October, iyo8. 



American Hne Journal 



outhern 



"^eedom 



Conducted by LOUIS H. SCHOLL. New Braunfels. Tex. 



Those (^oiigrntuliitioiis — "Queenless- 



iiess." 



Many thanks for tlie kind congratula- 

 tions, Miss Wilson, (page 266) ; but it 

 seems to me you left out the "other fel- 

 low." Indeed, the stunt would have 

 been "pretty good — for a man." How- 

 ever, it should have been, "for a man 

 and a n'oinan," for what Mrs. SchoU 

 did was good — -for a woman. And she'll 

 receive her share of the congratulations 

 for it even if others fail to do so. 



But all joking aside, there are times 

 when some of the accomplished tasks 

 are pretty good — for a woman. What 

 would we do without the woman, es- 

 pecially in the rush of the busy season? 

 Then it is that the "queen" of the house- 

 hold counts, and it is this reason that 

 makes many of us more successful. 

 Somebody will laugh at me, just because 

 I love the fairer sex of mankind. A- 

 mong them a lot of bachelors, perhaps, 

 and since I've had a little experience 

 with such, a bachelor's home always 

 seems to me like a queenless hive of 

 bees. No, I am not off the subject of 

 bee-keeping. It may help somebody 

 more than we think. 



Kaults of Beo-Papers, Large Honey 

 Crops, Etc. 



Now since we have but 3 bee-papers 

 published in the United Sm'.c-, let us 

 keep them up to their present high 

 standard of excellence. I, for one, am 

 proud of our bee-literature. If you 

 have not noticed the wonderful improve- 

 ments in our bee-papers, just compare 

 one of today's with one of 25 years ago. 



But one of the faults I have to find 

 with the present bee-papers is that they 

 take up too much space in telling how 

 to do things on too large a scale, such 

 as visiting out-yards in automobiles ; 

 how to run T,ooo colonies of bees with 

 but two or three visits a year ; how to 

 ship a carload of section honey without 

 the loss of a single section, etc. But, 

 then, I like them all, anyway. 



Strong Colonies and "Worms." 



I have thought for many years that 

 the so-called "moth-worms" did little 

 or no harm to a strong .colony of bees, 

 but I have recently had cause to change 

 my mind. I found a strong colony of 

 mostly black bees in a large hollow elm 

 tree, that had their combs almost riddled 

 with these worms, and I have reasons 

 to believe they would have destroyed 

 the colony notwithstanding they were 

 very well supplied with honey, and ap- 

 parently had a good queen. 



That 40,000-PouND Crop. 



The report of Mr. Louis Scholl's 40,- 



ooo-pound crop of honey makes some 

 of us feel as if we were doing rather 

 a "pin-hook" business at bee-keeping. 

 But perhaps if some of us had as many 

 colonies of bees as Mr. School, we 

 would not fall so far behind him, after 

 all. 

 Difficulty of Introducing After Flow. 



It is a fact that queens are much hard- 

 er to introduce in late fall after breed- 

 ing begins to slack up than in the height 

 of the breeding season. Just why this 

 should be so I am unable to tell. Per- 

 haps they feel their season's work is 

 about at an end, and that their time 

 will be short, anyway, and that they can 

 live the rest of their days without a 

 mother. 



Bees Return from Swarm with Old 

 Queen. 



C. W. Dayton, of California, called 

 attention some time since to the fact 

 that when bees swarmed with an old, 

 failing queen, the swarms were usually 

 small, and, if large, most of the bees 

 would return to the mother-hive, either 

 before or after being hived. This fact 

 I thought was so generally known a- 

 mong practical bee-keepers that I had 

 never seen fit to call attention to it. 

 Yes, sir, I have witnessed this fact many 

 times. I had a case of that kind the 

 present year. A large swarm issued at 

 noon. I caged the queen and put her 

 with the clustering bees, and came in 

 to dinner. On my return I found at 

 least half the bees had returned to the 

 old hive. This, as stated, I had seen 

 many times before, but never with a 

 vigorous, young laying queen. 



Apiarist Must Supersede the Queens. 



Will bees always supersede a queen 

 when she begins failing from old age? 



1 have heard this answered "yes," many 

 times, but from long and practical ex- 

 perience in watching this, my answer 

 is "no." I think nearly, or quite, one- 

 third of the bees hold on to their old 

 queens until they are worthless so far 

 as surplus honey is concerned. I had 



2 old queens left in one of my out-yards 

 last spring after I got through requeen- 

 ing, that showed signs of failing. So 

 I decided to leave them to see what the 

 result would be. Now for the result : 

 Those bees have those old queens yet, 

 and not a pound of surplus honey from 

 either colony, while those I requeened 

 have stored 100 pounds and upwards, to 

 the colony. Can you blame me for not 

 leaving the superseding of my queens 

 to the care of the bees? 



Rescue, Tex. L. B. Smith. 



Tut, tut, Mr. Smith, just what I like 

 about the bee-papers you are fussing 

 about. It is just these things that have 

 helped me to do things. Automobiles 



are going to be too slow soon — air-ships 

 will enable us to go straight across. 



Is it not true that black bees arc more 

 susceptible to "worms," and that wc 

 should Italianize? This accounts for 

 the "worms" in that elm-tree colony. 



With the aid of the bee-papers, u'e 

 < xpect to do still greater things in the 

 future — just you watch! 



Bee-Keepers' Exhibit at Fairs. 



Several years ago I had a large crop 

 of honey, and all the merchants being 

 stocked up, I was unable to sell it. So 

 I arranged an attractive exhibit in a 

 show window on a prominent street in 

 my town. First, I had an observatory 

 hive and placed some of our best looking 

 bees on fat combs of honey, sealed white, 

 to attract the people; and it did. Then 

 we had large, white clear-glass bottles 

 in which to exhibit our honey, both comb 

 and extracted ; and beeswax moulded in 

 cakes, with honey in Ij4 and 3 pound 

 jars, all beautifully arranged, and stat- 

 ing the prices of the honey. It was only 

 a few days before my entire crop was 

 disposed of, and a permanent sale es- 

 tablished. I occupied the most popular 

 show window in this town. 



If I had a large apiary like some bee- 

 keepers, and produced large crops of 

 honey as some do, I would be like the 

 monkey-man, the balloon, and the taffy- 

 candy men, and would follow up all the 

 fairs and exhibit and sell all my honey. 

 Take some nice observatory hives full 

 of bees, and large flint-glass jars, like 

 those in my exhibit, and have printed 

 cards giving your address. You will be 

 surprised at the results you will get out 

 of this method ; and, best of all, it is a 

 great educator for the people. Be with 

 your exhibit, if possible, and politely 

 answer all questions, and lecture to the 

 people on bee-culture. If practical, man- 

 ipulate your bees before the public. Al- 

 so exhibit your beeswax. 



Waco, Tex. C. S. Phillips. 



The Louis H. SchoII apiaries have 

 been doing their part in this line of 

 work, and are again this year "doing the 

 fairs" with an exhibit of not only bees, 

 honey, and beeswax, but some of the 

 things made out of honey and wax. 

 Fruits preserved in honey and over a 

 dozen kinds of cakes, etc., are among 

 them. Honey leaflets and cards are 

 used in connection. It is fun to do such 

 missionary work. 



"T^O dare is often 

 -*■ tde impulse of 

 selfisK ambition or 

 hair -brained valor: 

 to forbear is at times 

 tbe proof of real 

 greatness." 



Washington Irving. 



