1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



629 



year with my fourteen apiaries and a m ist favor- 

 able spring for excessive swarming. 



* 



THOSE WIDE BOTTOM-BARS. 



Wide bottom-bars are not only objectionable 

 because they do not allow free examination of the 

 combs from below, but frames with such are not 

 as easily removed and replaced in the hive as 

 those with narrow bottom-bars. In rapid han- 

 dling, especially when the first comb is taken 

 out, the wide bars cause the bees to be rolled over 

 the combs of the next frames, and there is trouble 

 — more so if the combs are not exactly straight. 

 Then when the frames do not hang quite true 

 they " stick together " below, and often two such 

 wide bottom-bars can not be separated. How is 

 it with you. Doctor Miller.? I can't make 'em 

 work here in Texas, and especially in big-scale 

 bee-keeping. 



BUCKWHEAT AS A HONEY-PLANT IN TEXAS. 



A correspondent wishes to know^ about buck- 

 wheat in Texas for bees. It was given a trial 

 for a period of three years at the Texas Agricul- 

 tural and Mechanical College and Experiment 

 Station, and as a honey-plant it has not proven of 

 very much value, on account of the dry seasons 

 that prevail in this State for the greater number 

 of years. It thrives well in favorable seasons, 

 and makes rapid growth, maturing to the flower- 

 ing period in about thirty days. When the 

 weather was favorable the blooming period ex- 

 tended over several weeks, and the bees worked 

 on it industriously. By making successive plant- 

 ings one month apart it was possible to obtain a 

 succession of bloom for several months in early 

 summer, before the heat was detrimental to its 

 development. The first plantings were made in 

 early April, the second in May, then in June and 

 July. The later plantings generally succumbed 

 to the drouth that usually sets in at that time. 



The seed is planted best when drilled in rows 

 just as cotton is planted here in the South. It 

 was found that cultivating it in rows caused a 

 better growth, and the buckwheat lasted longer. 

 Sown broadcast it did not grow so luxuriantly, 

 and soon seeded and died down. 



As a honey-plant it did not prove a success, 

 however. First, our seasons are not altogether 

 favorable in too many years. Although it blooms 

 profusely at times, it does not yield nectar. Then, 

 second, the yield is not abundant enough to war- 

 rant planting for honey alone. Often the seed 

 does not mature well enough to plant for that 

 purpose. And, lastly, buckwheat honey is dark 

 and of a rank flavor that would not find a place 

 on our Texas markets. It is as dark and strong 

 as some of our cane syrups or molasses, and there- 

 fore is not liked here. 



WHEN TO REQUEEN. 



It is not the best time to requeen in the spring 

 of the year, for the reason that it is almost impos- 

 sible to judge the right condition of a queen at 

 that time, unless she has been marked the fall be- 

 fore. If a colony does not come up to require- 

 ments during the present season and the fall, and 

 the same queen is behind the following spring, 

 then she may be safely replaced. If she has not 

 been kept track of the fall before, it is impossible 



to knaw whether she is a poor one until later in 

 the season. There are too many circumstances 

 under which a queen is kept from doing her full 

 duty in early spring. Her colony simply being 

 weak does not necessarily prove that she is a poor 

 queen. Conditions play a great part in this; the 

 food supply, the condition and age of the bees, 

 and other factors, add to this. Right in line 

 with this is the following from L. B. Smith, of 

 North Texas: 



Did you ever notice what a difference there is ia the same 

 queen as to prolificness of good and poor years? For instance, 1 

 bad several of my queens marked as " poor," and some marked 

 as " very poor." These I expected to replace at an early date 

 this spring. Now for the result: I have replaced but two or three 

 of those queens, and I shall not replace the others, for they are 

 proving the equal of any queen I ever had in my yards. Now, 

 why this difference? It's bound to be the season. Last year was 

 very poor for bees through the main breeding season (April and 

 May). This year, as stated elsewhere, is at least a month ahead 

 of the ordinary seasons, and we could not ask for a more favorable 

 time so far for the bees; and should this favorable weather hold 

 on I look for one of the largest honey crops Texas has ever fur- 

 nished, owing to the fact that bees are all strong and well sup- 

 plied with honey. I have never seen the various honey-plants 

 of this part of the State in a more thrifty and promising condition. 

 A queen shows her failing best right after the 

 koney-flow is over, and this is the best time to 

 requeen here in the Southwest. It costs very lit- 

 tle to do it, and, instead of having weak colonies 

 to go into winter quarters, those with a fall-rear- 

 ed queen in the place of the old worn-out one, 

 will have an extra lot of young worker bees — yes, 

 a rousing colony in fine condition. Such a col- 

 ony will store a little more fall honey than one 

 having an old queen; and with this additional 

 amount of stores and a great lot of young bees to 

 last well into the next season, great results in the 

 way of surplus honey can be secured, especially 

 since the young queen will not swarm. A colo- 

 ny with an old queen is weaker, and is made up 

 of older bees, since the queen ceased laying 

 earlier. 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



LOCATION, SECTIONS, AND WIDE FRAMES. 



"Say, Mr. Doolittle, do you know the source 

 from which our first pollen comes in this locality 

 — I mean the first which enables the bees to se- 

 cure great loads of it, and all they want.?" 



" I think so — don't you.?" 



"Well, I just want to tell you what I found. 

 There is a swampy piece of land about a mile 

 southeast of my house, and that warm morning 

 we had a few days ago started the bees out early, 

 almost before sunrise. When I w ent out I thought 

 they were robbing, as there was such a roar in 

 the bee-yard, but upon looking I found the bees 

 hustling in the hives with great loads of yellow- 

 ish-green pollen, while the surging in and out of 

 the hive was almost like what it is some mornings 

 during basswood bloom. I took a circuit around 

 the apiary to see where they were going, and 

 found them headed for that swamp. After break- 

 fast I started out; and when I got over there the 

 elm-trees, which compose the timber in the 

 swamp to a very great extent, were just roaring 

 with bees; and where some of the branches came 

 down low I could see the bees at work. I wish 

 you could have been there and seen them." 

 " I know they looked beautiful to your eyes, 



