176 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping in the Southwest 



Louis Scholl,, New Braunfels, Texas. 



'^ BULK COMB honey"' OR "CHUNK HONEY ;'^ 

 WHICH AND WHY? 



Our reason for insisting on the name of 

 " bulk comb honey " for the product as put 

 0:1 the market, here in Texas principally, is 

 to distinguish it from section comb honey 

 on the one hand and old-fashioned " chunk 

 h.oney " on the other. It can no more be 

 I'ut in the place that chunk honey used to 

 occupy than extracted can be put in the 

 place of the old-fashioned " strained hon- 

 ey." 



rt is hoped that these various names will 

 soon be understood by the beekeepers of 

 the world. It is of no use to criticise "bulk 

 comb honey" nor the use of the name itself. 

 The two have become so well established, 

 and this kind of honey is produced in Texas 

 lo such an extent, that it will be impossible 

 to blot it out. The demand for this kind of 

 1 oney, for "bulk comb honey," and not 

 " chunk " honey, is so great and so firmly 

 established that this alone will maintain a 

 place in our Texas beekeei")ing, to be filled 

 by those who will produce it if othere will 

 not. 



There should not be any objection to the 

 Texans claiming " bulk comb honey " as 

 originating in Texas and being a Texas 

 product. It is too well known that we Tex- 

 ans were the first to resort to the up-to- 

 date method of producing and putting on 

 the market this kind of honey known as 

 hidk comb honey; and the mere fact that 

 almost the entire Texas crop is in this form, 

 and especially since the Lone Star State 

 produces no little crop is justification 

 enough to permit it to claim credit for being 

 the home of bulk comb honey. It is simply 

 different from " chunk honey " of long ago. 

 * * * 



WORK FOR MARCH. 



It is a splendid idea to have every thing 

 in and about the apiaries, and also in the 

 workshop and honey-house, nice and clean, 

 or " in apple-pie order." This makes a 

 much better api)earance in the first place, 

 and helps to make the season's work much 

 more pleasant and agreeable. With the 

 yard cleaned of rubbish, and the trees trim- 

 med to a proper height, the usual obstruc- 

 tions are out of the way, and save a good 

 deal of vexation. A whole lot more work 

 can be done. Especially is this true if 

 every thing is in its place, in the workshop 

 as well as in the other places where the bee- 

 keeper has to do his work. 



Of great importance is the matter of 

 " spring cleaning " the interior of every 



hive of bees. Scraping off the burr-combs, 

 l^ropolis, and fixing up and repairing hives, 

 supers, frames, bottoms, and covers, as well 

 as any broken or misshaped combs, should 

 be done early in the spring. This makes all 

 future manipulation very much easier and 

 more rapid. It seems, also, that the bees 

 of colonies treated in this manner will do 

 better. Since the combs are manipulated 

 as they are being scraped, as we take each 

 one out of the hive, it stirs up the activity 

 of the bees — especially so if much sealed 

 honey is bruised. 



It is necessary, of course, that all this 

 work in the hives be done when we have 

 warm weather. It is also necessary to re- 

 place the combs as they Avere taken from 

 the hives, or i:)ut them back in such order 

 that the brood-nest will not be disturbed 

 too much. 



During the " si:)ring cleaning " we have 

 the best opportunity to remove all unnec- 

 essary drone combs and any other combs 

 that are not in first-class condition. It is 

 far better to melt these into wax, and ex- 

 change for full sheets of foundation in 

 every frame replaced. It is good practice 

 to " patch np " worker combs after the 

 drone comb is cast out of them, by replacing 

 this with worker comb from other frames. 

 The time required to look after the combs 

 each spring paj^s well, and should not be 

 overlooked. It is veiy unprofitable to rear 

 drones in any numbers, and just as much 

 so if we allow crooked or ill-shaped combs 

 in our hives. Every square inch of worker 

 comb put in place of the other will mean 

 just that mucli more pi'ofit to the beekeeper. 



All the needed supjilies should have been 

 l^repared during the winter ; and if not al- 

 ready done, foundation should be placed in 

 the first rounds of the supers early enough 

 so that this may not interfere with other 

 work coming on a little later. I do not 

 advocate putting foundation in all supers 

 very far ahead of the time when they will 

 be actually used, since the foundation be- 

 comes quite hard, and will not be accepted 

 by the bees quite so readily. I have found 

 that tliey prefer the fresher foundation. 



Continued from page 175. 



would be removed to give place to this 

 brood, going into the sections with the nec- 

 tar from the fields. As a result we should 

 be liable to come in contact with the pure- 

 food law which we beekeepers have been 

 praising since it was enacted." 



