24(i 



GJ^EANINUS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. K) 



Bee-keeping in the South- 

 west 



By LOUIS ScHOi.i-, New Braunfels, Texas 



The 1910 census will be an unfortunate 

 one for the bee-keepers' showing. The edi- 

 torial concerning it on p. 65 coincides with 

 my mention of it, Dec. 15, exactly. As I had 

 stated, Texas' showing will be about half an 

 average crop census. While some States 

 will fare better, others will be even worse 

 off. 



■*- 



A GOOSE FOR A GOOSE. 



Hey, Dr. Miller, don't those section-honey 

 facts I gave on i)age ;^9 seem to strike you? 

 Perhaps they strike you too hard. Yes, 

 since I read it over in print I found what I 

 had done — struck the section-honey produc- 

 er a little too hard. And you, trying to get 

 even with me, page 68, call me a goose in a 

 roundabout way. When are i/oii going to 

 try some bulk comb honey? Xo need of 

 your sympathy for our being flooded out, 

 even if you joiii the Coloradans in a change. 



OUR NEW qup:en-rearing yard. 



Does it pay the honey-i)roducer to rear his 

 own queens? 8ome of our best apiarists 

 claim it does not, while many others are 

 raising their own queens. To get nearer the 

 truth of the matter an extensive experiment 

 will be made along this line in connection 

 with our work this summer. For years we 

 have jHirchased our queens, upon the advice 

 of some of our best bee-men, but with more 

 <ir less unsatisfactory results. Resting on 

 the sujjposition that our eflforts at rearing 

 our own queens can gi\e us no less satisfac- 

 tory results, if not better ones, we are mak- 

 ing the trialf 



We believe we can rear our own queens 

 cheai)er than we can buy them from some 

 one else: that we can ha\e better queens as 

 a result of our own selection and careful 

 breeding than those generally obtained from 

 the average " rushed-for-queens " queen- 

 raiser; that we shall have better results with 

 ({ueens right from our queen-yard over those 

 that have been subject to several days' rough 

 usage in the mails, and that we can have 

 our queens just when we want them, with- 

 out waiting for delayed orders, which alone 

 often amounts to severe losses. 



With as many as 26 ai)iaries for honey 

 l)roduction we have a sjjlendid opportunity 

 for making a selection of breeding queens 

 from which to raise our new queens. For 

 instance, in one of our ai)iaries a colony of 

 pure Italians has been the record colony for 

 three years in succession, with only a few 

 others coming uj) to it, first one season and 

 then another. Such an excellent colony is 

 good enough for a (pieen-yard, and so we 

 took it there. In this way all the best colo- 

 nies from each of the various ai)iaries find 



their way to the queen-rearing yard. It 

 gives us the best possible from hundreds of 

 good colonies concentrated at one place. 

 This place is an ideal one for the rearing of 

 good queens and perpetuating the good qual- _ 

 ities of the cream of our apiaries. Is it not ■ 

 possible thus to obtain some good results? * 



Of course it takes time to do this work; 

 but I certainly believe that such a branch 

 or dei)artment should be kei)t in connection 

 with any large well-regulated system of ai)i- 

 aries, just as well as other lines of business 

 have their different deiiartments. Then 

 there should be a suitable ])erson in charge 

 of that department. If we count on the su- 

 perior queens that should be obtained in 

 this way, the money saved that would other- 

 wise go toothers for queens, and an increase 

 in our honey crops that must surely result 

 through careful selection and breeding, our 

 efforts should not be wasted. 



While we have, from years of selection, 

 some stock as good as may be desired, we 

 by no means exjiect to stop importing into 

 our yards new blood from some of the lead- 

 ing queen-breeders from time to time, to- 

 ward still further improving our strains. 

 Together with this we shall always employ 

 the best, latest, and up-to-date methocls in 

 queen-rearing, so that our experiments shall 

 not lack in that respect at any time. 



A LACK OF spring FLOWERS. 



In addition to sufficient stores left the 

 bees in the fall for the heavy spring brootl- 

 rearing a vast number of native spring 

 flowers have generally been a great aid. 

 But. due to more or less i)eriods of drouth 

 in the fall, winter, anil this spring, there 

 are fewer of these flowers this year than we 

 have had for many years. 



In consequence of this our colonies that 

 had more stores early in the spring than for 

 a number of years have drawn on these so 

 heavily that many are in need, and have to 

 be given from the heavier ones; and unless 

 our Ai)ril mesquite flow yields soon it may 

 Ijecome necessary to feed. 



The ground is covered with bloom in a 

 fair season during April, as shown by the 

 illustration on page 25.S. This is our State 

 flower, the blue lupine {Lupinus siihcarno- 

 sus), or called "blue bonnet " or " buffalo 

 clover" by many. It grows in great profu- 

 sion over the entire ground, making it look 

 like a solid blue carpet for miles around. 

 This i)resents a beautiful sight, and the per- 

 fume Alls the air, the bees scampering amid 

 the bloom in great numbers. 



While the honey yield does not seem to 

 be very great, it aids wonderfully with that 

 from other bloom in building up colonies 

 rai)idly just when needed. It yields great 

 quantities of bright yellow, orange, and red 

 colored ])ollen. Tliis year, however, the 

 ground, usually covered" by the blue carjiet 

 of bloom, is absolutely bare in most places, 

 with only a few scattering plants in favored 

 spots. 



