GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTUKE 



Beekeeping in the Southwest 



TAKING INVENTORIES OF STOCK. 



How many beekeepers make it a rule to 

 take an inventory of stock at the end of 

 each year"? We have often wondered how 

 many do so. I have kept up this practice 

 since the very beginning of my beekeeping, 

 and it makes interesting reading to go over 

 the various inventories of over twenty years. 

 They reveal the real progress that we have 

 made from the beginning, showing the 

 increase in the valuation of the property 

 from year to year, unless we have been 

 unfortunate and have gone " backward " 

 for some reason or other. 



We have not only found it interesting to 

 keep these yearly records, but of a great 

 deal of value besides. In fact, since our 

 business has grown to such an extent it 

 becomes necessary now to make these records 

 so that we can furnish our reports to the 

 commercial agencies for proper rating. 

 * * * 



MARKETING BULK COMB HONEY ALL WINTER. 



Quite frequently we are not able to 

 dispose of all of a lai'ge honey crop, espe- 

 cially when we harvest a good fall crop, 

 before the winter months set in ; and since 

 the danger of granulation makes a serious 

 inroad, it has become necessary for us to 

 devise some means by which we can over- 

 come this difheulty. 



I have conducted some experiments along 

 this line during the last two years, and 

 have found it is possible to store comb 

 honey in such a way in a dry warm room or 

 a dry heated basement that it can be kept 

 from granulating, and used whenever there 

 is a demand for it. The extracted honej' 

 needs less attention since it can be relique- 

 fied after it has granulated; and since we 

 have made it a rule to heat all of our ex- 

 tracted honey that is used in packing the 

 comb honey just before making the ship- 

 ments to market, to prevent (for a time at 

 least) the rapid granulation of some of our 

 honeys, it does not matter so much if we do 

 have to reliquefy it. 



We believe we are the first persons who 

 have adopted and successfully carried out 

 the method of shipping honey to our cus- 

 tomers tln'oughout the entire winter months. 

 Year before last we kept over winter about 

 6000 pounds of comb honey for an experi- 

 ment along these lines. Last year we used 

 12,000 pounds in this way, and this year 

 we shall carry over 40,000 pounds for this 

 purpose. The above amounts must be more 

 than doubled to get tlie amount of " bulk 

 comb honey " that will actually result after 



g, TexaSo 



it is packed in the various sizes of tin recep- 

 tacles used, as it takes more extracted honey 

 than comb honey to pack any of these in 



the right proportions. 



* * * 



GUARD AGAINST FIRES. 



It is amazing to And, in the reports from 

 the State fire-insurance boards, the great 

 number of fires that might have been pre- 

 vented. And this brings to our mind the 

 utter carelessness in this respect so often 

 displaj^ed by some of our beekeepers. Time 

 and again have I seen smokers, still filled 

 with burning contents, carelessly set inside 

 of a building with combustibles scattered 

 over the floor, and within easy reach of the 

 dangers lurking in such a smoker. 



It has been our policy to teach all of our 

 assistants to be m.ore careful with such 

 things than they are generally, and to take 

 the contents of the smoker from any build- 

 ing or any thing else that might catch fire. 

 When they come from the out-apiaries they 

 have learned to throw the smoker contents 

 out before they come back home; and when 

 they use the smokers here they have been 

 taught to empty the contents in the fireplace 

 under the honey-liquefying vat and to ex- 

 tinguish any remaining fire by throwing 

 water o\'er it before leaving it. 



There is also another important matter 

 that I wish to mention; and that is witli 

 regard to the cleanliness of our out-apiaries, 

 and even the apiaries at home. There will 

 be years when it is almost impossible to 

 keep down the grass and weeds successfully. 

 "We have just had one of these, on account 

 of the excessive rainfall and a consequent 

 lack of time. But we are putting all of 

 our efforts into a general " eleaning-up 

 campaign " now. With the oncoming of 

 winter and the drying-up of the vegetation 

 the fire risk in out-apairies where the grass 

 and weeds have had the upper hand is 

 exceedingly great. We have had several 

 minor fires of this sort, and might have lost 

 heavily in bees and hives burning if we had 

 not at least been careful enough to keep the 

 ground clean immediately around the hives. 



It is a wonder tliat there are not more 

 apiaries destroyed by fire from conditions 

 that I have seen in many yards. Grass and 

 Aveeds and leaves, where the apiary is locat- 

 ed under deciduous trees, are all a menace, 

 and should be cleaned away as promptly 

 as possible. Doing this will save many a 

 restless moment, for we are never certain 

 about the safety of our colonies if this 

 danger lurks near. 



