MAY 15, 1914 



367- 



EEKEEPING IN THE SOUTHWEST 



Louis H. Sclioll, New Braunifels, Texas. 



A TOO COMMON MISTAKE. 



In Gleanings, April 15, are shown excel- 

 lent photographs of various extensive api- 

 aries, both of this country and from across 

 the water. It will be noticed that the hives 

 are in long rows, spaced the same distance 

 apart in each row, and the hives entii-ely 

 alike in almost every instance. In my own 

 experience I found years ago that this was 

 not the best way to place the hives, and I 

 have called attention to the matter before. 

 The danger of not only bees but queens 

 mistaking the neighboring hives for their 

 own is the main objection against such an 

 arrangement. It caused me much trouble as 

 long as I had the hives spaced in such sys- 

 tematic order on account of the many queens 

 that were lost by going to the wrong hive. 

 And this did not stop until I moved every 

 other hive closer to its next neighbor so that 

 the hives, while still in long rows, were 

 aiTanged in pairs. Thus placed there is 

 little if any danger of the above-mentioned 

 trouble. I have wondered if other beekeep- 

 ers who have their hives arranged in such 

 regular order do not have these troubles. 

 My information from a number whom I 

 have asked is that they experienced a large 

 number of missing queens, but they had not 

 given the real cause of this any thought. 

 After mentioning the matter as outlined 

 above there was a general opinion that 

 " there is something in it." What do others 

 say? 



VP^HAT TO DO V^ITH DARK HONEY. 



The following letter has been forwarded 

 to me for an answer : 



Louis H. Scholl's objections to selling oflf-grade 

 honey have prompted me to write for information. 

 I agree -with him in regard to the evil effect of selling 

 the " stuff," as he terms it ; but the question is, 

 "What shall we do with it?" In my immediate 

 locality we have honey-dew in almost unlimited quan- 

 tities in the summer, just after the main honey har- 

 vest, and this is often mixed by the bees with more 

 or less good honey. It is never mixed enough to 

 make it any thing like a good grade of honey ; but 

 we are often compelled to extract quantities of it in 

 order to make room for the queen to deposit her 

 eggs; and as we don't need it for feeding purposes 

 there is nothing to do with it but either to sell it, 

 give it away, or dump it in the river. There is no 

 market for it that I have ever been able to find. 

 The biscuit companies refuse it, as they say they are 

 not permitted to use it in their goods. If you can 

 suggest some way to use it, or some profitable way 

 of disposing of it, it will be appreciated. Would the 

 name " honey-dew honey " on the labels of this grade 

 of honey conform to the pure-food laws, or would the 

 word "honey" have to be left off entirely? 



Jonesboro, Tex., March 27. T. B. Cantbell. 



My claim is that we should not put any 

 inferior gi'ades of honey on the market as a 

 good many beekeepers have done and are 

 still doing from year to year. The result is 

 that it has a material bearing on the price 

 good honey ought to bring, and therefore 

 should be avoided. In our own case we have 

 a good deal of quite dark honey at times, 

 and sometimes we get very light-colored 

 honey. Now, instead of selling the very 

 light honey alone, we use it with darker 

 honey to make a light-amber blend that we 

 have been selling for years. Long ago we 

 found that this is by far the best method of 

 procedure in a locality where honeys of 

 different colors are hai'vested. We find it 

 difficult to get enough more for our very 

 light honey over a good light-amber grade 

 to waiTant us in selling it separately, and 

 then, perhaps, run the risk of not being able 

 to dispose of our darker grades. A good 

 light-amber gi-ade of honey always finds a 

 ready market at a good average price. Be- 

 sides this we now avoid the occasion for 

 sending a customer some very light honey 

 at one time and then filling his next order 

 with dark honey or vice versa. Either may 

 cause reason for complaint. 



My advice about the handling of the 

 honey crop in your locality would be to 

 harvest your main crop just before you get 

 any honey-dew mixed with it. The honey- 

 dew honey can then be left on the hives for 

 winter stores here in the South, as we have 

 not found that any evil results follow its 

 use as it might do in the North and East. 

 In my own apiaries I would provide the 

 queen laying room in. some other way and 

 leave the honey-dew in the combs for feed- 

 ing stores in the spring. The result of this 

 extra amount of food material during the 

 heavy breeding season in the spring would 

 mean rousing colonies for the honey-flows 

 later. I am sure that it could be used to 

 great advantage for this purpose. Instead 

 of putting it on the market in the form of 

 "honey," especially if of dark color, I would 

 turn this product into increase of bees and 

 then sell the extra bees. Such an exchange 

 would prove profitable. It would be far 

 better to use it up in tliis way than to put 

 it on the market at a low price. This always 

 has a tendency to bring the j^rice of better 

 honey down. [Honey containing honey- 

 dew can be sold under the name of " honey- 

 dew honey." This complies with a ruling 

 under the national pure-food law. — Ed.] 



