NOVEMBER 15, 1916 



BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTHWEST 



Louis H. Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas 



Some good fall rains have al- 

 ready fallen thruout the greater 

 part of Texas. Fall and winter 

 rains assure us better honey crops 

 the following season, hence these 

 are welcomed by the beekeeper. 



An enjoyable and profitable time was 

 spent in a picnic by the members and 

 fi-iends of the Guadalupe Valley Beekeep- 

 ers' Association on the grounds of the Bath- 

 ing Beach on the Guadalupe River, near Se- 

 guin, Saturday, Oct. 14. It was the first 

 attempt of this kind for this association, 

 and it was so sxiccessful that another and 

 much larger i)icnic of this kind will be held 

 next spring. Besides " bee-talks " by sever- 

 al of the more prominent beekeepers, there 

 were also demonstrations of a varied nature, 

 in which not only the men but the ladies 

 took part. 



!!:- « «:- 



Henr}' Brenner, of Seguin, Texas, has re- 

 turned to Porto Rico, after a journey to 

 those islands last spring. He reported ex- 

 cellent advantages existing there for exten- 

 sive queeu-rearing, having experimenfed 

 along this line while there. His report was 

 also tl.'at he was far more successful in his 

 attempts there than under the conditions ex- 

 isting liere in this part of Texas. The hon- 

 ey, however. Avas all rather dark in eoloi' in 

 those localities visited by him at that time; 

 but a peculiar feature connected with this 

 is that the comb itself is all of the whitest 

 kind. While the comb honey looks beauti- 

 fully white from outside appearances the 

 honey itself is very dark in these white 

 con)bs. 



BEEKEKPKRS MORE INTERESTED. 



There has been a lack of interest on the 

 part of tlie Texas beekeepers dui'ing the last 

 several years that was beginning to tell. 

 The individual beekeepers were plodding 

 along their own narrow path and according 

 to their own good will, little concerned 

 about their fellow-men following the same 

 pursuit. Producing their crops and mar- 

 keting these without much regard for mar- 

 ket and other conditions, there has arisen 

 each season a crisis of low prices and de- 

 ploi'able market co:;dilioi:s. 



With this regular annual recurrence, and 

 its effect on the financial condition of the 

 beekeepers there has awakened a deeper 

 interest and a desire to take some steps that 

 may aid in stemming the tide that was do- 

 ing material harm. There now exists a 



greater desire to do that which some of us 

 tried to bring about years ago — co-oj^erate 

 and organize, and use united effort to a 

 better advantage and benefit of every bee- 

 keeper and the beekeeping industry as v ' 

 whole. 



LOSES ONLY TWO PER CENT IN MATING. 



While visiting Mr. Henry Brenner, near 

 Seguin. Texas, a few weeks ago, I was as- 

 tonished at his success in rearing queens 

 this summer. According to his statement 

 he lost only about 2 per cent of queens fail- 

 ing to become mated, or out of a few over 

 one hundred queens only three were not suc- 

 cessfull}' mated. Two of these were drone 

 layers, and one did not lay at all. The 

 writer saAv many of the queens after they 

 had all been laying for several weeks, and 

 their nuclei were quite strong with their own 

 offspring. They were all reared from two 

 selected yellow Italian breeding-queens that 

 had shown excellent results as honey-storers 

 and for other qualities. 



All of these queens were mated in upper 

 stories and over stroiig colonies of bees. A 

 solid board partition cut off all com.munica- 

 tion between brood-chamber and nucleus. 

 One comb of brood and honey and several 

 combs containing more or less honey were 

 placed in this upper story. Then a cupful 

 or two of bees, previouslj' prepared accord- 

 ing to the Stachelhausen method, were pour- 

 ed on to the combs after a ripe queen-cell 

 had been placed between two of the central 

 combs. A hole bored thru the rear of the 

 hive, somewhat toward the other wall of the 

 hive from that near which tlie nucleus is lo- 

 cated, provides an entrance for these bees. 



An important item explained by Mr. 

 Brenner is that of not using any division- 

 board next to the outside comb of these nu- 

 clei to prevent the robbing-out of the nu- 

 clei as is so often the ease. He states that 

 if a division-board is used it provides a sort 

 of ante-room in tlie vacant space between 

 this board and the wall of the hive, into 

 which the robbers will enter from the en- 

 trance hole; and, once inside this, they find 

 it an easy matter to gain access to the nu- 

 cleus proper. Without the division-board 

 and the bees of the nucleus guarding the 

 outside comb of the nucleus, the robber bees 

 do not enter thru the entrance hole at all; 

 and, consequently, he does not lose any of 

 his nuclei by being robbed out. 



His method of obtaining queen-cells and 

 taking care of them seems rather unique al- 

 so, and will be mentioned later. 



