November, 191 1. 



American l^ee Journal 



Southern 



Beedom- 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl. New Braunfels..Tex. 



Experimental Apiculture Fascinating 



There is something fascinating about 

 experimenting, to the average enthu- 

 siast, and the writer is one that is not 

 lacking in this direction. The conse- 

 quent result is that there is always 

 more or less experimental work going 

 on in our extensive bee-keeping busi- 

 ness, and we have long ago found that 

 this is but a step in the right direction, 

 and gives us the advantage of ascer- 

 taining for ourselves methods that are 

 the best applicable to our manner of 

 managing a large establishment of 

 numerous apiaries as ours is at this 

 time. Yea, more than that — it enables 

 us to increase our business from year 

 to year, as we gain more experience, 

 and this is quite in accord with the 

 motto, " Keep More Bees," that is 

 tacked up in our mind. 



Right along the line of the above it 

 might be of some interest to the read- 

 ers to learn that we have established a 

 series of apiaries in such a way that 

 we can leave New Braunfels in the 

 early morning for a pleasant drive 

 from one apiary to another, travel 24 

 miles, and visit 8 different apiaries on 

 the round, and at the same time study 

 the difference and the habits and value 

 of 8 different races of bees, theri arrive 

 at home again by noon to enjoy our 

 mid-day meal. 



The home-yard, consisting of 30 colo- 

 nies at this time, known as the " Comal 

 Apiary," because it is located near the 

 banks of a creek by that name, is 

 stocked with Caucasian bees— the gen- 

 tle race that attracted so much atten- 

 tion at one time, but which race did 

 not become very popular except with a 

 few bee-keepers who claim a good deal 

 for them. There may be something in 

 different strains of this race, and this is 

 one reason why we will give them a 

 thorough trial in this yard. The main 

 reason for having the Caucasians in 

 one of these yards, is that visitors who 

 come here to study bee-keeping mat- 

 ters, of which we have many through- 

 out the year, may see the various races. 



Two and one-half miles from the city 

 is located the " Ickels Apiary," which is 

 our Holy Land apiary. Here the bees 

 that are not very popular with many 

 bee-keepers will be kept in their purity. 

 We have had these bees for about i^i 

 years, find them good honey-gatherers, 

 excellent comb-builders, and the queens 

 are very prolific; therefore, the colo- 

 nies are always strong, which accounts 

 for large yields of honey being stored 

 by them. But their nervous disposi- 

 tion and consequent irritability and 

 stinging habit make them very dis- 

 agreeable to handle; besides, they do 

 not cap their honey-comb satisfactorily 

 for comb-honey production, placing 

 the cappings right on the honey in 

 such a way that the combs have a very 

 watery appearance. 



Tlie third apiary, is the Weidner 

 Apiary," 4 miles away, where nothing 

 but the 3-banded Italian bees are kept. 

 This old race, that has been found by 

 the majority of the bee-keepers as the 

 best all-purpose race of bees, has al- 

 ways been recommended by us, nat 

 only to beginners, but to all persons 

 who have asked us for advice regard- 

 ing the various races of bees. They 

 are gentle, good honey-gatherers, de- 

 fend their hives well, and are an all- 

 around good race of bees. 



There are .50 colonies in each of the 

 last two mentioned apiaries — the num- 

 ber that we have found is the best 

 number to keep in one yard in our 

 locality, with the honey-flora and other 

 conditions that exist here. 



The " Nuhn Yard," with 82 colonies, 

 is 9 miles from New Braunfels, -and 

 consists of Golden Italians. These 

 bees do not seem to be as hardy 

 a race as the 3-banded Italians, 

 but they are very good honey-gath- 

 erers, and cap their combs whiter — 

 a very good point in favor of comb- 

 honey production. Since much in- 

 crease was made at this yard after the 

 honey-flows were over, it happens that 

 there are 32 colonies above the regular 

 number at this place now, but which 

 will be moved to a new location in the 

 winter to establish another apiary 3 

 miles from this yard. The new yard 

 will be the " Marion Apiary," 11 miles 

 from home, where we will establish 

 our sub-headquarters next year. Marion 

 being a town on another trunk railway. 

 From here a dozen apiaries will be 

 managed by a manager who resides at 

 this place permanently, thus taking a 

 load off the New Braunfels headquar- 

 ters that has become quite an obstacle 

 in out-apiary management with us. In 

 other words, all the apiaries in tliat 

 direction, and over 7 miles from New 

 Braunfels, will fall to the Marion head- 

 quarters. It required a good deal of 

 extra travel and unnecessary hauling 

 to manage these apiaries at the long 

 range, as we have had to do heretofore 

 under the old management. 



Turning back from Marion in an- 

 other direction, we come by the " Santa 

 Clara Apiary," at the head of a creek 

 by that name, where there are over 50 

 colonies of Banat bees. This race has 

 not been tried extensively by the 

 writer, so that we do not know much 

 to report on them. But from the breed- 

 ers from vvhicli we obtained our stock 

 for this yard, we have many words of 

 praise for this race. Another season 

 we may be able to make a good report 

 on them also. 



The " Soms Apiary" is one with the 

 gentle Carniolan bees — a race that we 

 have had in our yards for a dozen 

 years. We like tliem for their large 

 size, their gentleness, their prolificness, 

 and their way of capping the comb 

 honey very white. We really do not 



admire their black color, and especially 

 so when we wish to find the queens, as 

 these are somewhat harder to find than 

 the yellow queens of other races. This, 

 of course, does not apply to those who 

 handle them very much, and thus be- 

 come used to finding these dark queens, 

 we presume. Another objection is 

 their inclination to swarm, which is a 

 serious factor in out-apiary manage- 

 ment; however, we have not had very 

 much trouble in that respect with the 

 large hives we use, and the manner of 

 hive-manipulation that we employ just 

 before and during the swarming sea- 

 son. 



Coming still closer home, 2j4 miles 

 west of the city, we arrive at our 

 " Queen-Rearing Yard," established last 

 year for the sole purpose of rearing 

 our own queens for our many apiaries. 

 This yard was stocked with all the best 

 breeding queens that we could obtain, 

 of the 3-banded Italian race. Our queen- 

 rearing work was very successful for a 

 time last spring, and our first lots of 

 queens were beautiful ones, and all 

 purely mated, since there were no other 

 bees around in that neighborhood. 

 But it happened that the very next 

 neighbor, on the adjoining farm, caught 

 the bee-fever from across the fence, 

 and lo, and behold! within 2 months 

 he was well supplied with more than a 

 dozen colonies of all varieties of bees 

 except any pure Italians or any other 

 race that was in its purity. 



That put a stop to our pure mating, 

 and being impracticable to Italianize 

 his bees, besides deciding that we would 

 not continue to rear queens in this 

 yard, we have changed them to the 

 Cyprian race. This race is too well- 

 known to need further description 

 here, but we have tried them for a 

 dozen years or more, and know that 

 they are the worst stingers we have 

 ever had in our yards. It may, there- 

 fore, be one reason why we placed 

 these bees in the yard at this place, so 

 near to the person we think has in- 

 truded upon our rights (?), knowing 

 that the cross-mated stock that will 

 follow naturalljf in any neighboring 

 apiaries (?) is still harder to handle 

 than the race in its purity! 



This brings up the question again 

 regarding the priority rights of a bee- 

 keeper in a certain locality. In our case, 

 we were the first to place an apiary 

 in a location where nobody had ever 

 thought of going into the bee-business. 

 Then comes the neighbor and con- 

 tracts the bee-fever; owns the land 

 next to the place where we have rented 

 the ground for our own apiary, and 

 plants his apiary. What is going to 

 keep him from doing so on his own 

 land ? Or what is going to help me to 

 go there and keep him from doing so 

 on his own land ? Those are ques- 

 tions that we would like to have some 

 of the "priority-rights people" answer 

 for us ! 



But such is a story of the location of 



8 of our apiaries, w'ith as many dift'er- 

 ent races of bees, in such a way that 

 they can be visited in half a day's drive. 

 Any of these yards can be reached 

 within a short time, as the farthest is 

 only 11 miles away, while the others 

 range all the way from 2}4 to 4, 7 and 



9 miles. 



