AviUST. 19'J0 



a ]. ]•: A N I K O S IN B K E C U 1. T U R E 



461 



sons, as tliere will bo fields of alsike wliei(> 

 little white elovor is to be found. To be 

 sure, there are certain seasons when alsike, 

 even tlio jtlentiful, has failed to secrete suf- 

 fieient nei-tar for a surplus. But time and 

 ajjain it has saved tlie beekeeper from actual 

 feeding:, and tided him thru to the fall flow 

 that yave jtlenty of stores for winter. 



Del mar, la. 



I In our July issue Mr. Coverdale ex 

 plained one j;ood way to get more honey. 

 This month lie gives another method that 

 has helped him to increase his yields. 



■\Vli:it ^Ir. Coverdale has done, others can 



(Id. lie says that it has l^oiMi largely thru 

 his own efforts that alsike has become so 

 widely grown by the farmers in his part of 

 the State. There is no reason why many 

 other localities cannot be improved in the 

 same way. As soon as farmers begin to ap- 

 jireciate the value of alsike, it Avill be sown 

 nni(di more extensively than at present. 



l''rom our own experience as well as that 

 of others we know it will pa.y the beekeeper 

 well to do all that he can, even to furnish- 

 ing part i>f the seed, in order to get tlu^ facts 

 before tiie farmers of his locality. —Kditor.] 



TEXAS AS A BEE COUNTRY 



Good and Bad Points About Texas: 



Also Something About an Old-Time 



^een-Breeder Still at Work 



By E. R. Root 



SO.MK 40 years 

 ago t here 

 was a great 

 exodus of people 

 to Kansas. Glow- 

 ing reports had 

 been brought 

 back of the enor- 

 mous crops se- 

 cured there. 



Thousands upon thousands went. Then came 

 the grasshojipers and the awful drouths, not 

 to mention the tornadoes and other draw- 

 backs. Many came back or went farther 

 west, sadder and madder than when they left 

 home in the East. But, as every one knows, 

 Kansas recovered, and is now one of the 

 leading agricultural States of the Union. 



What has happened to Kansas has hap- 

 pened to Texas. A few years ago nearly 



t li (' mse Ives to 

 such conditions, 

 M II d many left 

 tli(> State sick at , 

 heart and sick in 

 l)ody. 



It is the same 

 old story. There 

 is no State nor 

 locality in the 

 United States that is always dependable. 

 There is no State in the Union where 

 there is no chill nor dampness. I have 

 suffered more from actual cold in some 

 of the semi-tropical States than I ever 

 did in the North. Why"? People in the 

 South and in the semi-tropics have learned 

 to get along without an elaborate heating 

 equipment. Apparently they can or do 

 stand it. But when I get chilled thru I want 



NV. O. Victor looking over the markings of the bees 

 of one of his breeding queens. Mr. Victor is one 

 of the oldest queen-breeders in the United States. 

 He owns and operates something like a thou.sand 

 rolonies of bees, a part of wliich are run for ex- 

 traoted lioney. a pari for pound paikacres, and the 

 n-vt fi,r ipiei'iis. 



• very our was going to Texas. It was 

 "laimed that it was to be a cure-all for all 



• lisi-:is.-s; lliat it had a mild and *'>\n;\\Ar 

 rljiiKilp, 111) lold 111)1 "lampness; Ihal Ihcn' 

 \vor>- iiu failures: and that (•\ ery one \\\i» 

 went there made money. T^nfortunately 

 there came the long parching drouths. The 

 iiewcomers did nut know how to adapt 



One of Mr. Victor's outapiaries with Mr. Victor 

 standing in the foreground. The trees are the 

 mesquite, which had not leaved out at the time of 

 tlio editor's visit. 



a gootl fire or a steam radiator, and some 

 times neither is available in the South. F do 

 not like to tell my hosts that I am cold and 

 nearly frozen to death. I just sit and shiv 

 ir; and Avhen T am asked if T am i-old, I say, 

 Willi . hattf'riiig teeth, "Oh, n..! T am \ eiy 

 ■ •oiiiforlrible, Ihank you." I'Jven if I told 

 llr»' frudi, Ihuse little stovepipe stoves would 

 not warm me — at most they would "go 

 out'* liefore 1 could get warm. 



There are some States where big crops of 



