.lune 2i, 1906 



American Ttec Journal 



'TJeedom 



Conducted by Louis H. Scboll, New Braunfels, Tex. 



A Report on Sweet Clover 



'Friend Scholl : — You ask for us to give you our ex- 

 -perience with sweet clover. ! I haven't had much, but I will 

 tell what I know. 



I sowed 3 pounds in September, 1903. In the summer of 

 1904 it grew 6 feet high, what the hogs left of it. It was 

 sowed on sandy land with clay foundation. It had white 

 blooms on it, and bees worked on it strong ; but there was 

 not enough of it to tell about the amount of honey it gave. 



Well, Mr Scholl, I have not told you very much, but I 

 Aiope it will help you a little. T. R. Greener. 



Grapevine, Tex. 



m m 



"Full-Blood" and Other Bee-Cranks 



The following clipping hails from a Texas agricultural 

 paper that has a " bee-column " in it : 



I am somewhat of a bee-crank, but not a full-blood one. I have 

 34 hives. I have the Patton gum-hive. I have hived lots of 'bees, but 

 have never been able to find a queen through hiving yet. Probably 

 you will say I don't know one when I see it, but I think I do, for I 

 '.found one once in an old hive after the bees had all died out. 



Some one please tell me how to find a queen in hiving them. I 

 guess you full-blood bee-cranks will think it funny, but I will think it 

 ■more the funnier if I can find one alive. 



It was " most the funniest " though when the replies 

 from about a dozen of the " full-blood bee-cranks " appeared 

 in the next issue with a dozen different ways telling how 

 the questioner could have the fun of finding a queen alive. 



Introducing 1 Queens With Tobacco Smoke 



A few mornings since I found a very small swarm clinging to the 

 leaves of a grape-fruit tree in my home yard, which evidently had set- 

 tled there the previous evening, probably having been driven out of 

 some tree in the woods by ants— my colonies all showing up as usual. 



I hived the swarm, putting 3 combs of honey, bees, brood and 

 ■eggs; in the absence of queen-introducing-cage conveniences I 

 •smoked them, thinking that by giving them alia smoky odor the 

 queen might, under the circumstances, be accepted; when, too late, 

 the hive was opened the ball of bees was disintegrating, and the dead 

 queen being dragged toward the entrance, some bees still attempting 

 to sting her. 



If I had not used smoke would it have been any more likely to 

 have been successful? or what would have been the best method of 

 procedure? W. F. McCready. 



It seems that perhaps the swarm was not queenless at 

 all, hence having 2 queens one of them was destroyed. With 

 the few cases that 1 have practised in using tobacco smoke 

 to introduce queens, I have been successful ; but this method 

 was never used very extensively by me. 



Bee-Keeping- in Uvalde Co., Tex. 



An extract from an article on bees in Uvalde Co., Tex., 

 by Mr. J. K. Hill, one of the leading bee-keepers of that 

 section, and published in Dallas (Texas) Semi-Weekly News, 

 will give one an idea of the extent of the beekeeping in- 

 dustry in this single county of Southwest Texas : 



We now have about 17,500 colonies of bees in Uvalde county. 

 Eight years ago there were only about 6000 colonies. This shows how 

 the bee-indu6try has grown in recent years. The value of the bees 

 and appurtenances for the management of sameare worth about $137,- 

 500. What is termed a full honey crop in this country is 120 pounds 

 bulk comb honey per colony. Should every colony in this country 

 yield this amount it would give us 2,100,000 pounds of honey. This 



sold at the average price of 10 cents per pound would bring to the bee- 

 keepers $210,000, or about 150 percent on the investment. 



Do not think that I mean to say that this amount is made by us 

 bee-keepers, for every man in the business does not understand the 

 proper management for profit. The bee-bu6iness is a scientific study; 

 in fact, as fine a study as law or aD.v other scientific study, and when 

 properly managed under just ordinary conditions, should yield 120 

 pounds per colony. 



I harvested 183 pounds of comb honey one year, 222 1 ,,' pounds 

 another, 146 pounds another, and 202 pounds average per colony. The 

 latter crop was harvested by hired help entirely, and was not satis- 

 factory under favorable conditions that year, as that year was the best 

 yield in the country's history. There was produced about 1,500,000 

 pounds. 



One of the chief things in securing the best results from bees is in 

 the control of swarming. When this is mastered the beekeeper is on 

 the road to success. Sometime in the future I will attempt to explain 

 how to manage bees so as to get the best results. 



Mr. /iasfys 

 flffcrfhoui 



The " Old Reliable " as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Some Queen-Rearing Comments 



Why, Mr. Alley, those Italian fellows were too honest 

 to profit any by your book — after having stolen it entire 

 with the sole exception of your name ! 



Instructive to see that Mr. Alley himself states that his 

 Adels are of Carniolan origin and not of Italian origin. 



Instead of saying that all other yellow bees came down 

 from Cyprians and Holy Lands, I would amend by saying 

 that the primitive yellow bee is not now to be found, but 

 that the Cyprians and Holy Lands represent it more faith- 

 fully than other yellow bees do— all being descended from 

 it. Page 404. 



"Keep Colonies Strong" the Watchword 

 Base and foundation of successful bee keeping to keep 

 colonies strong — and this done only by having room enough 

 in the brood-chamber. These are indeed pretty forcible 

 words from C. P. Dadant. Page 405. 



Our "Prime Swarm" a "Head Swarm" in England 



And this is hardly an admirable or praiseworthy circum- 

 stance. When we get something new of course a new word 

 appears as the name for it. Presto, our English speech- 

 partners rather take pains to call it by a different name. 

 When they get something new I fear we are similarly 

 guilty. So that which is an " elevator " here is a "lift" 

 there ; and that which is a railroad " switch " here is a rail- 

 road "shunt" there— and, behold, on page 406, a " prime 

 swarm " is a " head swarm " (Laugh all ye little children 

 with nothing else to do but laugh), to the puzzlement of Yan- 

 kee readers. If this sort of thing keeps up, and the world 

 stands thousands of years enough, the result will be two 

 different languages. Mad ! Hope the British language 

 then will be to the American about what the Welsh is to the 

 English now. 



Getting Things Down Fine 



Lots of wisdom in the Stachelhausen article on pages 

 406 and 407 ; but it strikes me that he rolls his gold-leaf 

 thinner than the metal will bear. If the proper expert 

 should go over it with sharp spectacles he would see lots of 

 holes, may be. 



Poppy and Hollyhock as Bee-Attraeters 



Nice for those who are intense lovers of both flowers 

 and bees to select for their most-constantly-in-sight beds 

 the flowers that attract bees and make a fine floral display, 

 too. How came Sister Wilson to omit the poppy from the 

 list ? From her Hamlet she has left Hamlet out. I think 

 there is no extra-nice flower so sure to draw lots of bees as 



