December, 1912. 



American l^ee Journal 



lath, and tliose in the floor with tin 

 sl;rips. I covered the window with 

 wire-screen. When I had the house 

 ready I walked 3ji miles to George's 

 place and we prepared to haul over my 

 450 supers, 1.5(t hives, covers, bottoms, 

 etc. We got this all done the next 

 day, and I piled up all the supers and 

 hives the following day, leaving room 



for my bunk and small work-table. I 

 bought 27 colonies of a neighbor and 

 moved them to the apiary and supered 

 them. When the II colonies— still 

 down in the canyon — are brought up I 

 will have an apiary of (30 colonies. I 

 secured 70 cases of honey from these 

 bees, which is pretty good considering 

 that the apiary was finally established 

 after Aug. \. 



Southern 



Beedom^ 



Conducted by Louis H. Schoi.l. New Braunfels. Tex. 



[The True Value of the Honey-Bee 



The writer has been engaged in va- 

 rious positions in which he was enabled 

 to aid in spreading the knowledge of 

 the true value of our little insects. It 

 is of untold worth to any State, and the 

 country at large, to emphasize the value 

 of keeping a few colonies of bees on 

 the many farms that are without them, 

 both for the honey they gather as well 

 ZS /he great aid they render hi the pol- 

 lenalion of our fruit and other blossoms. 

 At the same time it is very important 

 for us to educate the people that would 

 keep bees to keep them in a proper 

 manner, since we know the results 

 caused by the bee-keeper who does not 

 take care of a colony of bees in frame 

 hives. Simply putting them in the 

 most up-to-date hive and leaving them 

 there to take care of themselves will 

 never do. 



So these things should be taught, and 

 it is for the more experienced bee- 

 keepers of the country to lend their aid 

 in such educational work. Unless this 

 is done, ignorant bee-keepers' will be 

 quite a detriment to the honey-pro- 

 ducer. 



For this reason alone many bee- 

 keepers would not advocate the keep- 

 ing of bees on more farms, but there 

 are many places where no large api- 

 aries exist, and with the proper educa- 

 tion of the farmers much good would 

 result. I tried to emphasize the point 

 fully in the following part of a chapter 

 in Bulletin No. 24, on "Texas Bee- 

 Keeping :" 



" A serious trouble and a great mis- 

 take of the majority of farmers is their 

 neglect of these mostimportant of their 

 friends, the honey-bees. They should 

 receive as good care as is given to any- 

 thing else on the farm. Their value can- 

 not be overestimated, 



"It is not sufficiently understood 

 that honey-bees were not only created 

 for the purpose of furnishing mankind 

 with delicious honey, but for another 

 and much more important reason — that 

 of fructifying the flowers visited by 

 them so that it may be possible for 

 these to bear fruit and seeds. The 

 most of our host of plants absolutely 

 require the visits of the honey-bees, or 

 other insects, to carry pollen from one 

 flower to another and thereby fertilize 

 the blossoms. Pollen is gathered by 

 bees from flowers for food, and carried 

 to the hives in little bright-colored pel- 

 lets on their hind legs. They must 

 have pollen to prepare the partly- 

 digested food with which the young 

 larvae are fed. Inability to secure suf- 

 ficient pollen causes delay, or dimin- 

 ished progress of the colonies. Ordi- 

 narily but one kind of flower is visited 

 on a trip when pollen is being gath- 

 ered. In gathering either pollen or 

 honey the bees come in contact with 

 the pollen grains of the blossoms, 

 which adhere to their hairy bodies. 



" In passing from flower to flower 

 some of the pollen grains come in 

 touch with the stigmas of each flower 

 visited, which effects cross fertilization 

 and a thorough setting of fruits and 



seeds. It is thus that the bees pay 

 abundantly by their services for the 

 treasures the nectar-yielding blossoms 

 offer to them. The exceeding interde- 

 pendence of flowers and insects and 

 the vast necessity of this has long been 

 recognized by horticulturists and other 

 authorities. 



" Honey-bees are the most important 

 distributors of pollen of all insects be- 

 cause they appear in larger numbers, 

 especially early in the season, and their 

 greater activity makes them more use- 

 ful in the work they help to perform. 

 It is estimated that the value of honey- 

 bees as pollen distributors is far greater 

 to our country than the value of the 

 crops of honey produced. We owe it 

 to honey-bees that we have a larger 

 quantity and better quality of line fruit, 

 vegetable and cereal crops than we 

 would otherwise have. Of this there is 

 not the least doubt. Since honey-bees 

 are general pollen gatherers, appear in 

 greater numbers, visit a far larger 

 number of blossoms over a greater 

 territory, and do this more thoroughly 

 than any other insect, it is apparent 

 that they are indeed most valuable 

 friends to mankind. 



"Plants or flowers have sex very 

 similar to that in animals, and it is just 



(l>v\W 



Vx^moLe 





Where the Orchard Pays. 



Ap p X e 



as necessary that fertilization take place 

 in these before fruit can be borne or 

 seeds be developed. While both male 

 and female sexes exist in the same 

 flower of many plants, there are some 

 plants in whicli the male sex exists in 

 one and the female in another flower 

 of the same plant, and in still others 

 each sex is confined entirely to one 

 plant. In any case it is necessary that 

 the pollen grains from the anthers of 

 the male part of one blossom reach the 

 stigma of the female part of another 

 where they eiiter into the ovules within 

 the blossom and complete fertilization, 

 after which tke development into fruit 

 or seed follows. Without the poUena- 



