224 



Amc»rican Hee Journal 



Fig. I.— View Along the TEHUANTEi'Er National Kailwav, Mex. 



Fig. 2.— View Near V. C. & I. Railway. .Mexico. 



ing surface, too. I think l.x4 would be 

 better, as 4 inches is as high as I want 

 my hives off the ground, and the cost 

 would be only about 8 cents. 



That December Number. 



It was great all the way through, 

 and I have privately made a note of 

 many other things for my own use. but 

 don't want to take too much space here. 

 However, I must " note " the Index, on 

 pages 420 to 425. Yes, Mr. Editor, it's 

 worth the space it takes, many times 

 over. If we've been too busy in the 

 summer to "get our money's worth," 

 we can look over this index, and then 

 go back and dig up a-plenty. The 

 American Bee Journal is one of the 

 very few periodicals I keep a file of. 



North Platte, Nebr. 



Bee-Keeping in Old Mexico 



BY B. A. HADSELL. 



The pictures shown herewith I took 

 on my second trip to Old Mexico, 

 showing the trees with different kinds 

 of bloom, also covered with morning- 

 glories to the height of 2(1 to 40 feet. 

 As you are aware, it is hard for a pho- 

 tograph to show flowers to an advan- 

 tage. While I was through tlie tropics 

 in November, I found morning-glories 

 the same as when these pictures were 

 taken, March 12. Some of the trees 

 that were in bloom while first down 



there were now laden with fruit or 

 nuts, and other trees were blooming 

 in their places. In Fig. 1 the trees were 

 almost breaking down with the load of 

 morning-glories. 



Fig. 2 shows a new clearing which 

 had been planted to bananas about 6 

 weeks before. As they had not been 

 cultivated it is a mat of wild flowers. 

 The trees in the background are also 

 laden with bloom, fruit or nuts. 



Fig. 3 is typical of the tropical jungle 

 of Mexico, with its sea of flowers in 

 midwinter. 



Fig. 4 shows the writer standing in a 

 field of tame green grass on March 6, 

 with a grove of bananas and brush 

 laden with bloom in the background. 



I visited one apiary in the neighbor- 

 hood where these pictures were taken, 

 and found it in a prosperous condition. 

 It was claimed to have been started in 

 the spring of 1909, with 14 colonies, 

 and increased to 94, with 2 tons of ex- 

 tracted honey taken. I tasted the 

 honey, and found it a good quality, 

 and they were selling it at $9 (Mexican 

 money) for .5 gallons. I saw also this 

 same party selling honey at Cordoba, 

 in 1-pound jars, at 80 cents. 



After two trips and a thorough in- 

 vestigation of the tropics of Mexico, I 

 have decided to make that my future 

 home, and I am closing out my bees 

 and other holdings for that purpose. 



I find native soft lumber about the 

 same price as in the United States, with 



natives (who are natural born mechan- 

 ics) glad to work for about one-fifth 

 the wages paid for help in the United 

 States. I think it is therefore cheaper 

 to make the hives from native Me.xican 

 lumber, pack my bees in nucleus form 

 with division-boards between, 4 in each 

 Langstroth brood-chamber; therefore 

 saving freight. After arriving in Mex- 

 ico, transfer all but one into the native 

 hive, and build them up into strong 

 colonies. I see no reason why the ex- 

 tractor could not be running almost 

 continually, and see no need of leaving 

 more than 2 or 3 pounds in the hive at 

 a time. 



My son, who was with me (and used 

 $28 worth of photographic supplies), 

 being a practical bee-keeper (as it was 

 the bees that graduated him into a 

 mining engineer), was quite enthusias- 

 tic over the tropics of Me.xico as a bee- 

 country, and said, "Father, if you will 

 put in 10,000 colonies of bees along the 

 railroads, I will drop my job of $14 per 

 day and help you run them." I felt 

 like he did, but do not expect to go 

 into it in Mexico on so large a scale to 

 start with, although I have just as 

 much faith in it as he has. 



Buckeve, Ariz. 



Fig. 3.— View Near Hui.e, V. C & I. Railway, Mexico. 



Fig. 4.— Natural Grasses— Tonolo. Cheapas, Mexico. 



