Mexico weekly ledger., 1908-04-23
HORTICULTURE AND BEES.
Paper Read by F. E. Wentz Be
fore the Audrain County H.
and B. A. Last Week.

production of honey for the tab
and for the market. They deserve
however, a much wider field of Al
tention. namely, that of their us,
fulness in fertilizing of usefl
plants and flowers. In Australi
it was found that clover seed coul
not be produced until humble bee
were imported into that country
In horticulture we find that th
bee is our co-worker, and withoU
the bee many of our fruits woul
be imperfect or absent.
The bee on its journey to gathe
honey or pollen never visits but on
variety of blossoms on its trip
The pollen that is carried by th
bee from blossom to blossom is, il
many cases, the only means Of fer
tilizatioD Of the respective bios
SONS visited. Some flowers ar,
fertilized by insects other than th,
bee, but such plants are usually o
lesser value to the horticulturist
and bloom in the night time.
l might also discribe the varied
forms and shapes of flowers, their
drop Of honey, hidden in some re-
mote corner for the bee to get at,
and how the bee is induced to rub
against the pollen, and how in visit
ing from blossom to blossom, the bee
performs its wonderful mission OF
assisting plant life to reproduce
itself. In hot houses, some plants
are artifically fertilized by the gar
dener, for the reason that the bee
cannot get to them or it may be
out Of season for the bee to work.
1t is said, that during the Coal Per-
iod, flowers did not have the beau
tiful color or fragrance as they
have at the present time. The
reason given for this imperfection
is that there were no insects to
fertilize them.
When we consider the honeybee
from the view of producing honey,
we have a large field for investiga-
ton and development. / will for
our present purpose take a swarm
of bees and follow them through
some of their habits, and how to
develope them for profit. / will
leave out the numerous varieties of
bees and the historical development
Of agriculture, but will briefly con-
slider those in practical use in our
locality. The first step to take in
successful agriculture is to secure
an up-to-date hive to live in.
Without a proper house for the
bees to live in, your efforts as an
apiculturist will be largely a fail
ure. Some present may differ
with me as to the kind of hive to
prefer. and many may still cling
to the cottage hive,' the moth
proof hive" and many other patent
devices / might mention. Let me
say and make this sweeping state
nent, that there is no patent hive
80 good and none better than the
common 8 row, 10 framed box hive
with Hoffman frames or frames re-
the size and shape Of the
Hoffman frames. These frames
are about Is inches long and 0 in
depth and are hung into box
about 20 inches long and 81 in
ches deep and from IL to IA inches
wide, to accommodate either 8 or
10 frames as the case may be.
These frames should be hung iuto
the box in such a way and the box
made in such a manner that there
are no crevises that the bee cannot
get at. The box should be made
solid and air tight. Before the
frames are hung into the box or
hive. each frame should be filed
with a full sheet of brood founda-
ton. Let me say that it is false
economy to use brood foundation
sparingly. After you have the
box hive complete. your frames in
place, your cover on, you are now
ready for the bees. Let the bees
be none but the Italians. II you
cannot get the pnre variety, it is
to your interest to re-queen the
swarm at an early date. The pure
Italians are larger, more indus
trious and are much the best house
keepers. When you have a good
swarm of Italian bees, they will
keep out the moth and also gather
honey from larger varieties of
flowers. They are also more quiet
TO handle, are harder and will
gather more honey than the small
er varieties.
AS to the proper ways to mani
pulate bees for successful produc-
lion, much might be said to inter-
est and instruct those who put
forth an effort in agriculture. |
would suggest, as a primary prin-
,iple, first to build up the swarm
early in the season, so as to be
ready for the honey flow, when it
comes. One of the best ways l
have found to start bees in brood
rearing is TO see that they have