December, 1907. 



American Hee Journal 



is that the business had umI l)een made a 

 large one here lonie; befoip this. 



Lately I heard that tl) ii veteran bee- 

 keeper and apicultural luc-cditor and 

 publisher, Albert J. Kiiit;, is again a 

 resident of California. Prof. King lived 

 here from the middle si.xties, first at old 

 Gilroy, and then later at what is now 

 Oakland and Berkeley. He was the 

 first principal of the Peralya School, 

 then a district school but now one of 

 the largest grammar schools in Oak- 

 land. I'"rom California he went l.vist 

 and was associated with his brothers 

 in the sale of the American Ijcc-hive, 

 of which the latter were patentee?. For 

 some years he edited and published the 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine, now for some 

 years defunct; then after he sold out 

 his interest in the magazine he was in- 

 terested in large apiaries in Cuba. 



Another bee-keeper of more than 

 common renown who lived in this State 

 many years ago, as we are won't to 

 compute time, was Prof. A. J. Cook. I 

 never knew just how long he was here, 

 but I read some time ago in one of the 

 editions of his valuable work upon bee- 

 keeping that he had resided in or near 

 Sacramento. Any way, for many years 

 we found him connected with the Agri- 

 cultural College of the State Univer- 

 sity of Michigan, and wdiere his work 

 was such. as to give him a world-wide 

 reputation. But back to California he 

 would come, and we have since heard 

 of him in connection with Pomona Col- 

 lege, in the Southern portion of the 

 State. 



And so it goes. 



Freakish Things Bees Do. 



When some thing of a freakish kind 

 is sihown us, we at once become inter- 

 ested. I suppose that's human nature. 

 Nothing seems to interest the average 

 man or woman so much as bees. Maybe 

 that's because bees are freaks, or the 

 next thing to it. Now I don't want it 

 understood that I make this indictment 

 against those wonderful little insects. 

 No, I do not, but some one else has. 

 What I would do is to say that some- 

 times bees do some very strange things. 

 Witness some of the queer work they 

 will do inside the hive, and, occasion- 

 ally without. Herewith I am sliowing a 

 piece of their freak-work done inside of 

 one of my hives during the last spring. 

 The comb attached to the division- 

 board was made in a space not much 

 over one-half inch wide — it was be- 

 tween the division-board and the wall 

 of the hive, and I discovered it in time, 

 else the comb would have been built 

 in the entire space. The industry of 

 the bee is not commendable w'hen per- 

 formed in such cramped quarters. 



The photograph is one of the very 

 best I ever secured. The effect of light 

 and shade are good; even where the 

 comb was broken the effect seems real- 

 istic in the picture. Now, while we 

 may criticise the bee for going out of 

 her way "to ply her trade," I must not 

 let this opportunity shp by without hav- 

 ing "a shot" at some of the makers of 

 freak bee-hives. I would class the hon- 

 ey-board shown in the cut as a freak 

 one that no practical bee-keeper would 



Co.MB Brii.r ON Division-Board. 



want to use. The old-fashioned solid 

 board is the board for me; I'm sure 

 other bee-keepers who want results with- 

 out handling flimsy contrivances that go 



]to pieces upon the "slightest provoca- 

 tion," would sooner have a cast-iron 

 "honey-board" than a "contraption" 

 like the one pictured. 



r^-i 



iouthcm 



Conducted by LOUIS H. SCHOLL, New Braunfels. Tex. 



Prospects for 1908. 



It is rather early to say anything about 

 what the ne.xt year will bring us, but 

 a good, wet fall and winter, so that our 

 trees and shrubs are loaded with sap 

 next spring, is generally followed with 

 a good honey season. Rains have been 

 very plentiful here and all over Texas 

 and other parts of the South, and un- 

 less something very unusual happens, 

 the bee-keepers may expect a good hon- 

 ey crop next year, for which prepara- 

 tions should be started at once, as now 

 is the time to begin. 



Bees Gather Rosin. 



During this year I have seen bees do 

 what I consider a remarkable feat, and 

 something I never read of them doing, 

 that I remember. The remarkable oc- 

 curence is that of gathering rosin from 

 pine boards, rich with the glue. I first 

 discovered them gathering rosin from 

 a very rich board last April. Several 

 dozen bees were thus engaged, and be- 

 fore long they had completely cleaned 

 the board, taking, I should judge, near- 

 ly a pound. During the summer the 

 same board exuded another nice lot of 

 the rosin, during which time the bees 

 let it alone for the more useful work of 

 honey-gathering. Just now the bees are 

 again actively employed collecting rosin 

 from this same board, and making some 

 use of it, of which I have taken no 

 pains to find out. I would guess that 

 they are using it as a substitute for pro- 

 polis to stick things up with. 



If there were enough rosin-bearing 

 boards around for all the bees to em- 

 ploy their spare moments, I surmise 

 that an honest adulteration of beeswax 

 would result. In the meantime, for my 

 part, I do not care how much of the 

 rosin they gather, or what they are do- 

 ing with it. I am of the opinion that 

 they will not adulterate their wax to 

 any appreciable extent with this pine 

 glue. I have no time to sit around and 

 try to exploit their method of using 

 this rosin. 



I judge that some of our bee-keeping 

 brethern in pine-wooded districts could 

 be able to inform us to the extent of 

 bees gathering rosin, and to the use 

 they apply it. T. P. Robinson. 



Bartlett, Texas, Oct. 28. 



Bees gather a good deal of resinous 

 propolis nere in the South to close up 

 cracks and crevises in their hives, and 

 I am sure that's what your bees arc 

 using it for. A great deal of rosin can 

 be found on our mesquite trees, sun- 

 flowers, etc., which the bees collect for 

 this purpose, although I have not seen 

 them on pine boards. 



Bee-Keepers' Exhibit at the San An- 

 tonio International fair, Nov. 9 

 to Not. 24. 



The exhibits this year surpassed all 

 previous ones, though the work on them 

 was begun verv late in the season. This, 

 however, shows what can be done in 

 a good season another year, and prep- 

 arations for next year's exhibit are al- 



