38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



separately. This would mean that I would have to 

 have several more stamps to mark the different 

 sections. If one case has its sections marked 12% 

 oz., and another 14 or 15 oz., I am afraid that the 

 case marked 12 V2 oz. would not bring the price the 

 other would; yet the one marked 12 1^ oz. may be 

 No. 1 comb honey. 



Plum Citv, Wis. H. E. Luebker. 



Beekeeping in Texas 



We begau work about the first of March, going 

 through the colonies which had come through the 

 winter in fine condition on the summer stands. We 

 found many of the brood-chambers so full of honey 

 that the queens had very little room to work. 



We take out one or two frames of honey and put 

 foundation in place of the honey. If we have any 

 weak colonies that seem to need help in the begin- 

 ning of spring we take honey, and sometimes brood 

 from the strong hives, and give to the weak ones ; 

 then about the time the huajilla is beginning to 

 bloom we put two weak colonies together, one on 

 top of the other with a newspaper between them, so 

 we have all colonies strong at the beginning of the 

 honey -flow. 



We store the frames of honey taken from the 

 hives in early spring in the honey-house ; and as we 

 hive the swarms we give each swarm one or two 

 frames of honey. We always wait until near night 

 to do this work, so we have no trouble with robbers. 

 Our bees usually gather enough honey from the per- 

 simmon and prairie flowers for brood-rearing through 

 the early spring. The huajilla is the earliest bloom 

 that we get any marketable honey from. Then comes 

 the catclaw. These are the main sources for our 

 crop in this country. Some years we get some 

 honey from horsemint, whitebrush, and some few 

 other flowers that yield very good honey in early 

 summer. 



We had a fine huajilla bloom last season. Just as 

 that was giving out, the catclaw bloomed — the finest 

 crop of bloom we ever had ; but the rainy weather 

 set in and cut the crop from that source short. 



We got 12,000 lbs. from our two apiaries — 185 

 colonies in all — mostly bulk comb honey. We have 

 about 3000 lbs. of that on hand yet. 



PREVENTIXG GRANULATION OP BULK COMB HONEY. 



We heated the extracted honey that we packed our 

 comb honey in. We heated it very slowly, and kept 

 it hot a long time. We did not let it get to the 

 boiling-point and did not spoil the flavor nor turn 

 it dark, and none of it has granulated so far. 



We had a broomweed bloom last fall, and had no 

 cold weather, but a good deal of rain. The hives 

 filled up rapidly, giving a crop of that off-grade 

 honey to extract. It is worthless, as there is so 

 much of the better honey on the market. 



We went to the apiary a few weeks ago and put 

 some foundation in the brood-chambers — on the aver- 

 age one frame to the colony — so that we would have 

 more combs to hive swarms on in spring instead of 

 so much of the off-grade honey. 



Del Rio, Tex., Nov. 26. Mrs. C. Dishman. 



Queens and After-swarms 



Last season my wliole yard swarmed at once, about 

 150 colonies in ten days. Much mixing occurred. 

 I feared there would be many queens missing for 

 that reason, and because there was a pest of bee- 

 martins. The swarming took place during a heavy 

 honey-flow from alfalfa. There were many after- 

 swarms, having from two to six well-developed virgin 

 queens. I proceeded as follows: Putting a few 

 queen-cages in my pocket, with the ends closed with 

 wads of cloth, I took a dishpan to where the swarm 

 had settled, and shook the bees into it. I picked out 

 the virgins and caged them, shaking the bees about 

 as necessary, then took the pan to the middle of the 

 yard and threw them into the air. I mated the vir- 



gins in Rauchfuss nucleus boxes holding three com- 

 mon comb-honey sections, and when inspecting for 

 frefli eggs I introduced them into the queenless colo- 

 nies, which were 15 in a total of 270 in the apiary. 



I do not claim this is the way to raise the best 

 queens, though I fail to see in what way they are 

 inferior to any of those left in the hives after natu- 

 ral swarming. It did, however, take care of the 

 queenlessness, and also put the bees of the after- 

 swarms back where they belonged. 



Zapata, N. M. H. H. Brown. 



A New Way to Stop Robbing 



Find tlio colony which is doing the robbing, and 

 cover it over with old carpet or burlap, or grass or 

 weeds. Leave its entrance wide open and tuck the 

 sacking down close under the hive so those out will 

 have much difficulty in finding their way into the 

 hive. May be they will not get in. There will be 

 something doing around that hive within a few min- 

 utes. Leave it that way for an hour or two. The 

 colony will come to no harm, even on the hottest 

 day here. 



Also go to the colony being robbed, and smoke 

 slightly and close the entrance for a minute and 

 pound the hive; then open the entrance for a few 

 minutes. The robbers will all leave quickly. Then 

 contract the entrance to two bee-spaces and leave 

 for a day or two, and you will have no further 

 difficulty. This method has never failed here. I 

 have never seen this in print. May be it will help 

 some one. 



Vincent, Ohio. W. S. Basin. 



Terrible Fire in California 



On Nov. 19 we had one of the worst fires here in 

 the mountains ever known. It burned a strip 5 

 miles wide and 30 long. The people had to run for 

 their lives. I lost 90 stands of bees, my bee-house, 

 eight-frame extractor, gasoline-engine — in fact, every 

 thing I had. I was living in my honey-house, and I 

 even lost my bed and bedding, cooking utensils, 367 

 empty hives and frames. Besides mine there were 

 two houses and a barn burned and six head of 

 horses, and five deer. 



Arroyo Grande, Cal., Dec. 9. M. D. Price. 



[Gleanings extends sympathy. A disaster of this 

 kind is terrible indeed. — Ed.] 



Queen Accepted after CeUs were Started 



T have had good success with direct introduction 

 of queens with smoke, although I had three failures 

 which I cannot account for. I had also a rare ex- 

 perience. To a populous colony of cross hybrids in 

 a two-story hive I introduced a queen. On the 

 fourth day I examined the colony, and found numer- 

 ous cells started. I grafted them all. On the third 

 day I examined to see how many accepted. Not one 

 cell was in existence, and I found the queen intro- 

 duced all right. C. M. Carmona. 



Trinidad. British West Indies. 



Bee Martins — Do They Do Damage in a 

 Honey-producing Yard? 



Would you kindly advise wliether it is advisable 

 to do away with murtiuhouses near an apiary? We 

 love to have these birds on our fruit-farm; but I 

 am not sure that they may not do serious harm to 

 our bees. Some claim tlioy eat drones only. 



Chicago, 111., Nov. 17. T. H. Holmes. 



[There is a bird, known as the bee-martin, that 

 kills bees and queens; but unless you are rearing 

 queens in considerable numlers, we do not think you 

 need to pay any attention to the birds, as the few 

 l.eemartin houses that you have there will do no 

 appreciable dartiage. 



Yes, these birds eat drones; but they are also fond 

 of queens. — El).] 



