238 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL., 



mint (I am now giving the honey-plants 

 of North Texas). This begins to bloom 

 about May 20th, and fruit-trees usually 

 bloom in March and go out by April 1st. 

 So you can see the hard time on bees in 

 North Texas, from April 1st to May 

 20th— nearly two months. Then comes 

 a harvest from mint, if we have kept 

 the bees going, otherwise the harvest 

 comes and no reapers, which means a 

 great loss. 



Then after mint comes cotton, making 

 a continuous honey-flow from May 20th 

 to Sept. 1st. There are some plants not 

 mentioned that usually keep the bees 

 out of mischief, and giving honey suffi- 

 cient for brood-rearing, but no surplus- 

 such as ratan, milkweed, poison-vine, 

 and others. But the honey harvests 

 come from mint and cotton. 



From middle Texas we get fruit-bloom 

 in February, and mint on May 1st; and 

 west Texas, buffalo clover in May, and 

 sumac in August. These are splendid 

 honey-plants, and the management 

 should be the same in all localities where 

 there usually comes a dearth of honey 

 between fruit-bloom and our harvests. 



In southern Texas we have wild cur- 

 rant in January, fruit-bloom in Feb- 

 ruary and March, and when weather is 

 favorable we get some surplus from 

 these. April 1st we get a good crop of 

 honey from catclaw and other plants. 

 This lasts until May 1st, when horse- 

 mint begins, and lasts until June. Then 

 mesquite begins, and we have here at 

 this place (Beeville) a steady flow from 

 April 1st until July— three months. 

 Mesquite ends our summer flows, but 

 when we have fall rains we get a splen- 

 did flow from flaxweed, called by some 

 "broomweed," as it will make brooms. 

 After broomweed we get no more until 

 spring. 



Bees usually begin swarming in north 

 Texas on April 1st, and in the middle 

 portion about March 15th, and hero in 

 southern Texas about Feb. 15th. These 

 are the dates of the early swarms, and 

 bees swarm on through the spring 

 months until July, which usually puts a 

 stop to swarming in Texas, unless we 

 have good fall rains, then we sometimes 

 have fall swarms. 



I will give the honey-plants by States, 

 giving the names and blooming time of 

 all the principal honey-plants, or those 

 that give our surplus, and to get a good 

 honey crop we must have our bees strong 

 at the time of the beginning of our 

 honey-plants. This is why I am going 

 over this ground so carefully, as much 

 depends upon the management of our 



bees before the harvest comes, if we 

 wish to keep out of "Blasted Hopes;" 

 so I cannot close this, it seems, with- 

 out rehearsing the warning note : Keep 

 your bees breeding, and get them in 

 first-class condition to reap the harvest 

 when it comes, and you will have less 

 cause to grumble of bad seasons. 



Jennie Atchley. 



Virgin Oueen; Dnsealed Cells; Swaraing 



Query 937. — If a colony has a virgin 

 queen, also unsealed queen-cells. Is there any 

 danger of swarming ?— "Virginia. 



Yes.— Eugene Secok. 



Yes, certainly. — J. H. Larrabee. 



Yes, in the swarming season. — Dadant 

 & Son. 



No, not as a rule. Destroy the queen- 

 cells. — G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Yes, if other conditions are favorable 

 to swarming. — J. A. Gkeen. 



Yes, sir ; there is some danger of 

 swarming. — J. P. H. Brown. 



I think usually not, but I shouldn't 

 count too safely on it. — C. C. Miller. 



Yes, if the swarming season and im- 

 pulse is prevalent. — I. M. Hambaugh. 



Yes, providing the virgin does not de- 

 stroy the other queen-cells. — Jas. A. 

 Stone. 



Most assuredly. This is always the 

 case where second swarms go out. — A. 

 J. Cook. 



Why, yes, that is about the condition 

 when I should expect a swarm to issue. 

 — C. H. Dibbern. 



Yes. If the extra cells are left in the 

 hive, and the bees do not destroy them, 

 they will swarm. — E. France. 



If the colony has already cast a 

 swarm, yes. They often throw off after- 

 swarms.— Mrs. J. N. Heater. 



Certainly, if in the season for swarm- 

 ing, and even if a little out of that sea- 

 I son if the colony is very strong ; but of 



