530 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



Gibson's 75-ceiit wheelbarrow that Is as good as new, although It has had 15 years of hard service. 



some of his frames have whole-piece bot- 

 tom-bars, and he Ukes them just as well. I 

 jirefer the <li\ided ones for various reasons, 

 one of which is that it saves a lot of ftissy 

 work sticking the foundation to them to be 

 pulled loose again by the bees if set aside 

 until cool weather comes. The bees invaria- 

 bly did this for me, and I stuck the sheets 

 on with wax as hot as the foundation would 

 bear without melting. The % inch taken 

 off the bottom-bar weakens it somewhat; 

 but, even so, it still contains more wood 

 than any other that I have ever seen. After 

 the bees get the divided space filled with 

 wax they seem as solid as whole ones. 



A VENTILATED BEE-HAT. 



I intended to have my bee-veil on when 

 this i)icture was taken; but it was taken only 

 for illustration, and not in the honey season; 

 and the bees not being cross I forgot it. I 

 should think it would l)other a i)erson to get 

 into some of the veils I have seen in the pic- 

 tures. Buy a broad-brimmed braided straw 

 hat; cut the crown off 1>^ inches from the 

 rim by cutting the stitches. Cut a piece of 

 screen wire ^ inch wide; bend the selvedge 

 under so the ends of the wire will not catch 

 in the veil. Leave X inch sjiace between 

 the two parts of the hat for ventilation; sew 

 the wire over the space and on the hat, and 

 it will be as strong as before it was cut. Buy 

 the best flat silk elastic (the round is no 

 good), and use a single piece to go around 

 the top over the crown of the hat, and a dou- 

 ble piece to go around the neck, and have it 

 fit tight, then no bee will ever get near your 

 face. I have one or more at each apiary, 

 and they are always left there ready for use. 



My little niece used to like to stand on a 

 footstool and comb my hair while I sat read- 

 ing; but one day the footstool was missing, 

 and she drew a chair l^^ and climbed on to 

 it, which raised her high enough to see the 

 toj) of my head, where there was a thin spot 

 about the size of a silver dollar. Putting 

 her handarotmd and puUingmy face toward 

 hers she looked into my eyes with her large 

 black ones and said very seriously, "Why, 

 uncle, your head is wearing out on top." If 

 any one whose head is badly worn on toji 

 should make one of the bee-hats herein de- 

 scribed for his own use, do not leave the 

 si)ace in the crown of the hat more than ^ 

 inch wide or your head will get sunburned. 

 This will give plenty of ventilation, and will 

 be very comfortable to the wearer. 



.lamul, Cal. 



ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE TEXAS MESQUITE. 



BV LOUIS H. SCHOLL. 



One of the main sources of nectar for the 

 Texas bee-keeper is the mescpiite brush and 

 trees that cover a very large area of the vast 

 Lone Star State. As unimportant in a))- 

 l)earance as this bushy tree is, it is of great- 

 er imi)ortance to the bee-keeper than most 

 l)eople suppose. 



The mesqtiite (i)ronounced ???e's-keet) , Pro- 

 sopis jidijfora, has two sejjarate and dis- 

 tinct blooming i)eriods during the year. 

 The first comes during April, and the other 

 during the end of .June or the beginning of 

 .July. These periods are sometimes a week 

 or so later or.earlier, according to the condi- 



