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73 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



tended from one side of the house to 

 the other, enough to take our frames, 

 and they were far enough below so the 

 combs could hang in there. We put in 

 other sticks until we got all the comb 

 in the house. Then every few weeks 

 we opened those sticks and burned suffi- 

 cient sulphur to kill the larvae that were 

 there, and the fumes of the sulphur be- 

 ing so strong in there the moths were 

 not very anxious to get in. In that way 

 we never lost any combs. We have some 

 trouble now in taking out the hives that 

 are necessary to keep. We have houses 

 built the same way, and there is no 

 danger. 



Mr. Hatch — I lost combs the past 

 summer by the moths, and I was talk- 

 ing to a neighbor bee-keeper who said. 

 "I see you are a fool, and you are as I 

 used to be. If you will take these moth- 

 balls and put among your hives, they 

 will keep them out all summer long." 

 I said, "Have you tried it?" and he re- 

 plied, "Yes, I have tried it for 6 years." 



Mr. Aten — In answer to Mr. Treon, 

 in trying to cut off the moth, I have 

 had considerable experience. I will say 

 that it is impossible, I have taken combs 

 and sealed them up in air-tight jars, and 

 the moth would eat threm up. The moth- 

 eggs were laid in the colony of bees, 

 and if you don't fumigate them they 

 will eat the combs up. Fumigation by 

 sulphur is a success with me. 



T. P. Robinson — I am a honey-pro- 

 ducer exclusively, that is, I produce 

 something like 16,000 pounds of comb- 

 honey, and there were only six or seven 

 cases of extracted honey. In the pro- 

 duction of extracted honey I tried to 

 keep my colonies built up very strong. 

 If the combs are too heavy to extract 

 I move them to the super where the 

 bees will hatch out, and the bees will 

 fill them up, and I extract again. This 

 year I extracted from the brood-cham- 

 bers, and did not leave any honey at 

 all. The bees did all right; in a few 

 days they had filled the combs again. 

 For the last ten years I have had no 

 damage. But as far as the moths eat- 

 ing the combs, Mr. Aten is correct. 



E. J. Atchley — I have had some ex- 

 perience in producing extracted and 

 comb honey, and I think the locality has 

 something to do with it. If I lived in 

 Mr. Townsend's neighborhood, I would 

 hardly take time to eat and sleep, or 

 drink, until I found out from him his 



management for the production of ex- 

 tr^icted honey, and I believe that if Mr. 

 Townsend were in my locality he would 

 have to change his plans to be as suc- 

 cessful in Southwest Texas as in Michi- 

 gan. Therefore we should run our bees 

 to the best advantage according to our 

 own judgment, and a little brood in the 

 upper stories, or anywhere else in a 

 hive should not bother us. It seems 

 that the pollen packed in the combs can 

 be taken out almost any time. And an- 

 other thing in the production of ex- 

 tracted honey, my plan would be what 

 is known as the "Dadant Plan." And 

 as to keeping combs from moths, 1 

 think that €very practical bee-keeper 

 will keep the moths out of his combs. 

 There are several ways. You can wash 

 the extractor, and you can stack them 

 up on the hives. I have three or four 

 supers stacked on my hives today, and 

 the strong colonies are protecting them. 

 If I were in the North I would prac- 

 tice Northern methods, according to the 

 most successful bee-keepers. 



Mr. W. H. Laws, of Beeville, Texas, 

 then read a paper on 



THE COMPARATIVE PROFITS 

 OF QUEEN-REARING AND 

 MONEY -PRODUC- 

 TION. 



In the discussion of the question of 

 the comparative profits of queen-rear- 

 ing and honey-production, I reaUze that 

 it is a question that can not be settled 

 by mere figures, made theoretically, but 

 a question that can be solved only by ■ 

 years of practical demonstration right 

 among the bees, and that, too, by a 

 skilled queen-breeder. 



To rear good queens, and to have 

 them for the market at all times dur- 

 ing the queen-rearing season, expert la- 

 bor is demanded; without it, commer- 

 cial queen-rearing is a failure. 



To the man who can secure fair crops 

 of honey, year after year, is not always- 

 due all the credit for his success; the 

 bees do the labor, the locality furnishes 

 the nectar, the bee-keeper only furnish- 

 ing the hives and storage-room, and 

 takes care of the swarms. 



I know just such men who make 

 money from their bees by honey-pro- 

 duction alone, who give the bees no 

 more attention than that just stated; and 

 these men seldom see a queen-bee from 

 one year's end to the other. It is un- 

 necessary to say that such men, though 



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