March, 1911. 



American Vae Journal 



are located in the great valleys of the 

 Brazos River, on the extensive cotton 

 plantations, more than 150 miles away, 

 are not only a paying proposition, but 

 I have gotten my delights out of the 

 venture. Although I have experienced 

 " some tough times " occasionally, when 

 things did not seem to turn out just as 

 they should have done — according to 

 my notion at least — I have enjoyed it 

 all. The last few years the honey crops 

 have reached into tens of tons in those 

 apiaries alone, and this in addition to 

 the string of apiaries here is not so bad. 



Some Things Kot Exactly Bees 



Some of the things mentioned today 

 are "not exactly bees," but it is such a 

 valuable adjunct to the bee-business, 

 and especially to the bee-keepers' wel- 

 fare, both from a health as well as a 

 financial point of view, that I have 

 mentioned them in this article. Some 

 other things that are not exactly bees, 

 and which one sees when taking a trip 

 to the Brazos River valley apiaries, are 

 the plantation scenes that exist there, 

 which reminds one of the stories of 

 old that we used to read about — the 

 old, contented darkies on the great 

 plantations, in their quarters in the 

 "cotton patch, " at the "commissary," 

 the pay-window, and, in fact, all over 

 the place. It is quite a change to see 

 these when I make my trips for a short 

 stay at the apiaries there. Then I meet 

 the various superintendents of the 

 many plantations, and these are jovial 

 and hospitable fellows, who have al- 

 ways treated me very kindly, and made 

 me feel at home with them. One of 

 these is shown on his favorite horse, 

 ready to go out on his daily trip of in- 

 spection over the several-thousand-acre 

 plantation. His duties are many, and I 

 often wonder how he can manage so 

 successfully the great number of negro 

 employes on the plantation. 



Another picture shows a lot of ne- 

 groes who are waiting for their weekly 

 pay, so they can procure their " ra- 

 tions " from the " commissary." This 

 is only part of the number on the plan- 

 tation, as they keep coming and going 

 as they get their pay. 



In some future issue I will show the 

 readers a map of my operations there. 



W.aitim; for Their Weekly Pay at the Plantation Headquarters. 



with the locations of the apiaries, the 

 headquarters located centrally so that 

 all the yards are within easy reach at 

 any time. This is an important point 

 to be considered in extensive out-yard 

 management. Hoping that it may help 

 others in some way, at least, is why I 

 will endeavor to write this subject up 

 later. 



Early Brood-Rearing, Honey-Prices, Etc. 



Bees have been bringing in new pol- 

 len very rapidly for the past 3 weeks, 

 and now many colonies have hatching 

 brood. We expect though, later, to 

 have hard freezing weather, as Febru- 

 ary is often our coldest month, and 

 bees would be better off without this 

 early brood-rearing in this locality. To 

 give an idea of how far the bees are 

 advanced here this unusually warm 

 weather, I cut a "bee-tree" today that 

 had sheets of brood two feet long, 

 with considerable capped drone-brood. 

 How is that for early brood-rearing ? 



Prices of Honey in Texas. 



Mr. Scholl, you are right when you 

 contend the price of honey — both bulk- 

 comb and extracted — is not as low as 

 some would have us believe. My sell- 

 ing price for a good article of honey 

 has always been 8 cents a pound for 



A Superintendent on a Several-ThoiisandAcre Brazos River Valley Cotton 



I'lantation. 



extracted honey, and 11 cents a pound 

 for bulk-comb honey, put up in 60- 

 pound cans, and I have never yet had 

 all the good honey I could sell in a 

 season. While my selling price has 

 been much lower the past season than 

 the above, the quality of the honey has 

 also been much lower, badly mixed 

 with honey-dew; but for all that, I sold 

 over 13,000 pounds the past fall and 

 winter, and I could have sold more 

 than double that amount. I don't know 

 how it is in other States, but we have 

 a good market and at good prices, too, 

 if we will only ask it. 



Uniting Colonies. 



A good way to unite bees is this: 

 Select a day that is quite cool, but not 

 freezing, when but few if any bees are 

 flying. Place an empty hive on the 

 stand you wish the colony to occupy. 

 Place the colonies you wish to unite 

 near the hive prepared for them; take 

 a frame of bees and all, first from one 

 and then the other, and place in the 

 new hive you wish the colony to oc- 

 cupy. Try to get the frames that have 

 the most bees on them. Continue this 

 until you have the hive filled with 

 frames ; of course, using enough smoke 

 to keep the bees from flying at you dur- 

 ing the operation. 



When the hive is filled with frames, 

 give all a good smoking, set an empty 

 super on top, and shake and brush the 

 remainder of the bees from the old 

 hives into the new hive, taking a frame 

 first from one and then from the other. 



When all is done, remove the super, 

 give the bees another smoking, close 

 up the hive, and the work is done. If 

 there is a choice of queens, the other 

 should be removed before the uniting 

 is done, otherwise the bees will settle 

 that themselves. 



The above, of course, is not new, but 

 it has worked so well with me, and is 

 so very easy and simple, that I thought 

 it would be worth repeating here. 



Rescue, Tex., Feb. 5. L. B. Smith. 



Little Robert, aged <>. had been bathing in 

 the Abenakis River all through the dog days. 

 His liver was waterloKKe<I and he was off his 

 feed, His mother, being anxious, asked. 



" Could you eat honey in the comb. Bob ?'* 



The lad lifted his big brown eyes to his 

 mother's face, and answered: 



" Could 1 ? Why. I could eat it in a hair- 

 brush." 



