1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



161 



Bee-keeping in the South- 

 west 



By LOUIS SCHOLL, New Braunfels, Texas 



ABOUT THOSE HONEY RECIPES. 



We have noticed with much interest the 

 matter of honey-cooking recipes, and the 

 interest that is being taken in them at the 

 present time. We have wanted to mention 

 this matter for some time, but we have not 

 completed our work on the matter entirely 

 as yet. For several years we have been at 

 work on a list of real good honey-cooking 

 recipes^ such as can be used as per the direc- 

 tions given, without getting a lot of unfa- 

 vorable results, as has been our experience 

 when we tried many of the recipes that have 

 been published. The trouble with them 

 has been that they are very much out of 

 proportion as regards the ingredients used; 

 and the result is, that the much-expected 

 honey cake or cooky does not come up to 

 any thing like the great expectation that 

 most persons haveabout a honey cooked ar- 

 ticle. This is wrong; and, instead of creat- 

 ing a greater demand for honey for cooking 

 purposes, the very opposite is likely to take 

 place. 



This fact came to our notice very strongly 

 since our exhibitions of more than thirty 

 different varieties of cakes and cookies at 

 the various fairs for several years. Our ex- 

 hibits have attracted much attention, and 

 the demand for recipes grew, but we were 

 not aole to furnish them, as we did not have 

 them jorinted. One year we distributed sev- 

 eral thousand honey-cooking leaflets at the 

 fairs. That was before we exhibited very 

 many honey cakes. Later we found that 

 the recipes were not reliable, and that it was 

 neceahary in almost every case to change 

 the quantities given, or something else. 

 When we returned to the fairs the next year 

 we learned from a large number that they 

 had not been able to get the results that we 

 had from the recipes received from us, and 

 we have not made use of any more of the 

 leaflets, just for that reason. 



Now we are making an entirely new list 

 of all the various cakes and cookies teste 1. 

 Of course, it will be undei stood ihat we are 

 not condemning all the recipes; but there 

 are so many of them that we have failed 

 with that the entire list ought to be revised, 

 even if some of them give good results. 

 And, again, it must be remembered that 

 "many cuoks spoil the pie," and this may 

 be one reahon to which some of the failures 

 may be attributed. In the meantime let us 

 have all the good recipt s in which hone\ is 

 used more or less; and if any of them netd 

 trying before they are in such shape that 

 every good housewife can u>e them without 

 getting bad results, why — well, somebody 

 will have to try them out. [We agree with 

 you; and for this rtason we decided from 

 the very start to accept no one's word for 

 any thing. The trouble is, that the orig- 



inator of a recipe often fails to mention 

 some little important detail, and the result 

 is failure. But this is also true with recipes 

 of any kind. — Ed.] 



BREEDING LARGER BEES. 



The more we study this question the more 

 we wonder if it may not be possible. We 

 need only consider for a moment the great 

 work done in improving all kinds of ani- 

 mals, improving not only certain qualities, 

 but increasing the size materially. It takes 

 many generations before some of the final 

 results are obtained; but we have the proof 

 that all this is possible by proper selection 

 and breeding, and the proper care and feed- 

 ing has something to do with it also. The 

 question is, how to proceed with the im- 

 provement of the honey-bee to accomplish 

 similar results. And then the question 

 arises as to what would be the advantages 

 of the larger bees. This is work for the ex- 

 periment stations. 



Whether an increase in the size of the cell 

 in which the bee is reared would have any 

 bearing on the matter could, perhaps, be ob- 

 served by careful experimentation carried 

 on for a number of years and through many 

 generations of the bees selected for the test. 

 Not only this, but several strains of bees 

 should be tried — each under various condi- 

 tions, since all these factors may have some 

 important influence. 



We have noticed in our observations that 

 a great difference in the size of the workers 

 of different colonies does exist. The prog- 

 eny of a fine queen may show extraordinary 

 size, while that of another queen may be re- 

 markably small. After investigating more 

 closely we have come to the conclusion that 

 there are at least two reasons for the smaller 

 size of the workers in various colonies: First, 

 the naturally small size due to the queen 

 alone; second, the decreased size of the 

 worker-cells of old combs in which many 

 generations of bees have developed. Such 

 observations can be made in a neglected or 

 " run-down " lot of bees where the old combs 

 have been left undisturbed for years, the 

 brood-nest being confined to the same area. 

 In this case the size of the cells should make 

 a difference. On the other hand, the de- 

 terioration in the quality of the queens in 

 such a neglected condition is the main 

 cause of the smaller- sizetl workers. 



We have, therefore, two factors which ac- 

 count for a decrease in the size of the work- 

 ers, so why may not other factors have 

 some infiuence toward an increase in the 

 size of the worker bees? 



We grant that the use of larger worker 

 cells in a haphazard way will not bring any 

 certain results. Neither can we expect that 

 the size of the worker bees can be increased 

 by the most careful breeding by selectioii or 

 otherwise without resorting to somethiiig 

 larger than the regular-sized woiker-cells in 

 which to rear them. But we have some 

 faith in breeding tor larger size by careful 

 selection in connection with a gradual in- 

 crease in the size of the worker-cells. 



