JUNE 15, 1916 



471 



BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTHWEST 



Rain, rain, rain, during the last several 

 weeks, and pretty general over the greatest 

 part of the southwest, except in the lower 

 Rio Grande Valley. Altho preceded by a 

 long drouthy period there has already been 

 obtained thruout the mesquite sections a 

 good crop of early spring honey from this 

 source. Prospects for our usual honey crop 



are excellent too. 



* * * 



While the beekeepers of the North were 

 determining whether their bees would come 

 out of winter quarters successfully, beekeep- 

 ers of the gi'eat Southwest were busy — head 

 over heels — making a honey crop from the 

 mesquite. This began to bloom in March, a 

 month earlier than usual, and yielded an ex- 

 cellent crop of very fine white honey — an- 

 other matter of locality. 



* * * 



It is interesting to note the great popu- 

 larity of the automobile in beekeeping now. 

 The change has come only during the last 

 few years, altho a few beekeepers used them 

 before. We could not get along without one. 

 Our only regret is that we did not procure 

 one several years ago, as we know now, 

 from careful estimation, that we might be 

 several thousand dollars better off if we had. 



* * » 



Rabbet-sjoaeing of frames as used by the 

 late L. Stachelhausen is still kept up by his 

 widow, Mrs. Stachelhausen, and her son-in- 

 law, Ed. Dietz, who together continue the 

 bee business formerly established by our old 

 veteran " Father of Southern Beekeeping." 

 Folded tin rabbets, notched to hold each 

 plain all-wood shallow frame, are preferred 

 by them to the self-spaeing-frame feature. 

 They operate more than 600 colonies. 



* * » 



By our smoke method, and shaking out 

 the few remaining bees as the supers are 

 jerked off and the hives loaded immediate- 

 ly, it is possible to take off more than a 

 thousand pounds of honey in half an hour. 

 The writer holds an actual record of 1140 

 pounds of honey removed in exactly 28 

 minutes, a young lawyer friend, then a 

 beekeeper, keeping the time. 



Louis H. Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas 



"All work and no play makes Jack a dull 

 boy " is an old saying with much truth in it. 

 This applies to beekeepers too, and other 

 folk. It is gratifying to note the change in 

 Gleanings, that of devi/ing more space to 

 the poetical and the comical side of beekeep- 

 ing instead of giving only the good solid 

 matter. Mrs. Allen and J. H. Donahey are 

 both aiding in this direction by the contri- 

 butions along their respective tendencies. 

 This " kind of stuff " may not appeal to 

 everybody, but some of us like a change 

 from the ordinary once in a while. 



While Dr. Miller and others had 

 a time deciding whether queens at 

 a certain stage of their lives 

 " quahked " or " piped," weunses 

 have produced a crop of over 

 35,000 pounds of bulk comb honey. 

 A difference in locality. 



There has already been trouble in the 

 Texas honey market this early in the year. 

 Certain parties who felt they were not get- 

 ting their share of the honey trade, conse- 

 quently cut prices below the market figures. 

 This was followed by others; and, as a re- 

 sult, market prices dropped one cent a 

 pound all around. Such has also an ill ef- 

 fect in that the buyers have become reluc- 

 tant about handling the product on account 

 of the instability of prices, and so the bee- 

 keepers suffer. Shall we ever be able to get 

 together, and, thru organized efforts, save 

 our industry from these ruinous proceed- 

 ings? 



* « « 



PREVENTING GRANULATION OP HONEY. 



If every beekeeper would heat the extract- 

 ed honey to a temperature of about 150 F. 

 before sending it to market, there would be 

 less complaint from dissatisfied customers, 

 and a better sale of honey. Our expei'ience 

 has taught us to pack not a single package 

 of honey, extracted o" bulk comb, without 

 first heating the liquid honey that goes into 

 the finished package. While this does not 

 insure against granulation again later, the 

 heating does delay this long enough so 

 that the honey may be sold and used before 

 it might granulate again. This enables us 

 to sell more honey instead of finding stocks 

 of granulated honey on hand that cannot be 

 readily sold off on account of the objection 

 found to it on the part of the customers. 

 There are a few consumers who actually 

 prefer honey in the gi'anulated form; but the 

 great majority believe all honey in this state 

 to be old honey, and not fit to use. Much of 

 the most beautiful white honey this spring 

 has caused trouble of this kind because it 

 showed a great tendency to granulate within 

 a few days after it was extracted. Heating 

 all that we shipped out lias prevented us 

 any trouble of this kind, however. 



