May 2, 1907 



375 



II -^^^-c^^^M American ^gc Joarnal 



vations from. But in the same way that 

 a mariner may study the chart to learn 

 where the rocks and shoals are before 

 going on shipboard to put his knowledge 

 to actual use, so I may look for the 

 rocks and shoals of bee-keeping here in 

 the most southern part of Untie Sam's 

 domain. To any one at the North as 

 he sits before the grate of glowing coals 

 on some zero day and reads of the flow- 

 ers and 8o-degree weather here, it seems 

 as if there is the bee-man's paradise; 

 but the All-wise Creator gave us the 

 law of compensation, by which no part 

 of His children can have any great ad- 

 vantage over another, for what is gained 

 in one way is made up in loss elsewhere. 

 As far as flora goes, this country is 

 nearly all that could be desired — thous- 

 ands of acres of mesquite, catclaw, chap- 

 paral, and prickly pear, and no bees. 

 But tills is a land of drouths and ex- 

 cessive rainfall; the heat of summer 

 close onto the cold of winter; and it 

 there is any country that can show more 

 insects of the pestiferous kind, it has 

 not been my lot to learn of it. 



The Southern Seasons. 



The seasons are so variable here that 

 a bee-keeper would be put to his wits 

 to know whether to encourage breeding 

 or to withhold stimulating. When I 

 tell you that the season this year is al- 

 most 6 weeks earlier than last year, you 

 may appreciate the situation. Suppose 

 an apiarist starts his bees on a last 

 year's season, he would bring them up 

 to full strength 6 weeks too late. And 

 how are we to know this in ad- 

 vance? And how are we to prepare 

 for one of those fierce "northers" when 

 the thermometer falls from 8o degrees 

 above down to almost freezing in 2 

 hours? How would such a change af- 

 fect a hive full of young larvae? One 

 thing is sure, the queen has to commence 

 operations much sooner than at North, 

 with the mesquite in bloom in March. 

 February 1st would not be too soon 

 for "her majesty" to be doing her 

 best, and I am told that February is 

 usually the coldest month of the year 

 here. 



Ants the Worst. 



Of all the insect pests I ever had any 

 experience with, this one, lauded by 

 Solomon, is the worst. "Take the wings 

 of the morning" and go anywhere you 

 will, the ant is there before you, and 

 ready for business; not only one variety, 

 but many — and all of them are stingers. 

 Even little ones, almost microscopic, can 

 pierce our tough skin and inflict a pain- 

 ful wound. If there is any kind of 

 food they are not fond of from sour 

 to sweet, salt to bitter, greasy or other- 

 wise, it has not been shown to this de- 

 ponent. The only way food can be 

 kept from them is to put it on tables 

 whose legs stand in cans of water, and 

 woe unto you if a chair, a cloth, or 

 any other thing can be turned into a 

 bridge by them. They are seemingly 

 always there and ready to take advant- 

 age of it. The only way one can be sure 

 of his bees is to isolate each hive by 

 standing it on legs surrounded by 

 water. 



The ant worst to fight is almost too 

 small to notice, yet he is a terror. Not 

 that he cares much for honey, although 



he will take it if nothing better others; 

 but he goes riglit into the hive and drags 

 out the young l.irva:. One man near 

 here started with 5 or 6 colonies and 

 these little fellows destroyed them all, 

 but left the hone>-. What can the poor 

 bees do with anything so small that one 

 of their feet would cover — too small to 

 sting and too quick to bite, and in a 

 stinging contest 1 am not sure but the 

 ant would come out the best? 



Ants , are the greatest menace to 

 horticulture as well as bee-culture. One 

 species called "trimmers" works at night, 

 but they arc e.isicr to exterminate than 

 the small Aics, fur their nests are easily 

 found, and boilin;,: water or "High Life" 

 will soon fix them ; whereas to exter- 



minate the small ones would mean to 

 treat the whole landscape, for their 

 name is legi')ii, and they are loo small 

 to fight by .such an awkward animal as 

 man. 



But in si)ite of ants, weather, and 

 all other adverse conditions, bees do 

 thrive in Texas, and the wide-awake 

 bee-keeper gets his reward, so if any 

 reader thinks of going to a warmer 

 country and taking his bees along, I 

 would be only too happy to help him to 

 locate in a good territory. 



C. A. Hatch. 



Nueces Co., Tex., April 4. 



[Mr. Hatch spent the past winter in 

 Texas, but is now again in his Wiscon- 

 sin home. — Editor.] 



^^ 



Convention 

 Proceed inds 



Report of the 37th Annual Conven- 

 tion of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, held In San An- 

 tonio, Tex., Nov. 8-10, '06 



(Contiaued from page 3£8 ) 



Mr. France — I dislike being the first 

 to speak on a paper of so much value, 

 which has covered a vast amount of 

 ground; it is something that I hope, 

 when you get the Report, you may study 

 by sections. I have repeatedly asked 

 for something of this nature to be done, 

 as is expected to be done here on Mon- 

 day, and I hope all will try to attend. 

 The subject of bee-diseases will be 

 nicely presented. I don't know that 

 there is any definite part that I care 

 to take up personally in discussing. It 

 seems to me that Dr. Phillips has cov- 

 ered the ground. 



Mr. Victor — I would like to ask if 

 they have ever discovered that bees 

 hear? 



Dr. Phillips — I do know that bees are 

 very sensitive, but I don't know abso- 

 lutely if they hear. 



Dr. Bohrer — I was once driving nails 

 5 or 6 feet from a hive of bees, and the 

 first thing I knew I was covered with 

 bees, and they must have gotten the vi- 

 bration from the ground. 



Mr. Rouse — Why does a swarm in the 

 air attract other swarms? 



Dr. Phillips — Bees secrete a light-col- 

 ored fluid in swarming, and by this they 

 attract each other: there is a very strong 

 odor in the air, and the bees can smell 

 it. 



Mr. Rouse — Can they smell? 



Dr. Phillips — There is no doubt that 

 they smell. 



Mr. Anderson — There is one point 

 that meets with my convictions, and that 

 is the improvement of stock we were 

 discussing here yesterday — whether bees 

 could be imprix'ii — and I believe they 

 can in all the flifferent strains. 



J. Q. Smith — If bees can not hear, 

 why do queens pipe, and upon their pip- 

 ing the other queens answer? The pip- 

 ings are of different sounds. The first 

 queen has a clear sound, and the one 

 about to get out of the cell has a coarser 

 voice. 



Mr. Stone — I can not be made to be- 

 lieve that bees can not hear. Why can't 

 they hear as well with some of their or- 

 gans as we do with our teeth? 



Dr. Phillips — We don't hear with our 

 teeth. 



Mr. Stone — Some ladies and a little 

 girl were traveling on the train with 

 me. The little girl asked if bees could 

 hear with their ears, and I said they 

 had no ears. She said they hear "just 

 the same as I do with my teeth;" and 

 the mother of the little girl said that she 

 knew of people that held their mouths 

 open to hear better. 



Mr. Rouse — I have worked in steam 

 mills and if I wanted to know that the 

 piston was working properly I would 

 put a stick on the cylinder end, then on 

 my teeth, and I could hear very dis- 

 tinctly. I don't know what caused it. 



Mr. Holekamp — I don't know whether 

 it is worth while to talk about this much 

 more. I certainly can hear from the in- 

 side of my mouth much better than on 

 the outside. 



Dr. Bohrer — There is one thing that I 

 wish to speak of that was mentioned 

 last night. Dr. Phillips did not hear 

 it ; he is in charge of the Government 

 Apiaries at Washington, and through 

 him a number of queens were sent out 

 to be tested. I don't think that we can 

 recommend to him too strongly the mat- 

 ter of refusing to give any man a queen 

 to test her and her progeny, unless 

 those bees are sufficiently isolated from 

 other bees. I would just say, "My dear 

 sir, I will give you a queen, but you 

 must separate your bees 12 to 15 miles, 

 the farther the better." There is dan- 



