(iLEAXIXCS IX BKK C'ULTrRE 



Feb. 1 



FIG. 2. — BEES CLUSTERED IN THE FRONT OF YUCCA- 

 TRUNK HIVES AT SAN LUIS POTOST, MEXICO. 



on ix rack against an adobe Mall. They are 

 commonly kept in this manner except that 

 they are not always along an adobe wall. 



Fig. 2 shows fairly well the structure of 

 these Mexican hives. The trunk of a yucca 

 or a small palm is cut off about four or five 

 feet long, and hollowed out. In this the 

 swarm is hived and a plug of the same ma- 

 terial is set in front to keep out most of the 

 weather. Over these spongelike hives some 

 water-shedding substance is spread to pre- 

 vent the rain from soaking them. Fig. o 

 shows one of these hives with the end plug 

 taken out and the bees smoked back so as 

 to show the natural honey-comb. The bees 

 build from their brood in the middle both 

 ways; and when the liollow is full to both 

 ends the Mexican bee-keeper is ready to 

 "take ofT honey." Beginning at the large 

 end shown in the cut, the operator keeps 

 smoking the bees back and cutting out the 

 honey until he reaches the brood. If he is 

 a practical bee-keeper he leaves the honey 

 in the little end for the bees at all times. 



These yucca-trunk hives are much more 

 practical than they would at first sight ap- 

 pear, and the owner of the ones shown in 

 the cuts claims to get from them an average 

 of from ISO to 240 lbs., according to the sea- 

 son. I can see easily enough that, with 

 these hives, which cost nothing but a few 

 minutes' labor, a great quantity of honey 

 could be taken with little expense. If the 

 honey were of too low a grade to sell, it could 

 be fed back to the bees, and the wax sold at 

 the good price it brings in Mexico. There 

 were, however, some two or three carloads 



of honey exported from Tam- 

 l)ico this year, and that shows 

 that some of it, at least, is sal- 

 able at some figure. As to the 

 l)ees making from ISO to 240 

 lbs. i)er colony. I have my 

 doubts; for, by talking a long 

 lime about times of taking 

 honey, etc., with the old man 

 I am speaking of, I surmised 

 ihat he really got about half 

 that amount. 



As I have said before, this old 

 San Luis Potosi bee-keeper has 

 bees at Liones, about 100 miles 

 away. He claims that at Liones 

 the honey is made mostly from 

 a weed which grows abundant- 

 ly on the hills, and that it is 

 fco bitter it can not be eaten, 

 and that, therefore, he runs his 

 bees there exclusively for wax. 

 So liere I had found a bee- 

 keeper who kept bees for the 

 production of wax only. I was 

 at once very much interested, 

 for this was one of my Mexican 

 get-rich-quick ideas; but as soon 

 as I began to talk to this old 

 man about his methods of ren- 

 dering wax and preparing it for 

 market I saw that the plan had 

 been pretty well tried, for there 

 seemed to be little that I know 

 of modern wax craft that he did not know, 

 even to the bleaching of beeswax in thin 

 sheets by sunlight. They melt up the hon- 

 ey and wax after straining out what honey 

 they can, and then dip off the wax, about 

 as we do. The refuse is then transferred to 

 strong sacks which are securely fastened by 

 one end to a tree or post. A small strong 

 stick to twist with is then folded in the oth- 

 er end, and the sack is wrung as long as 

 any wax drips. As the pure wax begins to 

 cool, wet boards are dipped into it and the 

 thin scales of wax which adhere to them are 

 scaled off and laid in the sun to bleach. In 

 this shape it brings the best price for mak- 

 ing candles to burn in the churches. They 

 all shake their heads, and say there is no 

 supplying the demand for this wax at $1.00* 

 per pound. 



Leaving San Luis Potosi early in the 

 morning I had a splendid opportunity to 

 study the flora as we traveled south toward 

 the city of Mexico. Very soon after leaving 

 San Luis Potosi the railroad is along the 

 edge of a great valley in which there are 

 many farms, and a few alfalfa -fields are 

 seen "here and there. Getting off at the nu- 

 merous stations I learned that a few colo- 

 nies of bees were kept all along. At .Taral 

 de Berrios I was told that a good many bees 

 were kept, but that the honey was dark and 

 strong. The Mexican I was talking to on 

 the station platform said that some ate the 

 honey, but not many, and that it would 

 not sell. He said they took the wax to San 



* Equivalent to 50 cts. in American money. 



