1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



223 



working the old frames to the sides as the 

 hives grew stronger; then when they were 

 clear of brood they were removed and trans- 

 ferred. The season being a blank one, new 

 combs were built slowly, and I had no spare 

 ones, so it took until the end of August, over 

 three months, to get rid of the last frames. 

 In an average season I fancy six weeks would 

 be enough. 



Whatever may be the usual conditions I 

 don't know; but this season I noted particu- 

 larly the bees speedily united pieces of comb 

 whose line of contact was perpendicular; but 

 they merely gnawed the edges above and 

 below when the junction was horizontal. 

 None of such combs were "put into use, so I 

 have them stored away, and will try them 

 again next season, when the honey-flow is 

 on, and see what the bees will do about them. 



Victoria, B. C. 



NO CAR50LIC ACID USED IN SPRAY- 

 ING FRUIT-TREES. 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



That carbolic acid will prevent the visits 

 of bees I am quite sure, for I have used it 

 frequently to drive the bees out of comb- 

 honey supers — a plan I learned from Euro- 

 pean bee-keepers. A weak solution, one 

 that will not burn the skin, is prepared, a 

 cloth dipped in it, and wrung out. This 

 cloth is then laid on top of the supers, and 

 the bees will leave the sections with a rush. 

 No doubt this same odor would also keep 

 the bees away from the blossoms. 



But here in Canada the fruit-growers find 

 that they are jeopardizing their crop if they 

 spray the trees while in bloom. Just think 

 of covering the sensitive and delicate por- 

 tions of the blossom with a spraying solution! 

 The pollen would very likely be injured and 

 kept from being distributed, and the portion 

 of the blossom to receive the pollen would 

 in many instances not be in the right condi- 

 tion. The addition of carbolic acid would 

 not overcome this difficulty for the fruit- 

 grower So far as I know, there is less and 

 less of this practice of spraying trees in 

 bloom in our country. In an orchard where 

 some varieties or kinds of fruit bloom sooner 

 than others, there is a strong temptation to 

 spray all at one time, so some are apt to be 

 sprayed while in bloom; but I have been 

 told of very bad effects to the crop of fruit 

 after such work, and I fancy that this fact is 

 now pretty well known. 



In regard to the use of carbolic acid, I 

 V rote to Mr. P. W. Hodgetts, Department of 

 Agriculture for Ontario, who is secretary of 

 the Ontario Fruit-growers' Association as 

 well as of the Ontario Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 t'on. I received the following reply: 



Dear Mr. Holtermann:— Yours of the 18th is at hand. 

 So far as I know I have never heard of any of our 

 fruit-growers using carbolic acid for the purpose of 

 preventing bees from visiting fruit-blossoms. Carbol- 

 ic acid is not used in any of the formulae that we send 

 out from this office for the spraying of fruit-trees at 

 blossom time. It is used in a limited way in connec- 

 tion with some of the washes for scale insects in cer- 



tain sections of the Western States, but very little in 

 this country. It is also used to replace the Bordeaux 

 mixture in grape-spraying by a few men in the Niaga- 

 ra district, but is not recommended by this Depart- 

 ment. P. w. Hodgetts. 

 Toronto, Jan. 21, 1910. 



BEE-KEEPING NOTES FROM TEXAS. 



The Widely Differing Conditions of Cli- 

 mate, etc.. in the Lone-star State. 



BY LOUIS H. SCROLL. 



With the splendid prospects for one more 

 of those good old-time honey crops in our 

 charming southern country there has been a 

 marked revival of interest in bee-keeping 

 and a renewed activity among the bee-keep- 

 ers. And not only have our own bee-keep- 

 ers been influenced, but it seems from the 

 numerous inquiries from outsiders concern- 

 ing Texas that this influence has spread to 

 all parts of the country, attracting more in- 

 terest to bee-keeping in the great Lone Star 

 State than in any other country at the pres- 

 ent time. We are proud of this, for no other 

 country (we call Texas a "country," for she 

 is too big for a State) has made such great 

 strides. While Texas is the leading State in 

 the Union as a honey- producer, yet bee- 

 keeping here has not nearly reached that 

 stage of development that exists in most of 

 the other States. The annual output of hon- 

 ey is enormous, but we know that there are 

 thousands of acres wasting millions of pounds 

 of nectar that could be saved by the up to 

 date progressive bee-keeper. 



It is impossible to give any idea in figures 

 of the honey produced in this State in aver- 

 age years, as it has been impossible to ob- 

 tain any thing like reliable statistics. This 

 is due to the fact that almost the entire prod- 

 uct is consumed at home, a very small part 

 of it going outside of the State, and then 

 only into adjoining ones. In that sense Tex 

 as is a State of its own in the production of 

 honey, consuming what she produces her- 

 self. It is to be hoped that the new census 

 will aid us in ascertaining approximately, at 

 least, what our annual product has been the 

 past year. From this it would then be pos- 

 sible to draw an idea, but an idea only, as, 

 since the honey crop was a short one the 

 past year, the showing that will be made in 

 the census figures will by no means give us 

 the output of an average year. But the fact 

 remains that Texas is the leading State for 

 output of honey, number of colonies of bees, 

 and as a honey-producing State as regards 

 the vastness of its area, its great variety of 

 locations, soils, and climatic conditions. 



On this account I wish to call the reader's 

 attention to a few facts. After trying to 

 cover up Texas with fourteen other States, 

 as shown in the engraving herewith, it was 

 found that it was still quite in evidence, as 

 shown by the black parts of the picture. 

 Now, this shows the vastness of its territory 

 as compared with that of Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 



