236 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



PEACH-BLOOM IN JANUARY. 



In the South, fruit-bloom is very early — 

 much earlier than "up north;" but this year 

 it has come even earlier. Some of our peach- 

 trees are in "full blow," and bees are on the 

 blossoms. Occasional pear and other fruit- 

 trees have been in bloom since the first of 

 the year. See page 354. 



The weather has been warm, the thermom- 

 eter registering 82° in the shade in the mid- 

 dle of January. There have been only a few 

 cold days and frosty nights; but bad weath- 

 er may yet be expected during this month, 

 and even in March; so we are unable to tell 

 what the outcome will be. A late spring 

 with cold winds and frost is a great draw- 

 back to our bees. The early bloom stimu- 

 lates them; and as brood-rearing advances, 

 the brood-nest is spread out; a sudden cold 

 wave overtakes the bees unawares, and 

 brings disastrous results. It is during such 

 seasons that extra hive protection would be 

 essential and profitable. The stores of every 

 colony should be looked after also, as the 

 heavy breeding soon depletes the honey on 

 hand, and a snortage may mean a loss of 

 much young brood. This latter is more oft- 

 en the cause of brood losses than the cold 

 weather. It is simply brood starved for want 

 of food which the bees were not able to sup- 

 ply on account of the inclement weather. A 

 little feeding and a little extra care may 

 mean money in the owners' pockets. 



A VALUABLE FEBRUARY BLOOMER. 



Nothing stimulates early brood-rearing in 

 my apiary here like the triple-fed barberry 

 (Berberis trijoliata Moricj. This shrub is 

 more commonly known here as "agerites, " 

 its Mexican name. It belongs to the family 

 Berberidece, or barberrv family; is an ever- 

 green, and grows mostly on gravelly slopes 

 and hills of Southwest Texas, often forming 

 thickets and along field and pasture fences 

 where the seeds have been scattered by birds, 

 which are very fond of the ripe berries. The 

 wood is hard and yellow. The leaves are 

 palmately trifoliate, or in threes, and each 

 leaflet is stout and stiff, lobed into three to 

 five lobes, each with a sharp spine. The 

 flowers are small, bright yellow, and borne 

 in dense clusters along the entire stems. 

 Their great number and fragrance fill the 

 entire woods during their bloom. The ripe 

 fruit, in May, is small, red, acid berries about 

 the size of small peas, whi«ih are delicious to 

 the taste. These are much used for jellies, 

 pies, tarts, etc., and also for making barber- 

 ry wine. 



As a honey-plant it is one of much value 

 to me. It blooms here very early in Febru- 

 ary, and the bloom continues for several 

 weeks, some bushes blooming later than oth- 

 ers. The pollen yield is abundant, bright 

 yellow in color. It also furnishes honey, and 

 the bees build up rapidly. When locating 

 apiaries it is always observed that there is 

 an abundance of " agerites " within reach 

 of the bees if these are located in localities 

 where the shrub prevails. It is the second 

 bloomer of the year on my list of Texas hon- 

 ey-plants, coming after mistletoe, mentioned 

 in Jan. 15th Gleanings, and just before our 

 main fruit-bloom. See illvistration, p. 254. 



or 



SHALLOW DIVISIBLE HIVES. 



Another season of hive preparation is at 

 hand, and the question of the kind of hive 

 best suited for our purpose comes up in our 

 minds. It is a hard matter to settle this ques- 

 tion for everybody; but it can be settled by 

 an individual for himself if he is careful, and 

 conscientious in his opinions regarding the 

 advantages and disadvantages of a nive. 

 Bearing this in mind I have experimented 

 with many kinds of hives. My conclusions 

 were that the regular Langsti'oth-depth hive 

 is better suited to the greater majority of the 

 bee-keepers, for several reasons. One of 

 these is that such a hive is of standard di- 

 mensions, or at least put out by the majority 

 of manufacturers, and used already by most 

 bee-keepers. It is best suited for the great 

 majority who adhere to the methods and 

 manipulations applying to the Langstroth 

 hive, for a different hive needs a different 

 system of management with it. The regular 

 Langstroth hive is also best suited to those 

 who do not handle their bees at all —the class 

 who boast that it is standard, and "good 

 enough for me." Arguments may be in fa- 

 vor of letting such persons use box hives; but 

 might it not be possible that simply the fact 

 that the bees are in regular frame hives en- 

 hances their value — for instance, if sold? 



But the Langstroth hive does not "fill the 

 bill ' ' for all bee-keepers. For the intensive 

 bee-keeper, though he may manage only one 

 apiary or run many on an extensive scale, 

 the divisible hive and the system that goes 

 with it, mind you, will be found to possess 

 many advantages over the deeper-frame 

 hives. It is a noted fact that those who have 

 tried such hives carefully, and adopted them, 

 do not hesitate to extol their merits, and re- 

 main advocates of them. 



Generally, those who decry the mei'its of 

 such hives have either not tried them fairly 

 and conscientiously or they have used the di- 

 visible hive with the system of management 

 that belongs to the Langstroth. This is one 

 thing to be remembered in discussing the 

 merits or demerits of a hive. If the manipu- 

 lations used with deep-frame hives are ap 

 plied to the divisible, sight is lost of the real 

 benefits to be derived from the use of shal- 

 low hives. Unless the right kind of manage- 

 ment belonging to the divisible hive is used 

 with it nothing will be known about the merits 



