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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Floyd, Hunt Co., Tex. 



Bee-Caves in Texas — Mistaken Ideas. 



I suppose you have all heard of the 

 bee-caves in Texas, where the bees work 

 through an orifice in the rock, in a 

 stream as large as a flour barrel, and 

 where wagon-loads of honey have been 

 taken, etc. These statements somehow 

 or another get magnified terribly by the 

 time they reach the press. 



Now, please let me reason with you a 

 little, and then I think you will agree 

 with me that it is unreasonable, even 

 for a bee-keeper, to suppose such a 

 thing. 



There are strong colonies of bees that 

 occupy caves, I will admit, but there are 

 no more bees there than in any other 

 strong colony, as there is a limit to 

 their strength. As we all know, there 

 is only one queen, or perchance two, as 

 in some instances in our hives, but one 

 of them is usually old, and of no value. 



These caves have only one swarm in 

 them — not 4 or 5, or a dozen colonies, 

 stationed in different parts of the cave — 

 as some say, and others think, that all 

 work through the same entrance. Such 

 a cave has not been found yet in Texas. 

 So there is only one colony, and the 

 progeny of one queen, and they seldom 

 have more combs than they can cover. 



But inexperienced people have visited 

 these caves at times when the bees were 

 taking an afternoon play-spell, hence 

 the exaggeration. Others have worked 

 into them and taken out as much as a 

 wash-tub of honey, and that widened as 

 it went. 



The bees in these cliffs are usually 

 hived in a large crevice or crack in the 

 bluff — very often not more than a foot 

 deep, and at other times the combs are 

 built clear out on the outside of the 

 rock. 



One friend asks, " Do they swarm ?" 

 Yes, they swarm as other bees do, but 

 if the crevice is a large one, they only 

 swarm in good years. But bees in Texas 

 swarm if hived in a car box, just the 

 same as if hived in a common hive. 

 Swarm they will. Colonies have been 

 known to swarm where they built in the 



grass on the prairie ; they surely had 

 room enougn there. So, when condi- 

 tions are right, bees swarm in Texas 

 because — they want to. 



Bee-Notes from Texas. 



The Season and Fall Crop. — Within 

 the last three weeks the bees here have 

 been doing pretty well, and the hives of 

 strong colonies are full of honey. Up 

 to this time we have had very little sur- 

 plus. Most of this honey is from cotton, 

 and is very nice. The prospects were 

 never better for a good fall crop. We 

 are having now plenty of good rains, 

 and all fall honey-plants are in splen- 

 did condition. In this part of Texas 

 the crops of wheat, oats and corn are 

 above an average, and cotton is very 

 promising. 



Queens in Good Condition. — I re- 

 ceived a lot of six queens a few days ago 

 from a Texas queen-breeder, in the best 

 condition of any ever received by me — 

 not a single bee was dead in the whole 

 lot. They were all safely introduced, 

 and were doing well yesterday. 



Bees in Statue of Liberty. — Speak- 

 ing of the swarm of bees in that vase at 

 Washington (page 168), reminds me 

 that I have been told, and I think it is 

 true, that there is a colony of bees in 

 the Statue of Liberty on the dome of the 

 capitol at Austin, Texas. This statue 

 is over 17 feet in height, and stands 

 over 300 feet from the ground. I think 

 that what honey the bees store they will 

 be allowed to keep. 



Queen that Never Laid. — I had a 

 young queen a few weeks ago which I 

 kept for six weeks in a pretty strong 

 colony, and she never laid a single egg, 

 so far as I was able to discern, and 

 when I killed her she had not a single 

 egg in her abdomen. I never noticed 

 anything of the kind, and presume such 

 instances are very rare. 



Queens Killing Each Other.— In 

 regard to young queens killing each 

 other as soon as they hatch out, mine 

 always do, except in a colony that has 

 cast its first swarm, and intends to 

 swarm again, when I suppose the bees 

 guard the young queens and keep them 

 apart until they swarm, and then they 

 are allowed to come together, when the 

 strongest and most lucky one only sur- 

 vives after a few hours' struggle. 



Italian Queen and Black Drone. — 

 And still our bee-friends are trying to 

 solve the problem : " Will a pure Ital- 



