September, 1912. 



American ISae Journal 



State Legislature for an appropriation 

 similar to that secured by the State 

 Horticultural Association. 



.\t the close of the meeting Mr. 

 Darby delivered an address on the 

 "Need of Education in Bee-Keeping 

 .'Vmong the Farmers." Mr. Darby is 

 in favor of teaching bee-culture in the 

 country schools, and gave very con- 

 vincing arguments on this subject. 



Officers were elected as follows: .1. 

 W. Rouse, of Mexico, President ; R. A. 

 Holekamp, of St. Louis, Vice-president ; 

 J. F. Diemer, of Liberty, Secretary- 

 Treasurer. 



.\fter a very enjoyable meeting, the 

 members parted with many thanks to 

 Mr. Rouse and his three pretty daugh- 

 ters for their hospitality. 



be as of old. In one respect, however, 

 there is a sort of gain, for when the soil 

 becomes a little too acid for red clover 

 it may still do fairly for alsike. So the 

 farmers in many places have replaced 

 red clover with alsike, to the advantage 

 of the bee-keeper. 



Statistics According to the Year- 

 book of the Department of Agriculture 

 for 1011, the import of beeswax into 

 the United States for the year ending 

 June 30, llUl, was 902,904 pounds, of a 

 value of $27(i,H2, or practically 30 cents 



" Texas Bee-Keeping," by Louis H. 

 Scholl. — This is a bulletin published as 

 No. 24 of the Texas Department of .'Agri- 

 culture. It may be secured by applica- 

 tion to the Com mis si oner of .Agriculture 

 at .\ustin, Tex. This is a real treatise, 

 up to date in every respect (as might 

 be expected from friend Scholl), con- 

 taining 10 chapters, with a total of 144 

 pages, and profusely illustrated. 



Mr. Scholl describes the different 

 methods of the production of honey, 

 but his preference is for bulk comb 

 honey. He divides the State apicul- 

 turally into six areas, north, central, 

 east, south, west and southwest. The 

 most important of these areas to bee- 

 culture he considers to be the south- 



Mk. York in His .Vewlv-.\ci.>i iked Apiary.— (See article on page 276.) 



a pound. The import of honey during 

 the same time was 1 12,. 'i-V! gallons at a 

 cost ot $62,042, or an average of about 

 .50 cents a gallon. 



The exports during the same time 

 were: beeswax Iul,73.j pounds at $31,- 

 404, or about 30 cents a pound (ex- 

 ported comb foundation was evidently 

 not figured under this head); honey, 

 no number of gallons marked, value 

 $81,040. The export of honey slightly 

 exceeded the import in value, while 

 the imports of beeswa.x were nearly 

 nine times the exports. 



Lime as a Help to Honey Crop 



Gleanings in Bee Culture gives as one 

 reason why the clovers do not yield 

 honey as formerly, that the soil has be- 

 come acid, and the application of lime 

 will consequently cure it of its clover- 

 sickness, when the yield of honey may 



west, where mesquite, huajilla and 

 cat's-claw abound. It may not be out 

 of place to remind our readers that 

 Texas is by far the largest State in the 

 Union, and this is evidenced in the in- 

 troduction to the bulletin by a map of 

 Te.xas, showing the outlines of 14 other 

 States enclosed within its limits. There 

 are many resources in so wide a re- 

 gion. It will be interesting to mention 

 some items in the work. 



Sixty-five pounds of surplus, of both 

 comb and e.xtracted honey per colony, 

 is a fair yield for the average bee- 

 keeper. That means, of course, bulk 

 comb honey, one part extracted to two 

 parts comb honey cut out of frames. 

 Three-banded Italians are preferred. 



"In most southwest Texas localities locp 

 colonies is considered near the proper num- 

 ber, while it has been found that better re- 

 sults have been obtained with only 50 colo- 

 nies in a place, as localities farther north- 

 ward are reached. It has also been deter- 

 mined that, in localities where ico in one 



place will do well, they would do better if 

 only so were kept in each of two separate 

 apiaries several miles apart." 



To prevent after-swarms, after a col- 

 ony has swarmed, all queen-cells except 

 one of the largest should be removed, 

 which prevents immediate after-swarm- 

 ing, and to prevent it a little later it is 

 customary to leave the old hive near its 

 old stand, on which the swarm now is, 

 for a week or 10 days, at the end of 

 which time the old colony is moved to 

 a new location. It may be a question 

 whether that cutting out of cells is 

 necessary. In the instructions so often 

 given in the American Bee Journal, it 

 is supposed that when the old hive is 

 moved to a new location after the end 

 of a week or so, the bees will of their 

 own accord destroy all cells but one. 



Mr. Scholl gives a bit of wisdom in 

 few words when he says, "All colonies 

 should be requeened as soon as they 

 are found to have inferior queens, no 

 matter at what time of the year." The 

 book contains much information, and 

 every Texas bee-keeper should secure 

 a copy. 



^ 



Meeting of Southern Idaho and Eastern 

 Oregon Bee-Keepers — .\ field meeting 

 of the above mentioned Association 

 took place July 10, at the apiary of C. 

 E. Dibble, of VVashoe, Idaho. Between 

 3.3 and 40 of the leading bee-keepers of 

 these States were in attendance with 

 their families. These men represented 

 a total of about lO.Ono colonies, the out- 

 put of which was between 17 and 18 

 carloads of honey last year. 



According to the report, the apiary 

 of Mr. Dibble contains some 50ij colo- 

 nies of bees. One of the features of 

 the occasion was the presence of Prof. 

 Wilson, of the State .'Agricultural Col- 

 lege of Oregon, and instructor in bee- 

 culture at Corvallis. 



We hope to give more concerning 

 this Association and its doings in the 

 future. The West has a fine prospect 

 for success, and Idaho and Oregon are 

 very progressive States. 



A Peculiar Enemy of the Bee A re- 

 nowned French entomologist, J. H. 

 Fabre, is the author of a work which 

 was awarded a prize in December, 

 1010, by the French .Academy. The 

 book is entitled, "Souvenirs Entomol- 

 ogiques," and contains an interesting 

 description of a European wasp which 

 preys upon the honey-bee. This in- 

 sect is named "philanthus apivorus." 

 We quote the following abridged ex- 

 planation concerning the philanthus 

 from a newspaper clipping sent us by 

 Mr. Bechley, of Searsboro, Iowa. It 

 gives the pith of Fabre's interesting 

 statement : 



"When a bee is near enough for attack, 

 the philanthus draws up her hind legs, 

 points the antenn.T- forward and suddenly 

 sprint-s to the attack. The bee. in spite of 

 its sling, is rolled over, and with the speed 

 of lightning the philanthus curves her body 

 under her so that the bee's sting— stabbing 

 back and forth-can only encounter the 

 mailed surface of the back. Then with an 

 an which is wonderful, the philanthus 

 drives its sting upward and forward at a 

 microscopic point on the throat of the bee 

 beneath which lie the nerves of the neck. 

 There is a slight trembling of the limbs and 

 the bee is dead. 



"So far. there is nothing very surprising 

 in this attack, it is similar to that of many 

 insects of prey. But what follows is most 



