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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 15 



sections properly and to fill each individual 

 section just so. First the colonies must be 

 stimulated and the hive expanded to obtain 

 rousing colonies for best results; this obtain- 

 ed, the hives must be contracted to force the 

 bees up; but it generally forces them out, as 

 swarms; and this must be checked after the 

 bee-keeper has brought them up to this point. 

 Finally, it all depends on how well one suc- 

 ceeds with the above whether he makes a 

 crop of section honey or not. If he makes 

 a crop, then we come back to the grading- 

 rules, etc , alluded to above, so that, taking 

 it all in all, we wonder why others are still 

 following along an old rut — that of section- 

 honey production, which is the most expen- 

 sive way of producing honey. In Texas we 

 abandoned this method long ago for some- 

 thing better and more profitable — the pro- 

 duction of bulk comb honey. It is easier to 

 produce, it yields larger crops, sells better, 

 and results in the most dollars. 



AN AUTOMOBILE FOR OUR WORK. 



A thousand colonies of bees in twenty or 

 more apiaries, scattered from a few to near- 

 ly two hundred miles from home, and only 

 one assistant as help, has brought up the 

 question of getting around from one place to 

 another as fast as needed; and how to solve 

 this question is the subject now before us 

 for the coming year. While we have man- 

 aged to do nearly that much heretofore by 

 the use of several teams of horses, it will be 

 quite out of the question thereafter if our 

 plans for still more extended operations de- 

 velop. 



The automobile may be the only thing to 

 solve the problem; yet we realize that it is 

 expensive, if a good one is to be used, and 

 the cheaper ones, so far, are not as relialjle, 

 especially during the height of the season. 

 We have studied the many different makes, 

 and although we have not yet found just 

 what we want, the coming season will find 

 us flying (?) from yard to yard in a "ma- 

 chine." We figure this way: If we depend 

 on horses we must purchase two more in ad- 

 dition to the one horse and two mules we 

 are now using. Figuring the cost of these, 

 extra cost of a new lot and stable (for we 

 live in the city), their feed and extra care, 

 morning, noon, and night, we encounter 

 quite an expense in a year. Besides, they 

 eat whether at work or not, and need the 

 same daily attention. Would they not in the 

 long run cost more than a machine? This is 

 not all. If we take a trip to one of our yards 

 20 miles away it takes about 4 hours to go 

 and 4 to return, leaving us 2 hours for work 

 out of a ten-hour day; and on a hot summer 

 day not only the horses but the persons are 

 tired out from the long weary drive. With 

 an auto just the reverse is true, a two-hours' 

 drive and eight hours of work, also the en- 

 joyment of the recreation obtained on the 

 way. These are not theories, for we have 

 had some experience in this matter. We 

 are sure that, with the use of a good reliable 

 machine, more than twice as many colonies 



of bees can be managed by one man, and 2 

 that, as soon as we have better perfected I 

 automobiles or motor-vehicles, and the prices 

 are lower, more bee-keeping will be done 

 a /o automobile. The question now is, "What 

 kind of machine should the bee-keeper adopt 

 under present conditions? Who can advise 



THE TEXAS PEOPLE AND ALFALFA HONEY. 



Owing to the fact that very little alfalfa 

 honey has been produced in Texas, the peo- 

 ple, as a matter of course, have not become 

 used to its flavor. Hence its sale in many 

 markets, into which it has been shipped 

 from Colorado and other points of the west, 

 has been comparatively slow, and in many 

 cases some trouble has been experienced on 

 the part of some of the purchasers as a re- 

 sult of its unfamiliar flavor. Many are the 

 complaints made regarding this honey, the 

 main one being that it is adulterated — not 

 real honey; others that it is spiced. Some 

 people can not stand the flavor, hence can 

 not eat it as they do our real Texas honey. 

 The most unique description given of alfalfa 

 honey, and that by numerous persons, is that 

 " it is too white — hasn't any real honey color 

 to it, and is strongly flavored with cinna- 

 mon." Many purchasers will not buy alfal- 

 fa honey a second time, and would not the 

 first if they had known its flavor. 



Our experience at the fairs annually has 

 put us in closer touch with people of this 

 kind, and it is amusing to hear the different 

 complaints, which are only a lesson to us, 

 and show the necessity of more education to 

 the general public on these matters. 



That experienced bee-keepers themselves 

 should have trouble in the respect above 

 mentioned would seem ridiculous, but it is a 

 fact. In our exhibits a year ago a certain 

 bee-keeper sent some section honey of as 

 fine white quality as we have seen. At the 

 close of the fair this honey was left at the 

 secretary's office together with three other 

 and similar packages of section honey. These 

 were changed about in some way, and our 

 bee-keeper, without knowing it, got a case 

 of the others when the honey was returned 

 to him. The sections being the same style 

 in each case he did not re jnize any differ- 

 ence until it was put on tue table. It was 

 hurried back to the secretary's office, with 

 the declaration that it was not his honey — 

 that this was "adulterated, and flavored 

 with cinnamon," and he desired his honey 

 back. The matter was referred to me, and 

 I was asked what had been done with this 

 man's honey. Investigation later showed 

 that his honey had been taken by another 

 party, and alfalfa substituted by mistake. 



POLLEN ABOVE EXCLUDERS. 



On page 690, Nov. 15, Dr. Miller remarks that he puts 

 combs with pollen over an excluder, and it is not long 

 before they are cleaned out. Over the excluder is the 

 place where I am bothered the most. I have to clean 

 out a big lot every spring, from supers. Bees till a lot 

 of frames with pollen where I want honey stored. 



Rancocas, N. J., Dec. 18. S. B. HUSSEY. 



