1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



441 



Bee-keeping in the South- 

 west 



By Louis Scholl, Xe\v Braunfels, Texas 



Shallow-frame hives, or, rather, divisible- 

 brood-chamber hives, are bound to become 

 the standard for best all-around results aft- 

 er awhile; and the ten-frame width. Their 

 advantages are too great not to be found 

 out. 



-*. 



Our experimental queen-rearing yard, to 

 determine whether it is profitable for the 

 honey-producer to rear his own queens, is 

 showing some favorable results in the very 

 fine, large, and jirolific queens we have turn- 

 ed out for our apiaries so far; and as we get 

 it better established with all the necessary 

 equipment, and running on a proper sched- 

 ule, I think it will prove that it is profitable 

 for us to rear our ovra queens. 



Seeing those various contraptions and 

 many different ways of wiring frames, iip. 

 232 to 234, reminds us of the slow, tedious, 

 and disagreeable work we detested years 

 ago wlien we had only deep frames which 

 had to be strung with wire. Why not use 

 shallow frames without wires? That is 

 what we have done for years. It saves wire 

 and time, and other extra expense, and still 

 lighter foundation can be used. The time 

 will come when the shallow frame and di- 

 visible hives will become standard. 



CHUNK OB BULK COMB HONEY. 



Enquiries have been sent me several times 

 relative to chunk honey, and I have been 

 requested to write an article on that subject, 

 covering all the different johases of produc- 

 tion, etc. To this I must say that it would 

 be utterly impossible to do it in one or even 

 two articles, even if I had the time during 

 this present, my busiest season of my life. 

 A little later, perhaps, this may be possible. 

 I write this to answer several enquirers so 

 they Mill not await the article and become 

 disappointed. Besides, I should like to call 

 attention again to the fact that we do not 

 fancy the term "chunk honey" in the 

 place of "bulk comb honey." Since this 

 should be the proj^ername to use, I mention 

 it again. Most of the correspondents use 

 the term " chunk honey." 



AN ABSURD ACCUSATION. 



Of all the absurd articles, none has come 

 up to the one on page 376, under the title of 

 "Chunk Honey North and South." It can 

 hardly be attributed to the ignorance of the 

 author of said article, since he comes out 

 boldly with the statement that he has " trav- 

 eled to no small extent in the Lone Star 

 State, the last time about three years ago." 

 However, his opinion of Texas is a very poor 

 one indeed. The idea of the comparison 



made between the State of Texas and her 

 people and other conditions with that of a 

 little part of the country that he resides in 

 is also absurd. Why! we have enough fer- 

 tile country in Texas to cover up Iowa near- 

 ly five times over, and then have a good 

 deal of this fertile land left, to say nothing 

 of the enormous quantities of rock, gravel, 

 sand, etc., which are all considered by us 

 as of much value, if for nothing else than 

 the up-to-date construction of concrete 

 structures and buildings on the vast areas 

 of the most fertile soils. 



Not only is Texas richest in a great ma- 

 jority of just such things, and ahead of all 

 her sister States, but her people are not so 

 poor as the writer above mentioned tries to 

 make them. If anybody doubts this let 

 him come and assure himself. We are not 

 so poor down here that we are not buying 

 automobiles, diamonds, etc.; but when it 

 comes to section honey we go further with 

 our delicious bulk comb honey;" and since 

 we are rich enough to buy honey we are able 

 to use up our own enormous annual produc- 

 tion long before the season is over, although 

 the great Lone Star State is the greatest 

 producer, and that at a higher average 

 price i^er pound than is obtained in the 

 North, and this in spite of the scanty popu- 

 lation and the very poor (?) people at that. 

 Can you blame the " over-enthusiastie Te- 

 hana friend " for believing that it is possible 

 to do even better with bulk comb honey in 

 the North? 



Our prices are so high here in Texas that 

 38 cents for a quart Mason fruit-jar of bulk 

 comb boney would be considered a very low 

 price, or one which only the backwood farm- 

 er bee-keeper " who never reads a bee-jour- 

 nal" would sell at. Fifty and sixty cents 

 is what we find them selling at, and such 

 figuring as allowing so much for the return 

 of the jars, yea, and "at a cent less on ac- 

 count of the loss of the rubber " is a thing 

 unheard of. Besides, we use better pack- 

 ages for our bulk comb honey than the dis- 

 tasteful common Mason jars, and get a more 

 fancy price. 



Still better are the Texas standard sizes 

 and styles of honey-cans and honey-pails 

 (also our omti) for bulk comb honey. The 

 3-lb., 6-lb., and 12-lb. friction-top cans and 

 pails are the most preferable package for 

 the retail trade, and others too, while the 

 consumers prefer to buy the 60-lb. cans from 

 us direct; and we get 11 cents per lb. for this 

 in 120-lb. cases or more, f. o, b. our shipping- 

 point, sight draft attached to bill of lading, 

 insuring our pay for the honey in all cases. 

 The smaller size of cans incase lots sell from 

 2 to 3 cents per pound more. Add to this 

 the freight to the retailer, his profit, and 

 then you will find that we do not sell our 

 honey at a low price. The average selling 

 priceis about 15 cents, and, besides, selling 

 our own millions of pounds here in the great 

 Lone Star State, carloads of honey are ship- 

 ped in from other States. Does this show 

 that we are a poor class of people down here? 

 Not much! 



