TEE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



275 



In the methods practised hereto- 

 fore the queen has been allowed to 

 travel and inspect at will ; and the 

 idea that the liberties of the queen 

 might be restricted without detrac- 

 tion from profits seems to have hiber- 

 nated. 



These ideas are not given to fore- 

 tell or predict any certain revolution 

 in apiculture. Indeed it might require 

 a long time, and much contrivance 

 of many minds, to effect a revolution. 

 The haste and impetuosity accom- 

 panying the introduction of the re- 

 versible frame and sectional hives 

 were the most active agents connect- 

 ed with their downfall, and well illus- 

 trate that a few cannot maintain an 

 enthusiasm for a large company. 



If the ideas are worthy, let us briiig 

 them on the stage quietly, like the 

 lamb rather than like the lion. 



Bradford, Iowa. 



For the American Ajnculturist. 



BEE CULTURE IN TEXAS. 



Mrs. S. E. Sherman. 



IGNORANCE OF THE HONEY BEE IN 

 THE LONE STAR STATE. 



My neighbors and friends appear 

 much surprised when, in answer to 

 their inquiries if the moth or web- 

 worm does not kill a good many of 

 my bees, I tell them that I have 

 never, so far, lost a colony from that 

 cause. That seems to be the great 

 dread among box- or gum-hive bee- 

 keepers generally. 



I am often astonished at the igno- 

 rance that exists among otherwise 

 well informed persons in I'egard to 

 bee culture. They don't know that 

 if a colony from any cause becomes 

 queenless it will soon dwindle down 

 and die out ; or, as they say, the worms 

 killed my bees. Neither do they 

 know how to re- queen a colony. I 



have been asked how many kings 

 there were in a hive ; what was the 

 use of drones any way? and was 

 once requested to show the queen's 

 throne. Often, in showing persons 

 my observatory hive, I have had the 

 drones pointed out as the queen. In 

 speaking of my extractor, I was once 

 asked if I put it inside the hive and 

 ground the honey out. Another 

 party upon my shovvingitto him was 

 very much astonished and said that 

 he had studied a great deal about 

 how one was made and had decided 

 that it was a little squeezing machine. 

 I believe that I have never shown it 

 to any one that had formed anything 

 like a correct idea of it. One lady 

 told me that her family had had bees 

 for twenty- five years, and that so far 

 as she knew the bees that they now 

 had were the same ones that they had 

 bought twenty-five years ago. Not- 

 withstanding they have owned bees 

 so long, when she wants honey she 

 sends to me for it. 



There have quite a number of 

 swarms of bees come to me when 

 they are starved out at home. The 

 neighbors now, the first time they see 

 me after losing a swarm ask if, on a 

 certain day, a swarm of bees didn't 

 come to me. I always tell them to 

 come and get them if they want 

 them ; sometimes they come and 

 sometimes they don't. I was told a 

 few weeks ago that it was thought 

 that my getting the Italians and in- 

 troducing them here had caused the 

 native bees to starve. The gentle- 

 men said that it was upon the same 

 principle that a German could live 

 where a common American would 

 starve. 



Since my last article was written 

 we have had fine rains and my bees 

 have done better than I thought they 

 would. I have extracted 1036 lbs, 

 and have a small amount of comb 

 honey still on a few hives. My bees 

 are very strong in number with lots 

 of brood in their hives and the 

 queens still laying. They are still 



