1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1493 



ness is the same, they seem to know that spring 

 is near. The longer they stay in after the mid- 

 dle of March the more easily they are disturbed 

 as each week passes, till they can go out to enjoy 

 the commencement of another season of activity." 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE 

 SOUTHWEST 



By Louis Scroll 



Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. The 

 old year will soon be gone and a new one will 

 begin. Has the old one been a profitable one to 

 you.? If not, why not.? If it has been a profit- 

 able one, why was it? and what plans have you 

 made to make the coming year even more profit- 

 able.? 



* 



It seems a pity for a bee-keeper to melt up his 

 old combs every four or five years, page 1366. 

 One feels too much as Dr. Miller does about giv- 

 ing them up for sheets of foundation; and this 

 will, I fear, be the trouble with too many in 

 places where bee diseases prevail. Rather than 

 melt up the valuable (.?) combs, and thus gain just 

 so much toward saving the bees from destruction 

 by disease, they will be retained. We are anx- 

 ious to see the figures that are forthcoming. We 

 must confess ourselves that even we are some- 

 what stingy about out good combs unless there's 

 something in it for us when melting them. [The 

 figures referred to are given on page 1425, last is- 

 sue. If there is no suspicion of disease in the lo- 

 cality, and the combs are straight and good, we 

 would not advise any one to melt them up. — Ed.] 

 * 



FALL ROBBING IS DANGEROUS. 



Care should be exercised to prevent robbing 

 late in the fall. It has a wearing-nut effect on 

 the bees. This is in reference to wholesale rob- 

 bing, or a robbing-spree, which often occurs 

 through the negligence of the bee-keeper, though 

 sometimes due to some avoidable accident. Of 

 course, it also happens that the bee-keeper can 

 not always avoid such wholesale robbing. We 

 had such a case only last week. Since we haul 

 nearly all of our honey home, where it is put up, 

 the bees are always on hand, and soon show up 

 by the thousand. They've been spoiled several 

 times, and are always looking for another chance, 

 even on very cool days, wearing themselves out 

 unnecessarily when they should be in their " win- 

 ter-quarters rest." 



* 



QUEENLESS COLONIES LATE IN THE FALL. 



It is a waste of time to look for queenless col- 

 onies late in the fall; and, besides, opening colo- 

 nies when the bees are all at home starts robbing 

 in a short time. When we find a colony queen- 

 less, or very weak from some other cause, we 

 simply set it on top of another strong colony. 

 The combs will be taken care of, at least, while 

 otherwise moth larvae might destroy them before 

 we could make another visit to that yard. With 

 many yards to attend to in a busy season we found 

 long ago that tinkering with weak or queenles 



colonies does not pay, and the above is the quick- 

 est way to dispose of them. Later the hives and 

 combs may again be used for increase. During 

 the late fall, only such are disposed of as are easi- 

 ly seen to be weak or queenless by simply walk- 

 ing through the yards. All others are left to take 

 care of themselves until the following spring. If 

 they die out in the mean time the combs are safe 

 from the ravages of the moth larvK. They must, 

 of course, be taken care of promptly during 

 warmer weather. 



# 



BREAKING THE RECORD; REMOVING HONEY. 



On page 1251, mentioning some of the good 

 qualities of the shallow supers, reference was 

 made to the fact that it was possible to remove 

 from the hives a thousand pounds of honey in 

 half an hour. This has brought me several let- 

 ters from doubting ones, who question my "bold 

 statements." Since the previous mention was 

 made, however, I have been placed in position 

 to make even bolder statements — that ivii/i the 

 shallo-Lv-frame supers I can remo-ve a thousand 

 pounds of honey from the colonies all by myself in 

 ttventy-three minutes. This was done on a cool 

 day in October. My watch lay on one of the 

 hives. Had the bees moved out more rapidly the 

 time would have been shortened; but they were 

 "a little stiff," and had to be forced down with 

 smoke in greater quantity. 



Not only did I get letters of a doubtful nature 

 as to the previously mentioned fact, but one per- 

 son came himself from a distance to see this 

 wonderful (.?) stunt, and to go right after the 

 truth. It was November by this time, and the 

 air quite cool. The bees were quite numb, but 

 with a little assistance in the way of smoking, 

 1140 lbs. of fine comb honey was removed in 17 

 minutes. In the summer a helper and this " 6 

 feet 2 " removed 1050 lbs. in a little over 10 min- 

 utes. That's taking honey off in a hurry as 

 against the old method of brushing and shaking 

 bees off the deep combs, etc. 



A PLEA FOR BETTER HONEY-CANS. 



Before Texas producers make arrangements for 

 honey-cans for next year I wish to get in touch 

 with the bee-keepers of the State, especially the 

 members of the Texas Bee-keepers' Association. 

 In some correspondence with railroad officials I 

 find that the loss of honey en route to customers 

 is something enormous. If this is allowed to go 

 on, bad results must necessarily follow. First, 

 the railroads will begin to object to paying claims 

 for damaged-honey shipments; and, second, the 

 buyers, especially the merchants, will object to 

 handling a commodity that comes damaged to 

 such an extent that they can not handle it profit- 

 ably. These matters are not as well understood 

 by the average bee-keeper, but must obviously be 

 learned in time. 



The railroad companies are considering this 

 matter now, and are looking for a remedy. To 

 accomplish any thing, they must get in touch with 

 the bee-keepers who know and understand the 

 situation. They are willing to handle the honey 

 as freight, but not at a loss; and to find the rem- 

 edy the cause must be located. If it is in the 

 package used, it must be made stronger; if in 

 the handling of the freight en route, then the mat- 



