GLEANLN(J8 IN HKE CLLTLliE 



June 15 



Bee-keeping in the South- 

 west 



By Louis Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas 



Cut comb honey, as described and illus- 

 trated so nicely by the editor some time 

 ago, is receiving quite a little attention. 

 Have you thought that it is only one style 

 of bulk comb honey. ^ 



The Southwest Texas honey crop so far is 

 the shortest obtained for a number of years, 

 accortling to numerous reports received. 

 The demand is strong, and prices are higher 

 than usual. We, further northeast, have 

 already secured a nice crop, however. 



An automobile for out-apiaries has been 

 our desire for a number of years. Up to 

 now we have not found just what we thought 

 we wanted. Then we were undecided wheth- 

 er we wanted to haul honey, etc., with it or 

 not, or whether we needed only a runabout, 

 and let the hired help do the hauling with 

 wagons. Now it seems to be the latter. 

 What do you think about it? 



Bulk comb honey — yes, bulk comb honey 

 — is the proper name. "Chunk" honey is 

 verj^ rarely used here, and some of "we-uns," 

 at least, would rather not have that "chunk- 

 ed" at us by our Northern friends. The 

 two are entirely different articles with us; 

 and it will be very easy to use the jiroper 

 name if it is remembered that ours is sim- 

 ply comb honey in bulk, hence bulk comb 

 honey. After it is more extensively pro- 

 duced in other parts of the country it will 

 be better known. 



SOME OF OUR ADVANTAGES. 



We have several advantages in bee-keep- 

 ing that not all bee-keepers can have, al- 

 though others are so situated that they 

 might have them. One of the main advan- 

 tages we have is the scattering of our apia- 

 ries so that we do not have our bees all in 

 one or the same kind of location in one lo- 

 cality. One nuiy experience a short crop, 

 and even an entire failure occasionally, 

 when thus situated; but entire failure is 

 very seldom possible when ai)iaries are lo- 

 cated in various and entirely different local- 

 ities. Thus it is that we may have a short- 

 age where we de])eMd on an early spring har- 

 vest entirely. Were all our bees here or in 

 similar i)laccs we might suffer. Instead, we 

 pay all our attention to other ajjiaries in lo- 

 calities that obtain their harvest from sum- 

 mer or fall sources, leaving those of the first 

 localities alone for the while. Or it often 

 hapi)ens that rainfall is very light at a num- 

 ber of ai)iaries and i)lenlifiil at others, so 

 that we can leave the former and spend all 

 of our time with the latter, and thus obtain 

 a good croj). Even local showers play a 

 great part in a honey-flow in localities only 



several miles ai)art at times, so it pays to 

 scatter the yards. 



Our extensive business not only takes in 

 the scattering of ajiiaries several miles apart 

 in one i)art of the State, but we have gone 

 further than that by having about half of 

 our apiaries in an entirely different i)art of 

 the State, several hundred miles away. 

 Here, as well as nearer home, of course, the 

 general practice of scattering the ai)iaries is 

 carried out to take advantage of changed lo- 

 cal conditions. 



While we have almost an equal number 

 of apiaries at each place, fourteen here in 

 Southwest Texas and twelve in Central 

 Texas, we ne\ er know which series will re- 

 quire most attention and give the largest 

 honey crops. For instance, at this time it 

 is very dry in the Southwest, and people 

 generally are complaining of drouth and 

 unfavorable prospects, while we have had 

 heavy rains several hundred miles east, where 

 our other bees are, and the prospects are the 

 very best; therefore ?re are not complaining. 

 That's an advantage. 



SCHOLL'S NEW FRAME-STAPLE BLOCK. 



The wooden blocks with a saw-kerf at each 

 end, sent out for use in driving the end- 

 spacing staples, have been very unsatisfac- 

 tory in several respects. First, we prefer our 



ftC( 



staples Yi inch from the end of the top-bar, 

 leaving a passageway for the bees, and 

 therefore eliminating the lumps of pro- 

 polis generally found where the staples are 

 closer up. Besides, this brings them out of 

 the way of our finger-tips to a great extent 

 when handling the frames. With the sta- 



])le spacing 

 f u r t h e r 

 down, the 

 frame is held 

 more square 

 and true. 

 While t h e 

 1> 1 a i n saw- 

 kerf was all 

 right in the hands of a careful ])erson, most 

 of our staples slanted either up or down in 

 it, and we had to look for something more 

 satisfactory. Nothing better could be 

 adoi)ted than the one shown herewith, for 

 our boys now can't lielp putting every sta- 

 ple just where it ought to be. The block 

 can be made of wood, but we have several 

 of iron. Simply bore a fV hole yi inch from 

 the center, and saw two kerfs in this as 

 shown. A rat-tail hie is used for the metal 



