?68 



September, 1912. 



may want to sell it and it will make 

 some rancher a good granary. A win- 

 dow 2 feet by 4 feet 6 inches is placed 

 on the north side. The door is close 

 to the northwest corner on the west 

 side, and the roof slopes to the north 

 with a fall of 2 feet. The walls are 7;< 

 feet on the north side, and l>>i feet on 

 the south. 



The comb-honey scraping bench will 

 be placed along the north side of the 

 room under the window. I do not 

 plan to have glass in the window, but 

 will have a double screen and escape. 

 A hinged door to close the window 

 will hook up to the ceiling when the 

 window is open. Two by sixes are 

 used for joists and rafters. 



Next week I plan to finish the honey- 

 house and bring the bees up the river. 

 I shall buy a few more if possible, as I 

 intend to build the yard up to a hun- 

 dred colonies. Some shade is provided 

 by apple and peach trees for the apiary, 

 but I am not much of an apostle of 

 shaded hives. Sweet clover and alfalfa 

 furnish the honey, and the season 

 closes from Sept. 15 to H^K 



American Vae Journal 



It has been a busy week, and would 

 have been considered a successful one 

 but for the smothering of some of the 

 bees. It is the first time such a thing 

 has happened to me, and I had become 

 over-confident of the sufficiency of the 

 screened top with clustering space. If 

 at all convenient I shall move the bees 

 at night. Part of the trouble was the 

 rough road, although we had the hay- 

 rack well bedded with hay. 



Bee-keepers make mistakes in two 

 ways, through inexperience and over- 

 confidence. I have moved bees so 

 much with no losses that I did not take 

 all things into consideration. 



[An account of mistakes is just as 

 useful to the reader as the description 

 of successes. We learn much by the 

 experiences of others. But to appre- 

 ciate a journey of the kind described 

 by friend Foster, one must be some- 

 what acquainted with Colorado condi- 

 tions. — Editor.] 



Southern 



Beedom- 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl. New Braunfels. Tex. 



That Texas Bee-Bulletin 



Since the announcement by the 

 Texas Department of Agriculture of 

 the publication of my bulletin, "Texas 

 Bee-Keeping," there has arisen a de- 

 mand for it, and a desire for information 

 as to the proper place from which a 

 copy may be obtained. Numerous re- 

 quests were sent to the Texas Experi- 

 ment Station, to A. & M. College, to 

 the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, and to my old College Station 

 address. The result is that some of 

 these requests are delayed a long time; 

 some never reach "the right place," 

 and are returned to the writer. 



Those who are interested and desire 

 one of these bulletins, should address 

 a postal card to "Hon. Ed R. Kone, 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, Austin, 

 Tex.," asking for Bulletin No. 24, 

 "Texas Bee-Keeping." The Depart- 

 ment desires to place this bulletin, 

 which was published at considerable 

 expense, into the hands of those 

 who are actually interested, instead 

 of mailing them out haphazardly. It 

 is well, therefore, that applications be 

 made at once, as the supply is not 

 in proportion to the demand for it. 

 The bulletin will be sent free. 



Texas Bee-Keepers Meet 



The annual meeting of tlie Texas 

 Bee-Keepers' Association at College 

 Station, Tex., July 30, 31, and Aug. 1 

 was a successful one. The compara- 

 tive merits of the diflferent races of 

 bees, modern bee-keeping and its future, 

 bee-keeping as a side issue and as an 

 occupation, and the same for women, 

 each received due attention. Also such 

 topics were discussed as the manage- 



ment and care of out-apiaries, the best 

 and most practical methods of increase, 

 and the attractions, delays and disap- 

 pointments in queen-rearing. Produc- 

 tion of comb and extracted honey, its 

 sanitary handling and preparing for 

 market, best receptacles, how to get 

 the best prices, how to improve the de- 

 mand, the outlook for future market- 

 ing, and the value of exhibiting at 

 fairs, were all topics of special interest. 



The present condition of foul brood, 

 what has been done, and is being done 

 for its eradication, were given in the 

 reports of several inspectors. It is 

 one of the mos/ important subjects for 

 every bee-keeper, in any part of the 

 globe, and it is h'-'ped that every bee- 

 keeper will take the precautions to ac- 

 quaint himself, at the very first oppor- 

 tunity, with this dreaded disease. 



Although there may never be foul 

 brood in the neighborhood of many 

 bee-keepers, it behooves ei'ery one to 

 prepare himself before hand in case 

 such disease should appear. It is nec- 

 sary to be posted, yea, well posted in 

 order to know what to do to save the 

 bees if the disease should make its ap- 

 pearance in one's apiaries. 



As a rule, too much time is wasted 

 on the very a-b-c's of the various sub- 

 jects under discussion. This is al- 

 right in a local meeting, but during 

 the three half-day sessions of the State 

 association, time is too short and val- 

 uable for this. It should be discour- 

 aged. To those present at these meet- 

 ings, the rudiments of modern bee- 

 keeping should be well known. For 

 those who are not acc|uainted to this 

 extent, they should procure a copy of 

 the many bulletins published on the 

 subject by the Uniteil States Depart- 

 ment of .Xgriculture, and the various 



other departments of their respective 

 States in which these persons are 

 located, or buying a bee-book, or sub- 

 scribing for a bee-paper should be sug- 

 gested. The question-box is another 

 outlet to take care of such things. 



But in handling the main subjects of 

 the program, the details should be 

 mentioned as little as possible, putting 

 the most stress on the more important 

 parts, and bringing out as many new 

 points as may be known by the few in 

 attendance. That should be the chief 

 object kept in view when attending a 

 State association meeting. It is to be 

 hoped that it can be arranged in such 

 a way that the more important new 

 things will receive more attention in 

 our programs hereafter. 



The following officers were elected : 

 President, T. P. Robinson ; vice-presi- 

 dent, B. M. Caraway; secietary-treas- 

 urer, W. C. Collier, of Goliad. The 

 regular time and place of meeting is in 

 July, at A. & M. College, College Sta- 

 tion, Tex. 



How Often Queens Male 



It is conceded that, as a general rule, 

 queens mate only once, but it has often 

 been reported that queens have been 

 known to mate several times. A defi- 

 nite reason for the probable cause of 

 these several matings has as yet, I be- 

 lieve, not been given. 



In discussing the subject of queen- 

 rearing at the recent annual meeting of 

 the Texas bee-keepers, Mr. F. L. .\ten 

 mentioned, in going into the details of 

 mating of the queen and drone, that 

 the male appendages brought along by 

 the returning queen, from her success- 

 ful mating trip, might possibly be re- 

 moved by the bees. The muscles pro- 

 truding from the queen's abdomen are 

 generally removed by the bees, follow- 

 ing the return of the new-mated queen. 

 This can often be seen by the apiarist, 

 and Mr. Aten contends that it may be 

 possible for the bees to draw out the 

 entire mass constituting the male ap- 

 pendages, together with the contents 

 the seminal, or fertilizing fluid. In 

 that event, since the seminal fluid may 

 not have been absorbed into the sperm- 

 sac, or sperniatheca of the queen, she 

 does not become fertilized. Mr. Aten 

 stated that this might happen several 

 times to a queen, and may be the rea- 

 son why she mates several times. 



One thing ought to be understood by 

 the reader, and that is the dilTerence 

 between a queen being mated and 

 actually becoming fertile; that is to 

 say. a i|ueen may have mated, and yet 

 under such conditions as tiie above, 

 for instance, may not be fertilized. 

 Fertilization takes place after mating, 

 or after the seminal fluid from the 

 drone, to which she was mated, is 

 stored away in the sperniatheca. 



There may be something in this, 

 although 1 have thought that it would 

 be impossible for the bees to remove 

 the entire mass of the male appendages, 

 together with the contents. My de- 

 ductions were mainly based on the 

 fact that the hold of the queen on the 

 male organs during copulation is of 

 such force that they are torn enti'-ely 

 from the drone's body when the two 

 separate. This is the cause of the im- 

 mediate death of the drone. If tliis 



