BEEKEEPING IN THE SOUTH 65 



caught the animals in the act. Predatory animals also figure as 

 }3ests, in Texas, as well as Florida. 



Probably the most common insect pest is the ant, both in 

 Texas and Florida. In many places in the latter state, the 

 bees are kept on raised platforms, with the legs of the stands 

 resting in troughs, which are kept full of water. In the case 

 of outyards, it frequently becomes necessary to keep the surface 

 of such water co\'ered with oil, in order to decrease evaporation. 

 In Texas, the ant pest is probably the most serious one and with 

 J. W. Reid near Uvalde it is often necessary to hunt out ant 

 nests and by the use of scalding w^atcr, the spade, carbon bisul- 

 phide and fire, attempt to destroy the nests of the maurauders. 



In both these states the bee moth is a serious menace where 

 combs are left without the bees to cover them, but this pest never 

 proves to be serious in the hands of the careful beekeeper. 



Wax Production. 



In many tropical countries where there is usually much dark 

 honey produced, beekeepers frequently make a practice of pro- 

 ducing all the wax possible. Wax production alone was not found 

 in any locality visited by the writer in either Florida or Texas. 

 In Texas at the apiary of J. W. Reid, Uvalde, the writer saw 

 3,547 pounds of beeswax in one pile. In southwest Texas where 

 mostly extracted honey is produced, w^ax is one of the principal 

 sources of income of the beekeeper. Quantities of wax are also 

 shipped from Florida, where the custom of using eight frames 

 in a ten frame super for extracted honey adds to the crop of wax 

 in uncapping. 



Variety of Honey Plants. 



One is impressed in visiting any good location in tropical Mori- 

 da, Alabama and Mississippi, near lowlands, with the variety 

 of plants available as nectar sources for bees. At DeLand, the 

 home of Prof. E. G. Baldwin, the writer was shown a list of about 

 120 plants on which bees had been seen working at some time. 

 One is impressed by the fact that fewer of the surplus nectar 

 sources are small plants and more are shrubs or trees, in the trop- 



