1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



4S1 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE 

 SOUTHWEST 



By Louis Scholl, New Braunfels, Tex. 



texas prospects. 



Texas has been blessed with heavy rains 

 the last few weeks, after one of the longest- 

 continued drouths that most bee-keepers 

 here have experienced for years. But what 

 this will mean for the honey crop for this 

 season? is the question. 



in that great Southwest Texas, the leading 

 honey-producing part of this State, the rain 

 may be too late, because the honey crop is 

 harvested there much earlier in the season. 

 The crop has been a very short one, and the 

 quality of the honey has also been poorer 

 than in any previous season. 



It may be that some of the main shrubs 

 might put on extra growth, and thus give a 

 late yield; but this is very unusual. 



In these parts further east and north, es- 

 pecially in the great cotton belts, the rain 

 has wrought wonders in that it put vigorous 

 growth into the cotton-plants, and nectar 

 secretion was abundant; consequently the 

 bees have been rolling in plenty of it from 

 this source. The quality is the finest we 

 have seen for years. 



The mesquite yields in nearly all portions 

 have not been up to the ordinary; and as 

 this covers the greatest area of honey-pro- 

 ducing territory in South and Southwest 

 Texas, the unusual shortness of the crop 

 can be easily accounted for. 



In many parts the bees were at the point 

 of starvation befere the rains came. There 

 are still many places in the State where no 

 honey will be obtained this year; and the 

 crop of the great Lone Star State will, con- 

 sequently, be a short one. The prices will 

 be good, and the demand strong; so those 

 who have secured a crop will be quite well 

 off. I would advise all who have been so 

 fortunate as to obtain a crop of honey not to 

 sell it at any old price. I know of several 

 who did so this spring; and the result is that 

 the market generally is ruled by these low- 

 priced lots. Why work hard all the year, 

 making a small crop of honey, and then sell 

 it in a few minutes at a small price? It 

 seems small of those who still do tnis. 



Very few, comparatively, of our Southern 

 bee-keepers use them. Many who have 

 tried them do not now use them nor speak 

 well of them. Others, who think it is better 

 to keep the queen down with an excluder, I 

 find do not produce as large averages of sur- 

 plus honey. One such has admitted this to 

 me, saying that he got the most satisfaction 

 out of their use from the fact that he then 

 knew that none of his queens could go up 

 into the supers in case they want to do so. 

 In his case / know that they are "honey-ex- 

 cluders." 



Many arguments have been heard in their 

 favor; but the only object is to keep the 

 queen out of the supers. Since there are 

 other ways of accomplishing this, however, 

 there is very little use for the extra expense 

 of excluders, both "queen" and "honey." 

 If one studies out the cause of a queen going 

 above he will find a reason for her doing so, 

 and the hives should be manipulated in such 

 a manner that this is prevented. 



In our practice we find that the queens 

 are very anxious (?) to go above early in the 

 spring if an upper story is on. The warmth 

 of the hive causes this at this time, and it 

 would be folly indeed to confine her below. 

 If she does not go above until later in the sea- 

 son it is often because she has insufficient 

 laying room below. Of course other minor 

 causes have to do with this also. But we 

 find that all our good queens will need more 

 room than the ten-frame hive below at this 

 time, and hence we prepare extra super 

 room for her. Out of this she is later crowd- 

 ed as honey is stored in it when she returns 

 below. The result is, she finds a fine place 

 there, lots of room not clogged with honey, 

 and she remains contented the rest of the 

 season if the bee-keeper knows how to keep 

 the honey out by giving plenty of stiper 

 room above. These extra supers are given 

 underneath the first super now. 



The brood chamber is in an ideal condi- 

 tion from the above practice; the queen re- 

 mains in it contented, and an extra-strong 

 colony results from the queen going above 

 early. With such conditions no excluders 

 will be needed the rest of the season. Al- 

 low the brood-nest to be clogged, and the 

 queen goes above. Keep her (and the hon- 

 ey) down with an excluder, and you cripple 

 the colony and lose in surplus honey. 



QUEEN OR HONEY EXCLUDERS? 



Years ago, like all beginners, I had to have 

 queen-excluders to keep the queen down. 

 Later I found that I was not only keeping 

 the queens down but the honey also; smce 

 that no excluders for me; and although man- 

 aging more than a dozen apiaries I have not 

 a single queen-excluder in all my thousands 

 of dollars' investment. They are expensive 

 in price in the first place, but that is little as 

 compared with their expensiveness on the 

 hive. There may be ways of using them, or 

 locality mav have something to do with mak- 

 ing them less objectionable, but not here. 



A KIND WORD IN REGARD TO OUR POULTRY DEPART- 

 MENT. 



Mr. Root: — We wish to express our appreciation of 

 the poultry department of Gleanings. While there is 

 but little space devoted to this department we feel that 

 we are getting more real benefit and use from it than 

 from the poultry publications for which we subscribe. 

 The exposure of fake advertising and fraudulent ap- 

 pliances has saved us the price of Gleanings several 

 times over, and we hope you will continue the good 

 work, enlarge this department, even if it necessitates 

 the change in name to GLEANINGS IN BEE AND POUL- 

 TRY Culture, and cover a field as fearlessly and im- 

 partially as you have started. Such poultry editors 

 are the ones the business needs. 



We believe that flowers in the shape of kind words 

 are of more use while living than either kind after one 

 is dead; and as such these few lines were intended. 



Pinole, Cal., July 19. C. L. TOWNES. 



