H72 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July Id 



a single cross bee hovering about my head, only 

 to be greeted with hundreds of them hanging to 

 the veil on my hat, and singing that very inter- 

 esting song they can sing vrhen maddened, four 

 hours later, after an unexpected three hours of 

 rain. All of these things should be taken into 

 consideration, and the bee-keeper be governed 

 accordingly. When, from former experience, 

 you know that the bees are likely to feel ugly, or 

 are easily disturbed, use smoke till you see them 

 "doff their hats;" and at times which point to- 

 ward good nature a little smoke over the tops of 

 the combs is all that is needed. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE 

 SOUTHWEST 



By Louis Scholl 



Texas prospects have turned brighter than was 

 expected a month ago. The mesquite-trees are 

 loaded with bloom this month of June, and the 

 bees are rolling in the honey in the good old- 

 fashioned way — the way so many would like to 

 see their bees do. Yes, and we are sure now that 

 Texas will keep up its record as the leading hon- 

 ey-producing State. 



A NEW BULLETIN. 



Bulletin No. 102, of the Department of En- 

 tomology, Texas Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tions, entitled "Texas Honey-plants," has recent- 

 ly been published. It is a preliminary bulletin 

 on the honey-plants of Texas, containing a list of 

 honey and pollen yielding plants so far collected 

 by the writer, with data showing the distribution 

 and the relative importance of each. Both the 

 botanical and common names are given except in 

 a few cases where the latter could not be obtained. 



Although this bulletin is of a technical nature 

 and the descriptions are brief, it. is hoped that it 

 will be a great help in many respects, especially 

 in that it furnishes the bee-keeper with a list of 

 the Texas honey-plants by which it may be pos- 

 sible to select locations, or it may help in select- 

 ing certain plants for planting that might prove 

 of value. All w ho are interested may address the 

 above department at College Station, Texas. 



THOSE BOTTOM-BARS, AGAIN. 



Those wide-bottom-bars, Dr. Miller, are, nev- 

 ertheless, a nuisance here, with most of us, even 

 though they may not be with you, p. 682. Con- 

 ditions differ in different localities; so do different 

 strains of bees, as is also mentioned by our edi- 

 tor. This latter could be gotten rid of if a vig- 

 orous fight were made against all strains that have 

 a tendency toward blocking great chunks of pro- 

 polis between frames with such narrow spaces as 

 yours. Where propolis is very plentiful, so that 

 all colonies stick glue between the frames, it is 

 quite another question — the propolis can't be so 

 easily gotten rid of without sacrificing the whole 

 locality. Where the locality is good, or even if 

 the above-mentioned strains of bees are good 

 ones, I'd favor narrower bottom-bars. I do not 

 use dummies, first, because I can't use them in 



ten-frame hives with a full set of ten frames; and, 

 second, because even in some eight-frame hives I 

 have, the bees glue them in so they are a worse 

 nuisance than the wide bottom-bar frames. Your 

 nail-spacers would soon be transformed into great 

 wads of propolis, and help the bees to fasten even 

 the end-bars to each other. It's better not to 

 have this much of a starting-place for the bees to 

 stick their propolis. Just a plain, narrow, smooth 

 frame, without any obstructions on it — and a 

 narrow bottom-bar, of course — is the frame for 

 me. 



# 



"with abundance of stores in sight." 

 This question has been harped on for some 

 time without a definite conclusion being arrived 

 at. If the apiarist will go into any average api- 

 ary he will find generally that the strongest and 

 best working colonies are those with a lot of 

 stores on hand. The "stores in sight" have some- 

 thing to do with the strength of the colony. It 

 has a stimulating effect upon it; there is no doubt 

 about that. It would be foolish, in my mind, 

 to suppose, however, that simply because the 

 "stores are in sight" — that is, that the bees are 

 able to see the amount of honey they have ahead 

 of them — is the true cause of their progressiveness. 

 An abundance of stores stimulates brood-rearing, 

 not because the bees see their way clear, but be- 

 cause it is drawn upon heavily, which incites the 

 colony. A colony without this abundance of 

 stores generally begins brood-rearing at the same 

 rate as those with their hives full of honey, but 

 soon has to give up the race, and fall behind. 

 It is then they begin to restrict brood-rearing op- 

 erations within the limitations of the food sup- 

 ply. This, however, is often not done until the 

 entire stores have been used up, and the bees are 

 required to gather the necessary food supply from 

 the fields, while the colonies with an abundance 

 on hand simply draw from this. The latter saves 

 the workers while the former wears them out; 

 and the result is, the fielders become scarcer as 

 the season advances, in proportion to the brood 

 reared. Under such conditions very few bees will 

 be flying from colonies short of stores. In most 

 cases there is an abundance of brood and adult 

 bees, which might have been fielders, and which 

 are retained as nurses. My remedy for such col- 

 onies, in the spring, is simply to set a shallow ex- 

 tracting-super, partly filled with honey, from 

 some of the stronger ones, on top of each. This 

 should be done before the above-mentioned con- 

 dition has been reached, to prevent the setback 

 that it gives all colonies that have been neglected 

 too long. If done early, these colonies will keep 

 pace with the stronger ones that have had an 

 abundance of stores; and, even if it is done later, 

 the colonies will soon recover. 



In giving these stores the colonies are stimu- 

 lated in the first place, and then the adult bees 

 are saved from wearing themselves out in their 

 efforts in obtaining the necessary food supply 

 from outside sources. "One ounce of prevention 

 is worth several pounds of cure" in this matter, 

 and it can be accomplished by simply leaving 

 enough honey in the hives in the fall so that all 

 colonies will be saved the danger of running 

 short in the critical moment when bee-life is 

 worth a great deal in the spring. 



This question has come to me: "If there is 



