May, 1909. 



American Vae Journal 



near here are planted several thousand acres 

 of cotton, which grows very rank; also sev- 

 eral hundred acres of corn and peas in the 

 wast places in the field. We have an abund- 

 ance of smartweed and sensitive-plant, w-hich 

 blooms profusely in July, August, and Sep- 

 tember; we also have blackberries and dew- 

 berries. 



Do you think this would be a good locality 

 for keeping bees? From what, and in what 

 season, would I expect them to store honey? 

 What hive would you advise me to adopt? 

 (I now have the 8-frame dovetailed hives.) 

 What method do you use to prevent swarm- 

 ing? Do you know of any book or bulletin 

 giving a list and rank of honey-plants of 

 Texas, or the South? I think this would be 

 of interest to a good many of us who wish 

 to begin bee-keeping. T. Clayton. 



Lee Bayou, La. 



Since we are running a string of out- 

 apiaries in the Brazos River Valley, we 

 feel that we are already well acquainted 

 with your location, from your letter. 

 The valleys of the Brazos river, where 

 our bees are located, are very fertile, 

 and rich of soil, low and subject to 

 over-flows, and swamplike in many of 

 the wooded parts. Practically all the 

 same plants you have mentioned grow 

 here, but the main surplus honey is gath- 

 ered from the thousands of acres in 

 cotton, which here also grows very rank. 



The willows and cottonwoods are ex- 

 cellent brood-stimulators early in the 

 season, followed by the others in about 

 the same rotation as mentioned in your 

 letter. The cotton honey, which is our 

 dependence for our crop, is of fine qual- 

 ity, light in color, and the comb honey 

 is fancy white in appearance, and sells 

 well. Last year we obtained at least 

 30,000 pounds of pure cotton honey, and 

 got a very good price for it. The yield 

 comes after July i, and lasts until frost. 



The lO-frame Langstroth hive would 

 be preferable, as the 8-frame size is 

 much too small for best results in such 

 a locality. Swarming would be greater 

 and more difficult to prevent; besides, 

 more honey can be obtained with the 

 larger hive, as stronger colonies can be 

 maintained. 



It is a difficult matter to advise an- 

 other what hive he should use. I have 

 much better results with a divisible 

 brood-chamber hive ; and with these 

 chambers and supers all alike. Many 

 manipulations can be made with it that 

 are not possible with a solid deep brood- 

 nest. 



While I can prevent swarming quite 

 easily with the divisible hive, it is very 

 difficult to do so with the Langstroth 

 size. With the former, the two halves 

 of the brood-nest are interchanged so 

 that the bees are provided with more 

 room long before the swarming season, 

 and they are kept busy and uncrowded. 

 Later another shallow story or super 

 with empty combs is placed between the 

 two halves of the brood-chamber, giv- 

 ing much room for the queen, and the 

 bees. This knocks swarming if done at 

 the right time. Such a stunt can not be 

 made with the deeper hives, and takes 

 only a few minutes for each colony. 



With the deep hives I can prevent 

 swarming only by making all 2-story, 

 adding frames filled with foundation 

 and interchanging them with the brood- 

 cornbs above and below. This is only 

 satisfactory in extractcd-honey produc- 

 tion, however. The "shook" swarming 

 systems of some bee-keepers would have 

 to be adopted for comb honey, unless 



increase is desired, in which case all 

 colonies that would swarm can be drawn 

 upon for brood-combs, etc., with which 

 to make the increase. 



I prefer the shallow-frame supers for 

 both comb and extracted honey, how- 

 ever, hence it is quite bothersome with 



¥~ 



me to have the deep-frame hives as 

 brood-chambers. 



Address the State Entomologist, Col- 

 lege Station, Texas, for a free copy of 

 a bulletin on "Texas Honey-Plants." 

 This was published in January of this 

 year. 



^^^Cjonvention 

 Proceedings 



The Connecticut Convention 



The i8th annual meeting of the Con- 

 necticut Bee-Keepers' Association was 

 held in Hartford, April 9, 1909. The 

 morning was stormy but a surprisingly 

 good percentage of members was pres- 

 ent. The afternoon w^as pleasant and 

 the large attendance was very grat'fv- 

 ing. President Allen Latham presided. 



The Convention opened with prayer 

 by Rev. D. D. Marsh. The Secretary's 

 report showed that about 5 percent of 

 the bee-keepers in the State are mem- 

 bers of the Association. The Treasurer's 

 report showed that the society is in a 

 healthy condition. 



Officers were elected for the ensuing 

 year, as follows: Allen Latham, Nor- 

 wichtown, President; Rev. D. D. Marsh, 

 West Hartford, Vice-President; James 

 A. Smith, Hartford, Secretary and 

 Treasurer. Executive Committee: H. 

 W. Coley, Stephen J Griffen, and Geo. 

 W. Smith. 



Mr. Griffen, chairman of the com- 

 mitee on Foul Brood Legislation, re- 

 ported that a bill had been introduced 

 to the General Assembly, and that a 

 hearing had been granted. The bill calls 

 for an appropriation of $1000 per an- 

 num, and provides that a duly qualified 

 inspector shall be appointed by the 

 Board of Control of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, to be a deputy of 

 the State Etomologist. 



MR. CRANE ON SEVERAL TOPICS. 



J. E. Crane, of Middlebury, Vermont, 

 spoke on three subjects in the morning, 

 to-wit : " Locating an Apiary," " Best 

 Bees," and "Shaking Bees." Although 

 well known as a writer, Mr. Crane, per- 

 sonally, was a stranger to nearly every 

 one present. His ease, ability, and sin- 

 cerity as a speaker made him a favorite 

 at once. He expressed an aversion to 

 the placing of stones to keep hive-cov- 

 ers ori, which always indicates a location 

 that is too breezy, the wind being the 

 worst robber that can visit an apiary. 

 He believes that heavily freighted bees 

 are blown into the grass and perish with 

 their loads of pollen, being unable to 

 rise. The apiary therefore becomes se- 

 verely weakened through the heavy loss 

 of bees. You can judge a good location 

 by snow; if it lies evenly over the 

 ground, that is a good place. Where 

 the drifts gather is a bad stop. The 

 apiary should be sheltered from the 



heavy winds, but he did not favor high 

 board fences as wind-breaks, believing 

 that many bees in flight collide with 

 them. , , 



He referred to experiments in con- 

 nection with cows to bring about good 

 butter-yields, the inference being that 

 a similar principle holds good with bees, 

 "the best ones being those that we give 

 tlie best care." He has obtained the 

 best results from out-yards where Ital- 

 ian queens mi.x with black drones. 

 There is as much difference in bees as 

 in live stock, but it is possible to secure, 

 through painstaking care in the selec- 

 tion of breeders, equally good results 

 with the bees. When a queen is secured 

 whose eggs produce extra fine work- 

 ers, a particular effort should be made 

 to perpetuate that strain, and while 

 it means much careful attention and 

 tliought, the amount of surplus honey 

 will more than compensate for the ex- 

 tra labor and trouble. It is even pos- 

 sible to rear bees that have a propen- 

 sity for extensive ranging, and also 

 those with such vitality that life is pro- 

 longed in the working season. 



Mr. Crane did not speak with any 

 enthusiasni in regard to the practice 

 of reversing combs, and did not place 

 any great value on shaking bees. Bees 

 are naturally arnbitious, but he had re- 

 sorted to shaking in a few instances 

 whcn_ colonies had seemed without any 

 ambition — those cases being rare, — with 

 the result that new life had been in- 

 fused into the bees. While shaking for 

 the control of swarming may frequently 

 be effective, it does not always prevent 

 it. 



LESSONS FROM THE BEES. 



Rev. Elmer A. Dent, of Hartford, 

 closed the morning session with a talk 

 on "Some Lessons From the Bees," 

 which was listened to with great inter- 

 est and enjoyment. He referred to the 

 importance of bees in olden days, the 

 ancients even claiming that one's life 

 was influenced by the bite of the bees 

 on the brain. A hexagonal bite had its 

 particular meaning; a circular bite pro- 

 duced an eloquent man ; a conical bite 

 made one a politician. Some valuable 

 suggestions were drawn from the com- 

 plexity and division of labor in a hive, 

 all working in one harmonious whole. 

 Mr. Dent said that life is becoming 

 more and more complex, and that we 

 are very dependent on one another, and 

 if each one docs not do his part, ill 



