588 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTHWEST 



Louis H. SchoU, New Braiinfels, Texas 



Until recently I have believed 

 that hives could be made with 

 halved corners, nailed both ways in 

 such a manner that they would 

 stand just as rough handling as 

 dovetailed hives. This is not true, 

 however. Thru the purchase of 

 bees we have quite a number of them in a 

 few of our apiaries, made by skilled work- 

 men, that become loose in the corners and 

 lose their shape. There are several ways of 

 making these corners so that the walls may 

 be nailed from both sides, but none of them 

 equals the dovetailed corner. This is espe- 

 cially important with us, since we handle all 

 our colonies and the honey crop in hive 

 parts, instead of individual frames or 

 combs, and haul them long distances the 



year round. 



* * * 



While there are various ways of fastening 

 foundation sheets into shallow frames I like 

 none so well as the melted-wax method used 

 by ourselves, and described in detail some 

 time ago. Our frames have plain, smooth, 

 grooveless top-bars. These are laid succes- 

 sively on to our frame-rack for holding 

 three frames, and the sheets of foundation 

 are simply laid against the spacing-boards, 

 close to the top-bar, and a spoonful of 

 melted beeswax poured along this and the 

 job is finished. There is no tirqe lost in first 

 working the edge of the sheet into a groove, 

 which, by the way, becomes useless after 

 being once filled with wax as well as weak- 

 ening the top-bar. This plan is also much 

 more rapidly done than by the methods 

 employing the rolling or pressing to the 

 top-bar about % inch of the foundation 

 sheet. The latter method is also a more 

 expensive one on account of the costly foun- 

 dation that is wasted in fastening the sheet. 

 Then, too, it does not adhere quite so well 

 as the melted-wax fastening; and in this 

 case the same wax, scraped from the top-bar 

 again and again, whenever the comb is 

 removed, is used to fasten other sheets. 



* * * 



QUICKLY REMOVING THE SURPLUS HONEY. 



An interesting ai'ticle was that of J. A. 

 Grreen, p. 351, May 1 — freeing supers of 

 bees in out-apiaries by means of carbolized 

 cloths laid over the supers to be freed of 

 bees, in connection with some smoke. 



I tried this some years ago, when mention 

 of this method was occasionally made, but 

 gave it up as impracticable, in our method 

 of management at least. It may work bet- 

 ter with others. First, it requires more time 



in the proper preparation of the cloths 

 themselves, and to remove the supers with 

 Ihem than with our method of hurriedlj' 

 smoking out the bees, removing the supers, 

 and shaking out the few remaining bees 

 when the supers are carried to the wagon or 

 truck. The second objection was the danger 

 of the odor affecting the honey, which it did 

 in several cases. While this may be overcome 

 to some extent, perhaps by using more care 

 and by the use of highly refined carbolic 

 acid (as suggested by Mr. Green it is rath- 

 er expensive just now), and with hired help, 

 it is more of a problem to have things at- 

 tended to with the same carefulness as when 

 one does it himself. 



TWO FORDS BETTER THAN ONE. 



Yesterdajr we returned from a trip to five 

 .apiaries where'we put on additional supers 

 of full sheets of foundation for bulk comb 

 honey. At the last yard we " picked up " a 

 load of the finished product and brought it 

 back with us to the honey-house. With the 

 supers, frames, and honey there was about 

 1200 pounds of weight to the little Ford 

 truckload. We left at about 10 a. m., and 

 were back at 6 p. m., covering a distance of 

 over fifty miles, and going into and thru 

 pastures and over rough roads. Today I 

 read the editorial on page 466, June 15, in 

 which the editor gives his experience with 

 one of these small cars. My experience in 

 out-apiaiy work with the Ford warrants me 

 to add " amen " to what is said there. My 

 dreams have been about one of the some- 

 what larger trucks for the heavier hauling, 

 in addition to the small runabout, and the 

 delivery .and larger bee-moving platform 

 spring wagon and two horses ; and until re- 

 cently I thought that my equiiDment would 

 not be complete without such a larger truck. 

 After trying it, however, I changed ray 

 mind. It was impossible to make the fast 

 time with the large truck that I desired, nor 

 to haul as safely supers filled with founda- 

 tion or tender comb honey. A load of 84 of 

 our shallow ten-frame supers on the larger 

 truck resulted in a good deal of torn or 

 jolted-down foundation sheets, while there 

 was no such trouble with my loads of 50 

 .such supers on the Ford, and yet we made 

 far faster time. Taking into consideration, 

 therefore, the great difference in expense, 

 first cost, and the cost of upkeep thereafter, 

 1 have decided upon another Ford to enable 

 me to take somewhat lighter loads but in 

 considerably quicker time. In fact, most 

 of the running around of the beekeeper can 

 be more economically done in this manner. 



