Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1907-05-16
BEE KEEPING FOR THE
FARMER AND FRUIT
GROWER.
BY Wilmon Newell.

Since the earliest times, bees
have been kept are cared for by,
man, and noted authorities tell
us that the bee was one of the
first of the wild creatures to be
domesticated and made to dir
ect its efforts for the good of
the human race.
l have never been able to I'M
derstand why so little attention
has been paid to bee keeping in
Louisiana, while our sister
state of Texas surpasses all 9TH
er states of the Union in the
amount of wax and honey pro-
duced each year. Here in Lou
isiana we have thousands of
acres of alfalfa and clover, and
the woods and swamps are con-
stantly filled with numerous
wild flowers which yield up
their delicately favored sweets
to the busy bee. To the writer
who has had constant expert
ence with bees for the most of
his life, the conditions for sue
cessful bee keeping in Louisi-
ana seem to be almost ideal, yet
it is very rare that we find a
modern apiary in this state,
wherein modern methods are
pursued and wherein the max
imum amount of good marketa-
BILE honey and wax is secured.
l am not advising any of you
to rush headlong into wholesale
bee keeping. There is no one
field in which you can lose mon
ey faster than in bee keeping.
Professional bee keeping is
no work for the novice. Bee
keepers of experience who de-
vote their entire time to their
apiaries not infrequently clear
from one to three thousand dol
lars a year. These men, how
ever, are all men who started
with one or two colonies of bees
and grew in experience and
knowledge as the number of
their colonies increased. They
all made mistakes, but were
lucky in making their mistakes
with small amount of capital
and they were later enabled to
avoid these mistakes when
greater amounts were involved
There is no reason why every
farmer and fruit grower should
not keep a few colonies of bees.
Only small investment in APP
paratus is needed, very little
work is required and the return
in good edible honey makes it
well worth the while. A sec
ondary consideration is that
bees, by cross-pollenizing the
blooms of our fruits, are decid-
edly beneficial and their pres
ence in an orchard invariably
results in more and better
fruit.
The methods employed by the
bee keeper of today are far diff
ferent from those in vogue a
few years ago. Instead of old
box-hives or gums" from
which the honey could be taken
only by breaking open the hives
and destroying the comb and
young brood and missing W
everything generally, we have
hives so constructed that every
bee, every cell and every little
larval bee in the hive can be ex
amined in few minutes, anc
this without spilling a drop o.
honey, destroying a single Gel
of comb, killing a single bee o.
even OBTAINING the queen for
moment from her work of eg,
laying.
Such hive is before you il
it's simplest form. This j
known as the Langstroth hive
1t is not patented. is manufact
ured by various manufacturer
of bee supplies, and can evel
be made at home by any goo
carpenter. 1t consists of tn
bottom-board on which the hiv
which the young bees are rear
ed and honey stored for use o
the bees during winter o
drought, the super in which tn
extra honey or surplus"
stored, and the cover.
Before proceeding with a de
scription of this hive and hoy