Sept". 28, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



613 



while it was in the air. Otherwise, perchance ill ventila- 

 tion, or worry, or old age, may be the true solution. 



A BUND BEK-KEEPER'S way OF FINDING A QUBBN. 



That blind bee-keeper's method of findinpf the queen — 

 coax nearly all the bees away from her with a comb of 

 syrup — may prove worth using- by folks not blind, in a few- 

 desperate cases of a small and shy black queen, got up in 

 imitation of a squirrel. But a freshly-uncapt comb of new 

 honey from some other hive would draw better than a comb 

 of syrup I think. Of course, the thing would have to be 

 managed so gently that the bees not yet drawn would not 

 fill themselves with their own honey. Page 530. 



\ "P.^T" FOR A BOV SWARM-HIVKK. 



If J. F. Sautter was a boy in 1897 he can hardly be a 

 Methuselah now. Here's a pat for his back. His method 

 of taking and hiving that swarm — well, the oldest of us 

 couldn't have told him a better one. Page 530. 



SEI-LING EXTRACED HONEY EARLY. 



Sell extracted honey before the many needs of the vpin- 

 ter have taxt the buyer's pocket-book. Right )'OU were 

 that time, Mr. Burrell. Page 531. 



ANOTHER HINT FOR "MRS. PENNSYLVANIA." 

 Dr. Miller, that was a good hint of yours to Mrs. Penn- 

 sylvania. For another hint (seeing she still longs for the 

 first good super of honey) let her ask that despised vixen of 

 a queen to tell her children to put it up next season. The 

 chances are that if left alone they are far the best honey- 

 storers in the yard — providing they happen not to swarm. 

 Page 535. 



Report of the Central Texas Bee-Keepers' Con- 

 vention, Held at Milano, July 20-21, 1899. 



BY LOUIS SCHOLL, SEC. 



The annual convention of the Central Texas Eee-Keep- 

 ers' Association was held at Milano, Tex., July 20 and 21, 

 1899. It was called to order by Pres. Aten at 10 a.m., July 

 10, and Judge J. B. Newton gave the bee-keepers a cordial 

 welcome in behalf of the citizens of Milano, to which Mr. 

 F. L. Aten responded. 



There being .some time before dinner, the first question 

 in the question-box was taken up. 



DO QUEENS LAY IN OUEEN-CELLS ? 



" Is it a fact that queens lay in queen-cells already 

 started, or do the bees move the eggs ?" 



Judge Terral said that queens did not lay in queen-cells. 



H. H. Hyde had seen evidence that queens did lay in 

 queen-cells, seeing nothing but eggs at times, also cells 

 started and no egg's in them ; later eggs were found in 

 them. 



G. F. Davidson confirmed Mr. Hyde's views. 



F. L. Aten differed from Judge Terral, confirming tlie 

 views of Messrs. Hyde and Davidson. 



E. J. Atchley's experience is that the queen lays the 

 eggs ; bees do not move eggs, neither do bees start cells 

 over eggs. 



L. Scholl said bees do not start cells over eggs. He 

 tried this when rearing queens. Bees first wait till the egg 

 hatches into a larva, and then construct a cell over it. 



A vote was called for on the above question, and the 

 affirmative carried by vote of 4 to 1. the majority in attend- 

 ance not voting. 



'• Can a fertile queen be introduced without a cage to a 

 colony with a fertile or unfertile queen, and remain for sev- 

 eral days? " 



Mr. Hyde recited a case^where such was done, and Mr. 

 Atchley confirmed him. 



The convention then adjourned till 2 o'clock p.m. 



FIRST DAY— Afternoon Session. 



The election of officers for the ensuing j-ear was first 

 taken up, and resulted as follows : E. R. Jones, President ; 



J. B. Salyer, Vice-Presdent ; and Louis Scholl, Secretary 

 and Treasurer. The next meeting will be held at Hutto, 

 Williamson Co., Tex., the first Thursday and Friday before 

 the full moon in July, 1900. 



THE HONEY-RKSOURCES OF TEXAS. 



Mr. Atchley gave a good talk on this subject. He said 

 that north Texas was once a good bee-country, but horse- 

 mint is cut off now, and cotton is the main honey-plant. 

 All Texas is a good bee-country, but the south of Texas is 

 the best in the world. He also said that bee-keeping was 

 undevelopt in the South ; that large amounts of honey were 

 going to waste, and that the people had to be educated and 

 taught how to keep bees in better ways. Big bee-keepers 

 of experience could do a lot of good by going around and 

 teaching the people how to keep bees, advise them to keep 

 bees as it is more profitable than other pursuits, there be- 

 ing more money in bee-keeping than in raising cotton. It 

 should be the united efforts of all to push it and teach the 

 producer how to produce honey, by reading bee-literature. 

 The question once was, how to sell a crop of honey, but it 

 is different now. It is how to produce a crop, as the de- 

 mand for it is always there. Not long ago the demand for 

 honey was very small, but now it has increast from 10 to IS 

 times as much. He said that he could have sold about 30 

 carloads this year, as the demand is so great, but was un- 

 able to furnish it. 



Mr. Davidson said that a discussion on the honey-flora 

 of Texas was not really necessary here, but gave his experi- 

 ence, as he had traveled a good deal over eastern parts of 

 the State, and found bee-keeping in the most undevelopt 

 condition, and the bee-keepers uneducated. He also found 

 fine ranges of basswood in east Texas, but no practical bee- 

 keepers, and honey had to go to waste. The demand for 

 honey with him was so great that he could not supply it. 



THE BEST SECTION-HONEY SUPER. 



This subject was then handled by O. P. Hyde. He ex- 

 hibited a section super generally known as the "Ideal." 

 The super was of the dimensions of the standard 10-frame 

 hives, 5-'+ inches deep. In it were seven plain slats lyi. 

 inches wide, and Y^ inch thick ; on each rested five tall, 

 plain sections, filling up the full inside length of the super. 

 In this he uses the Hyde-Scholl No. 2 separators, which he 

 then described, first telling how he liked the fence separa- 

 tor so well when it first came out, as he knew it was good. 

 But he said that his son, and also Eouis Scholl, were 

 not very well satisfied with the fence, and so they made a 

 new separator with slats lengthwise like the fence, but in- 

 stead of cleats across the separator they made an upright 

 slat with little cleats on the edge of the separator where 

 the sections come in contact. This gave freer communica- 

 tion than the fence ; bees could go from section to section 

 straight thru and diagonally across in every direction. On 

 account of the upright slat tliere is more free communica- 

 tion, and, besides, it caused bees to fill sections solid to the 

 wood. He found it the best separator out, and closed by 

 stating that Mr. Root objected to the Hyde-Scholl separa- 

 tors at first, but wrote several favorable letters lately. 



Pres. Jones arose to criticise the above. He liked the 

 super ; thought that slatted separators that give free com- 

 munication straight thru from one row of sections to the 

 other row did not cause better filled sections ; believed it 

 was caused by something else, and would like to find out. 

 He tliinks full sheets of foundation to come within 's inch 

 of the section would be best. He prefers a free-communi- 

 cation separator, and said that there was nothing nicer 

 than a solid section of honey with the comb sealed all over 

 solid to all sides of the section, and the cappings of the 

 outside row of cells all around a fraction beyond the sur- 

 face of the comb. This is greatly in favor of the Hyde- 

 Scholl separator, as the upright slot allowed the bees to 

 extend the cappings around the outside edge of the comb 

 just a fraction, which gives it the finest appearance. Mr. 

 Jones said the Hyde-Scholl separator allowed the bees to 

 pass all around tlie edges of the sections, which is the cause 

 of the better filling. The only objection he mentioned was 

 that the wood-separators were hard to clean of bee-glue. 

 Otherwise he endorses the use of this separator, and sug- 

 gested improvements on it if necessary. 



O. P. Hyde said that he was glad Mr. Jones tried to 

 criticise, and thankt him for making a better speech than he 

 himself. He told Pres. Jones that if he objected to the 

 Hyde-Scholl wood-separator he should use the H.-S. tin 

 ones, and he would not have trouble with bee-glue. 



Pres. Jones did not mean the H.-S. wood-separators 

 only, as all wood-separators are hard to clean of bee-glue. 



