1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI 



57 



season we planted rows of papayas 

 between the rows of bee hives, and 

 they now more than serve their pur- 

 pose, as most of the trees are loaded 

 down with fruit, and the fruit is de- 

 licious and can be eaten straight, or 

 with cream, made into candy, or pre- 

 served. The blossom also yields 

 honey, but the bees only seem to work 

 on the trees that produce the male 

 flowers, these trees have smaller flow- 

 ers and produce no fruit. Early in 

 the morning and late in the after- 

 noon the bees fairly swarm over these 

 fiowers, humming birds, millers, but- 

 terflies and native bees also visit 

 them. 



Large trees and too many plants 

 are undesirable in an apiary here be- 

 cause too much shade attracts ants, 

 cockroaches and other insects, as well 

 as it gives a harboring place for birds 

 and iguanas. I b'elieve the best thing 

 for shade is a single shade boarl, or 

 a mat made out of stitched palm leaf 

 and one placed on each colony during 

 the summer season. During the wet 

 season no extra shade is needed. 

 (To be continued.) 



Texas 



By E. G. Le Stourgeon 



THOSE beekeeping communities 

 that have not had the advan- 

 tages of one of the Short 

 Course Schools under the direction 

 of Dr. E. F. Phillips and his corps of 

 assistants can have little conception 

 of their great value. I will admit 

 now that the Texas beekeepers ac- 

 cepted the idea of having one held at 

 San Antonio more in the spirit that 

 "it was the thing to do," like a wo- 

 man wearing a hobble skirt, rather 

 than from a realization of its need 

 and its great value. 



We gathered from far and near in 

 great numbers (over 128 out-of-town 

 bee-men registered for the school), 

 and waited rather curiously for the 

 show to begin. One Xueces Valley 

 beekeeper said: "I am going to at- 

 tend the opening session. If it is not 

 worth w'hile I can quietly drop out 

 and go home." He staid until the last 

 word was spoken. .\ Laredo bee- 

 keeper said : "I have to go home 

 Thursday night. I will only attend 

 the first four days." He remained 

 over Saturday. He could rather lose 

 his business engagement at home 

 than miss a single lecture. A Jour- 

 danton beekeeper intended to at- 

 tend only one-half the sessions, be- 



Texas beekeepers go to school 



cause of other business, but could not 

 do so. He said: "The program fits 

 together like the corners of a dove- 

 tailed hive. I simply had to attend 

 every session or lose my object in 

 coming at all." 



These are only typical instances. 

 They could be multiplied many fold. 

 The programs for the school are 

 carefully worked out and are care- 

 fully carried forward as a constantly 

 developing theme. Mr. Demuth, in 

 his expositions of beekeeping prac- 

 tice during the succeeding seasons, 

 follows very closely the lines laid 

 down by Dr. Phillips in his discus- 

 sions of bee behavior. 



Mr. Sturtevant gives a careful sur- 

 vey of every phase of bee disease 

 and makes plain to the lay mind the 

 symptoms and effects of known bac- 

 teria. A Waxahachie man who had 

 long served as Inspector in his coun- 

 ty, arose in open meeting and said 

 that the one lecture on differential 

 diagnosis was alone worth more than 

 the cost of the trip to San Antonio 

 and the week lost from his business 

 He merely expressed the thought 

 that formed in the mind of every 

 beekeeper present. 



The school afforded the honey pro- 

 ducers of Texas an opportunity to 

 become acquainted with our new 

 State Entomologist, Dr. M. C. Tan- 

 quary. His lecture on the life history 

 of the bee proved to be one of the 

 best numbers on the program. One 

 evening he also gave an illustrated 

 lecture depicting his life in the Arctic 

 while zoologist with the Crockerland 

 expedition. 



Mr. H. B. Parks, our State Apicul- 

 turisf, who has in his charge the 

 newly-established Texas experimen- 

 tal apiaries, was "Principal" of the 

 school and presided during its ses- 

 sions. One of the most enjoyable 

 entertainment features of the week 

 was his illustrated lecture on the 

 Aleutian Indians. While in the In- 

 dian school service of the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior. Mr. Parks 

 heard much of the folk lore of these 

 interesting people, which he gave us 

 in a connected and interesting man- 

 ner. 



Our responsibility, as commercial 

 honey producers to the beginner in 

 beekeeping, was discussed by Mr. 

 Kennith Hawkins, specialist in bee- 

 keeping for the G. B. Lewis Com- 

 pany. Mr. Hawkins pointed out 'the 

 need for intelligent propaganda and 

 the responsibilities that rest on us 

 toward those who are still in ignor- 



ance of modern methods of apicul- 

 ture. His close acquaintance with 

 southern beekeeping gave his re- 

 marks peculiar emphasis and in- 

 creased their practical application 

 and value. 



The climax of the session came Fri- 

 day night, December 19, when the en- 

 tire school of beekeepers "clustered" 

 for a typical Mexican dinner. Dr. 

 Phillips had told us to expect clus- 

 tering at about 57 degrees F., and 

 that the temperature of these clus- 

 ters would then rise. Thanks to the 

 pungency of some of the viands 

 served for dinner, the prediction was 

 certainly verified. Many pleasant 

 memories were carried away by all 

 who participated in the unique and 

 inimitable event. 



San Antonio, Texas. 



Fertilizing Drone Eggs 



I find the article by Gilbert Barratt 

 on fertilizing drone eggs particularly 

 interesting, because it appears to dis- 

 prove that which Dr. Phillips has so 

 consistently maintained both in his 

 book, "Beekeeping," and also in his 

 California lectures, namely, that the 

 sex is determined before fertilization. 



I quote from his book, page 188: "It 

 seems clear, however, that the state- 

 ment of Dzierzon that all the eggs in 

 the ovary are male eggs cannot be ac- 

 cepted, and it is, in fact, not improba- 

 ble that the eggs destined to be fe- 

 males die for want of fertilization, 

 while the eggs destined to be males, 

 not requiring fertilization, are capa- 

 ble of development." 



Now, if that were so, fertilizing a 

 drone egg artificially would not make 

 a female of it. So if Gilbert Barratt's 

 experiments are correct, as I have no 

 doubt they arc. then Dr. Phillips will 

 liave to modify his theorj'. 



Dr. Phillips attached a good deal of 

 importance to the fact that bees did 

 away with the eggs of a drone layer. 

 To me this does not seem so very im- 

 portant, as I know bees will remove 

 eggs of a normal fertile queen if they 

 cannot look after them. 



The bees can probably tell whether 

 an egg is fertile or not. And in the 

 case of a drone larva they probably 

 get disgusted at seeing nothing but 

 drone eggs, especially if they are in 

 worker cells, and consequently eat 

 them up sooner than raise useless 

 stunted drones. 



WILL H. GRAY. 



British Columbia. 



