1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



347 



male noun ended in "a" or the femin- 

 ine in "us," and so, a noun ending in 

 "us" might be masculine, feminine or 

 neuter by meaning. Now names of 

 germs, trees and plants were regularly 

 feminine by meaning. For e.\ample, 

 Eucalyptus (the eucalypt tree) is 

 regularly feminine, and our English 

 nomenclature has "Eucalyptus ro- 

 busta" for one of the species, and so 

 the word "Planus" (Plane tree) regu- 

 larly the adjective of its species end- 

 ing in "a." Thus is the customary 

 usage in English botanical terms, 

 though there are some variations 

 that seem inconsistent, to be sure, as 

 the editors maintain. 



But for the reasons given, "Meli- 

 lotus alba" is undoubtedly better 

 Latin than "Melilotus albus." 



UDO TOEPPERWEIN 



By E. G. LeStourgeon 

 Very suddenly, on the morning of 

 Saturday, August 7, Mr. Udo Toepper- 

 wein passed away. A slight scratch 

 from a mesquite thorn which he had 

 received a short time before, became 

 infected and blood poison developed. 

 Older beekeepers will remember a 

 time, not far distant, when the name 

 of Udo Toepperwein was the leading 

 name in Texas beekeeping. His es- 

 tablishment was the sole source of 

 supply. He developed the markets for 

 honey, which we still enjoy. His la- 

 bor and energy earned for him every 

 office in the gift of the Te.xas State 

 Beekeepers' Association, and he 

 served his State on the directorate of 

 the National Association, attending 

 many of its meetings as a delegate. 

 It was chiefly through his efforts that 

 the 1907 convention was held in San 

 Antonio. 



Udo Toepperwein was a loyal friend, 

 an enthusiastic beekeeper and a good 

 neighbor. His loss will be keenly felt, 

 as he was still a young man, being but 

 42 years old at the time of his death. 



SUMMER MEETING OF TEXAS 

 HONEY PRODUCERS' ASSO- 

 CIATION 



Educational Section 



During the Texas Farmers' Con- 

 gress, held at the A. & M. College, 

 August 9, 10 and 11, the beekeepers of 

 the State met in their 28th annual 

 meeting. This session was marked 

 by features that made it one of the 

 greatest that has ever been held. The 

 beekeepers' section of the Farmers' 

 Congress had more enrollments than 

 all the other sections put together. 

 In fact, the Farmers' Congress was a 

 beekeepers' meeting. On account of 

 llie growing interest in the bee busi- 

 ness and because of the requirements 

 of the newly formed Honey Produc- 

 ers' League for representation in that 

 body, it was thought best by the bee- 

 keepers to return to the old name of 

 the association. So, by vote of the 

 society, this body is now officially 

 designated as the Texas Beekeepers' 

 Association. This gives the State a 

 legal representative in the new 

 league. 



Among the papers presented and 

 worthy of notice was the report of 



Willis C. Collier relative to the meet- 

 ing of the American Honey Produ^ 

 ers' League. Mr. Collier was a repre- 

 sentative appointed by this Associa- 

 tion, and his report was adopted and 

 commtnded by a unanimous vote. 



The reports of E. G. Le Stourgeon, 

 President, and Miss Alma Hassel- 

 bauer show such material progress 

 of the Texas Honey Producers' Asso- 

 ciation that it strengthened the re- 

 port of Mr. Collier as to what the 

 nation-wide associations of similar 

 kind could accomplish. The success- 

 ful growth from 15,000 to 65,000 in 

 four years was sufficient to convince 

 anyone of the achievements of the 

 Association. 



Mr. W. O. Victor, of Uvalde, the 

 veteran bee king of Texas, gave an 

 account of his experiments in mov- 

 ing bees from Texas to the North in 

 refrigerator cars, in summing up 

 over 30 years' experience in shipping 

 bees a long distance. 



Dr. M. C. Tanquary gave a report of 

 the progress of the apiary inspection 

 work, showing the change of policy 

 of the Department. This change has 

 already been partially effected. Un- 

 der the new order, all inspection 

 work is done directly by men sent out 

 from College Station, inspection be- 

 ing carried on only where disease is 

 suspected. The inspectors are em- 

 powered to use their time in the 

 treating of all disease found, and 

 have ample authority to carry out the 

 full measure of the law. 



The paper on the combless pack- 

 age bee business by E. B. Ault, of 

 Calallen, was read by the Secretary. 

 Mr. Ault is one of the pioneers in 

 shipping combless packages. 



The paper of Mr. E. G. Le Stour- 

 geon, who was sent as a representa- 

 tive of the Texas Honey Producers' 

 Association to the American Honey 

 Producers' League, and who returned 

 having been elected its first President, 

 was considered by all as the finest 

 paper given during the meeting. Mr. 

 Le Stourgeon briefly described the 

 beekeepers' activities in Te.xas during 

 the past 25 years, concluding with 

 what they accomplished in the forming 

 of a co-operative association for mar- 

 keting and buying. He called atten- 

 tion to other such associations in 

 other States and to the condition of 

 the honey business and market in 

 those States in which no such asso- 

 ciations exist. He then mentioned 

 briefly the occurrences which brought 

 about the forming of the new league, 

 and drew a picture of the future of 

 the league as foretold by the success 

 of the associations in Te.xas. Califor- 

 nia, Colorado and other States. The 

 applause that followed his speech in- 

 dicates that the League has no 

 lack of support among the Texas 

 beekeepers. 



Among the other papers of import- 

 ance was one by E. E. Rippert. the 

 new Extension Service Entomologist, 

 on the economic aspects of agricul- 

 ture. It was voted to request that 

 this article be printed in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. The final session of 

 the meeting was held in the experi- 

 mental apiary. The work was in 

 charge of C. S. Rude, State Inspector 



of Apiaries, and H. B. Parks, State 

 Apiculturist. Demonstrations illus- 

 trating the treatment and control of 

 foulbrood were given. An experi- 

 ment under way in apiary No. 1 was 

 exhibited to the beekeepers. 



The beekeepers left College Station 

 carrying with them this slogan: "The 

 meeting next year with 500 present 

 and all beekeepers." 



A GOOD BEE COUNTRY 



By Amos Burhans 



While on a recent vacation trip 

 mto that great country of agricul- 

 tural and other opportunities called 

 the cut-over lands in northern Wis- 

 consin, I made the acquaintance of 

 Postrnaster Brown, of Minong, who 

 is building up an apiary that now 

 numbers over a hundred and twenty- 

 five colonies. 



The one thing that claimed my at- 

 tention in this apiary more than any- 

 thing else was the superiority of the 

 pure bred Italian bees over the black 

 and hybrids. I visited this section 

 about July 1. The white and red clo- 

 ver bloom was at its height. Wild 

 flowers and other blossoms were 

 everywhere in abundance. Mr. 

 Brown's Italians were in ten-frame 

 regular Langstroth hives and almost 

 perfect weather prompted them to 

 great work in the fields. Seven of his 

 Italian colonies were gathering what 

 apparently looked like twice as much 

 honey as any of his strongest hy- 

 brid colonies. 



In getting started Mr. Brown 

 bought several dozen colonies of hy- 

 brids, which he is increasing by 

 swarming and dividing. He is re- 

 queening all with pure breds as fast 

 as possible. He had 60 queens on the 

 way to him, which will give an idea 

 of the extensiveness of his opera- 

 tions and work. 



Much of the equipment he secured 

 with the purchased hybrids and all 

 of which he plans to abandon, was 8- 

 frame size, too small for commercial 

 honey production on the scale he is 

 working towards. Mr. Brown has 20 

 odd colonies in Minong, on the home 

 premises, and nearly one hundred in 

 his outyard three miles east of town. 

 He has put a good many years of 

 study into the handling of bees, but 

 only lately began pushing the work 

 for profit. There is basswood, gol- 

 denrod, berry bloom of all kinds, 

 buckwheat everywhere, and more and 

 more clover of all kinds every year 

 in this section. 



Land and lumber in this country 

 are much cheaper than elsewhere, 

 and it is a surprise to me that more 

 beekeepers do not discover it or de- 

 velop in it. A few cows, some root 

 and grain crops and poultry would 

 provide a generous living. Fuel can 

 be had anywhere for the asking and 

 cutting up. 



This combination, along with some 

 big, strong colonies of Italians to 

 reap the honey harvest that abounds, 

 would insure independence and relief 

 from financial worry. It is a won- 

 der that more suburbanites and city 

 workers do not find modern bee- 

 keeping and small farming a route to 

 security and peaceful life. 



