210 



AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



yield of 87 pounds per colony of cactus honey in Atascosta County. Such 

 yields from this source are rare. Cactus grows in great abundance over 

 large areas of Texas and is probably of more importance to beekeepers in 

 that State than in any other. 



Fig. 114- In parts of Texas the land is covered with cactus as far as the eye can see. 

 PRICKLY POPPY, see Poppy. 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND— Honey Sources of. 



Alsike and white clover are the principal honey plants of the Island, 

 with Tilia europea also important at Charlottetown. — F. W. L. Sladen. 



PROPOLIS. 



Propolis is a resinous gum gathered by the bees from buds of trees, and 

 used to close crevices about the hive. It becomes brittle and hard in cold 

 weather, but when warm is sticky and very tenacious. The beekeeper 

 finds it quite a problem to keep his hands free from propolis when manipu- 

 lating the hives in mid-summer. Some races of bees deposit propolis much 

 more freely than others, the Caucasians being especially inclined to gather 

 a great surplus of the cement and place it in lumps about the hive. If, per- 

 chance, a mouse, beetle or other object enters the hive which the bees are 

 unable to remove, they frequently coat it freely with propolis, and there it 

 remains. 



Cracks seem obnoxious to the l)ces, and the small spaces between the 

 frames are quite likely to be filled with the cement. In the production of 



