1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



359 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE 

 SOUTHWEST 



By Louis Scholl, New Braunfels, Tex. 



The spring crop has been a short one in 

 Texas, and there is a good demand for hon- 

 ey at fair prices. 



Bountiful rains have fallen in all parts of 

 Texas and other southwestern localities, and 

 the bee-keepers are rejoicing. 



THE QUALITY OF CATCLAW HONEY. 



In our inspection work recently in South- 

 west Texas, "where the catclaw grows," we 

 found several bee-keepers who objected to 

 the description of the catclaw honey, p. 86 

 of the latest edition of the ABC. The state- 

 ment referred to is as follows: "It yields 

 immense quantities of excellent honey that 

 ranks with the ordinary white honey of the 

 North. While possibly it would not sell 

 alongside of our clovers, yet in localities 

 where it is produced it is praised very high- 

 ly for table use, no honey being classed high- 

 er except that from huajilla." 



The objection raised is that the above 

 would lead one to believe that our Texas 

 honey is very inferior, as the catclaw honey 

 ranks only with the ordinary white honey of 

 the North, and possibly would not sell along- 

 side of clover honey. Still further objection 

 is made to the statement conveying the idea 

 that it is praised highly only in the localities 

 where it is produced. 



The Southwest Texans claim a greater 

 distinction for their catclaw honey; and to 

 substantiate their claim the writer has been 

 living sumptuously on some of the finest and 

 whitest comb honey gathered from catclaw. 

 Since we have been "up North," we, for 

 our part, will have to side with the producers 

 who have reason to object to their fine hon- 

 ey being classed with the ordinary white 

 honey, not salable alongside of clover honey, 

 and praised only in the localities where it is 

 produced. We also know that such honey 

 finds its way into thousands of other places 

 where it is shipped, and where it is highly 

 praised by thousands of consumers. 



THAT "BUTCHER UNCAPPING-KNIFE." 



The straight butcher-knife for uncapping 

 has received much attention since we first 

 mentioned it several months ago, and dozens 

 of letters asking me about the kind of knife 

 used are convincing. The first one used 

 was simply a straight-edged knife as shown 

 at No. 1. It worked very satisfactorily on 

 straight combs and if the cappings extend- 

 ed bevond the edges of the frame. Later it 

 was found that one with a slightly curving 

 cutting edge was preferable for thin combs 

 which haa to be uncapped partly inside of 

 the frames. But this knife (No. 2) could not 

 be used well for cutting into low places of 

 the comb surfaces on account of the straight 



point. This latter feature the first knife 

 used possessed; and after making the discov- 

 eries of the advantageous points of such an 

 uncapping-knife, one shown in No. 3 was 

 finally adopted, and it has given the best 

 satisfaction. It possesses the curved cutting 



K 8Inches- 



edge for shaving right into the comb, wheth- 

 er the cappings extend beyond the wood or 

 not, and has a rounding point with which to 

 dig into all sorts of low places. Another ad- 

 vantage is its extra length over No. 1 and 2, 

 which makes possible a drawing motion, re- 

 sulting in easier and better work. Such 

 knives can be obtained at hardware stores 

 for about 70 cents. They should be of good 

 steel, and kept very sharp. We use them 

 cold, but wet them by washing them occa- 

 sionally to prevent gumming. 



HIVE-SIDES IN TWO PIECES. 



A hint is given the bee-keepers that they 

 must expect hereafter hives with the sides 

 in two pieces. This is on account of the 

 scarcity and expense of wide lumber. While 

 we do not like the idea, it may be all right. 

 The fact is, the sides of our brood-chambers 

 are and have been in two pieces for many 

 years. But these are the divisible-brood- 

 chamber hives, and they are the only kind 

 of hives we would care to have with more 

 than one-piece sides. 



It has been a number of years since we 

 first called attention to the fact that narrow- 

 er and cheaper lumber could be used in the 

 construction of the divisible-brood-chamber 

 hive. The time will come when such hives 

 will be used much more extensively. We 

 see many evidences of this, both in our visits 

 to bee-keepers and in the columns of our 

 journals. The advantage such hives possess 

 in manipulating large numbers of colonies in 

 many apiaries scattered far and wide, mak- 

 ing it possible to obtain the best results with 

 the least amount of labor and expense, is al- 

 ready enough to warrant their adoption as a 

 standard hive. We have found such a move 

 a profitable one, and for several years we 

 have purchased no other kind, and we are 

 selling off all our deep hives. This, in a year 

 or two, will leave us nothing but the divis- 

 ible-brood-chamber hives. 



Our hives are standard goods, neverthe- 

 less, although such hives as we use are dif- 

 ferent from others on the market. They 

 consist of nothing but the regular standard 

 5H Ideal shallow-frame extracting-supers 

 throughout for brood-chamber, super, and 

 all. These are of the ten-frame width, and 

 any regular cover and bottom can be used. 



