1910 



CiLEAXIXGS IX BEE CULTURE 



513 



Bee-keeping in the South- 

 west 



By Louis Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas 



ASCERTAINING THE SOURCE OF HONEY BY 



SCENT. 



It is possible in many instances to tell 

 from what the bees are gathering nectar 

 without opening the hives or knowing upon 

 what plants the bees are at work. Recent- 

 ly we arrived at one of our apiaries, 180 miles 

 away, late at night. We did not know 

 what the bees had been doing here since our 

 previous visit five weeks before; but going 

 through the yard we "scented " that a good 

 honey-flow was on. The evaporation taking 

 ]'lace in tlie hives gave off a strong scent 

 which filled the air and was recognized at 

 once as that from horsemint. Our cotton 

 honey has a scent of its own, and one can 

 easily detect it in the apiary during its yield. 

 It is almost identical with the smell given 

 otf by the leaves if these are bruised by rub- 

 bing them to pieces. I know the scent of a 

 good many sources of nectar, and can tell 

 when the bees are working on certain plants. 

 I have been told that a buckwheat honey- 

 fiow, one of basswood, and several others 

 might be told in the same way; and from 

 the little exjierience I have had with buck- 

 wheat and sweet-clover honey I am sure 

 these could be easily detected. 



BEESTINGS FOR RHEUMATISM. 



Since my article on this subject appeared 

 in the Ainerican Bee Journal, p. 236, .July, 

 190!>, numerous comments and criticisms 

 ha\ e appeared in not only that journal but 

 in this one as well. I cited various instances 

 where stings as a cure for rheumatism came 

 under my own observations. One of the 

 most severe criticisms appears in the Octo- 

 ber American Bee Journal, p. 365, together 

 with anotlier. The former one was written 

 by Dr. A. F. Bonney, of Buck Grove, Iowa, 

 who later also wrote an article on the same 

 subject for Gleanings, p. 784, Dec. 1, 1909. 

 There is no doubt that the writer of the ar- 

 ticle was well pleased about it, but I have 

 been "laying low" and "collecting more 

 evidence " in defending my side of the ques- 

 tion as fir-t cited in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, which received such severe criticism at 

 the hands of Dr. Bonney. For lack of space, 

 however, none of this has yet appeared in 

 that journal. Be this as it niay, these proofs 

 art- sufficient to show that the doctor's crit- 

 icism and his point of argument do not set- 

 tle the case as absolute. 



Right in this connection we find, p. 403 

 of the July 1st issue of this journal, an edi- 

 torial which gives Dr. Bonney credit as hav- 

 ing "stood almost alone in his contention 

 that bee-stings will not cure rheumatism." 

 Then follow two articles that show that 



" there is something in it." lean present 

 several very similar cases that will substan- 

 tiate this very thing. 



THE TEXAS HONEY CROP. 



So far the honey crop has been quite fair 

 in most localities; but as a whole it is not a 

 bumper crop. While the quality in most 

 localities was fine, in some the honey was 

 darker than usual. Taking it all in all, the 

 Texas crop so far has been good • enough, 

 especially since the prices obtained have 

 been from one to two cents per pound above 

 the average of any previous year, extending 

 over quite a long period. In addition to 

 this the demand has been strong, and the 

 honey moved as fast as it was ready for 

 shipment. 



Despite these facts, there have been a 

 number of parties again this year, as in all 

 previous years, who sold their honey below 

 the regular market price. A few do not 

 make any difference between the price paid 

 by the wholesale dealer and by the retailer 

 or consumer when they ship direct to them. 

 This is not right. It is an injustice to the 

 dealer, who must sell at a higher price after 

 he buys the producer's crop of honey, and 

 it hurts the producers, especially those who 

 are trying their best to maintain a good 

 market price for their honey. 



PAINTING THE HIVES, ETC. 



Those of you who hire help for the busy 

 season and then dismiss this help after the 

 honey season is over can do a wise thing by 

 keeping such help a month longer for the 

 express purpose of "painting up" every 

 thing about the place from hive to house. 

 There is nothing that freshens up things 

 more than a nice coat of paint. It revives 

 and brightens up every thing to which the 

 paint is applied. Besides bringing more 

 "life" into the things painted, the whole 

 surroundings appear to have a kind of re- 

 newed life in them, and this in turn has its 

 effect on the bee-keeper and others around 

 and about such surroundings. This is not 

 the only advantage. Things that are well 

 painted, and kept well painted, naturally 

 last longer. Xo use trying to get around 

 that. This is especially true where climatic, 

 atmospheric, and other conditions have an 

 unfavorable effect on the unpainted materi- 

 als, whatever they may be. 



In our hot climate here, every thing is af- 

 fected by the heat. Wood checks and splits, 

 warps and twists all out of shape unless 

 kept well painted. This is a serious consid- 

 eration when it comes to bee-hives, build- 

 ings, etc. In a wet locality wood decays; 

 but paint keeps out the moisture. So it 

 pays to "paint up " everything, once a year 

 at least. Our reason for doing this after the 

 honey season is that, first, we can keep the 

 help a Utile longer for it; and, secondly, 

 every thing then goes into the long wet win- 

 ter season weather-proof. 



