft" a few hives here and there. All 

 hives that have no bees or very few 

 flying, need only be opened, and it's 

 necessary to do this as they need our 

 attention, so it matters not about break- 

 ing the glued joints. I can tell in a 

 little while the condition of my bees, by 

 just wandering through the apiary, look- 

 ing at the entrances of the hives, and 

 "hefting" some of them. Those that are 

 not "queen-right" are simply set on top 

 of another colonv until later. 



bddomi&s?^ 



EDWIN FRANCE. 

 On February 7, 1908, in Platteville, 

 Wis., at the age of 84 years, the sub- 

 ject of this sketch passed away. He 

 was born Feb. 4, 1824. At the death of 

 his father the support of a large fam- 

 ily fell upon him, and he faithfully cared 

 for them until the age of 32, when he 

 settled on a 200-acre homestead in Iowa. 



July J,^. 1^:5(1. he niarra-d Harriet Wil- 

 son. For 6 years he tilled the soil in 

 Iowa, and during the winter trapped for 

 furs. While in Iowa his only child, 

 N. E. France, was born. 



In 1862, he moved by o.x-team to 

 Platteville, Wis., being 2 weeks on the 

 way. Here he sold patented bee-hives, 

 sewing machines, and still followed trap- 



