GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OCTOBKR 192t) 



^ FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



T„ nr«»v^c -^<^ tho Farmers' Short 



Course, Jield Augiist ~ to i , 

 Prof. S. W. Bilsing, ))rofessor of ento- 

 mology, gave a course in beekeeping. As 

 the meeting is largely attended by the 

 county agents and their organizations, 

 many beginners in beekeeping were among 

 the number. It is very probable that next 

 year a week's work will be given. 



The annual session of the educational 

 branch of the Texas Honey Producers' 

 Association, the 28th annual meeting of 

 the beekeepers of Texas, was also held 

 recently. Up to four years ago these 

 meetings were carried on by the Texas 

 Beekeepers' Association, and this year this 

 old name was again assumed. So we now 

 have the Texas Honey Producers' Associa- 

 tion, a co-operative buying and selling 

 body, and the Texas Beekeepers ' Associa- 

 tion, an educational body including all bee- 

 keepers who wish to belong. The program 

 this year contained many numbers of great 

 interest. The reports of W. C. Collier and 

 E. G. LeStourgeon, delegates to the meet- 

 ing of the Texas Honey Producers ' League, 

 were well received. The paper of Dr. M. 

 C. Tanquary, state entomologist, giving 

 the progress of the foul-brood work in 

 which he outlined the new policy of the 

 Division relative to inspection and treat- 

 ment, was heartily endorsed by all present. 

 E. B. Ault of Calallen sent a paper on 

 shipping bees in combless packages, which 

 attracted a great deal of attention, as near- 

 ly every beekeeper in Texas can see pos- 

 sibilities for the increase in their business 

 by the selling of live bees. The reports 

 of the secretary and treasurer showed that 

 the beekeepers' section of the Farmers' 

 Congress had the largest enrollment of any 

 section and paid the greater share of the 

 expenses of the congress. Every beekeeper 

 in attendance went away carrying with him 

 the desire to return to a far larger and 

 better meeting in 1921. Because of the 

 lack of interest in the Farmers' Congress, 

 it is doubtful if this meeting will be held 

 next year, but arrangements are already 

 on foot to hold a meeting of the Texas 

 Beekeepers' Association during the short 

 course of 1921, at whicli time a beekeepers' 

 school will be conducted as a part of the 

 regular short course. 



The condition of the honeyplants thruout 

 the State indicates a normal fall honey 

 flow. The rains, which occurred during the 

 second week of August, make conditions 

 very favorable for a honey flow next 

 spring, espscially another crop of horse- 

 mint, as the rains came just after the 

 horsemint seeds had ripened. A statement 

 was made during the beekeepers ' meeting 

 at the Farmers' Congress that the honey- 

 producers of Texas had already jiarvested 

 the largest and highcst-priccil honey crop 



ever produced in Texas. This statement 

 passed unchallenged in an audience of \'>f) 

 beekeepers. It is safe to say that one- 

 fourth of the year's honey crop has not 

 yet been taken from the hives. There is a 

 strong flow from cotton thruout the black 

 land section. T. W. Burleson of Waxaha- 

 chie was asked to average the daily flow 

 from cotton in his section and found that 

 during the first week in August his colonies 

 were storing two and one-half pounds per 

 colony per day. There will be an immense 

 blooming of boneset and bitterweed this 

 fall, but the broomweed is not showing up 

 in as great numbers as it did last year. 



During the beekeepers' meeting, a state- 

 ment was made by a prominent beekeeper 

 that it was a matter of interest to him 

 that the boll weevil was less severe on 

 cotton in the vicinity of his apiaries than 

 elsewhere. This statement was substanti- 

 ated by the remarks of a large number of 

 beekeepers present. While these men had 

 no definite data with checks, they are con- 

 vinced that the bees control the boll weevil. 

 This presents a new field of investigation 

 in the very interesting subject of the re- 

 lationship which exists between the honey- 

 bee and the cotton plant. 



An attempt has been made to geh the 

 average production per hive for the various 

 sections of the State. Up to the present, 

 the cotton section reports an average of 

 50 pounds. This includes yields from horse- 

 mint and cotton. The southern part of the 

 chapparal district, where the yields are 

 from huajillo and horsemint principally, 

 the average was 92 pounds. In the upper 

 edge of the same section where horsemint. 

 mesquite, and white brush furnish the most 

 of tke honey, the average was 80 pounds. 



W. O. Victor of Uvalde, in connuenting 

 on shipping bees in carload lots, made a 

 statement that in 15 carloads of bees 

 shipped out, there was a loss of only five 

 per cent. He further stated that he had 

 shipped in box, cattle, and refrigerator 

 cars and that if the icing stations of the 

 roads were near enough together, the re- 

 frigerator «ar would be an ideal way of 

 shipping bees; but, as ice was hard to ob- 

 tain in the section of the country thru 

 which the bees passed, he preferred to ship 

 them in stock cars. In sunin«ing up his 

 talk on migratory Vjeekeeprng, he said that, 

 while he had made meney in shipping bees 

 long distances, he believed that there is 

 more money in moving bees to locations 

 which are nearer together, using the limit 

 of distance between the apiaries as that 

 distance which can be traveled by an auto- 

 mobile tru.ck with economy. He finished 

 by stating that he believed about ?00 miles 

 is as faT as one should move bees, taking 

 everything into consideration. 



College Station, Texas. H. B. Parks. 



