1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



235 



extracted honey. He considers a large hive 

 one th-it has the capacity of twelve frames 

 of the common dovetailed variety. Any thing 

 less is a small hive. 



When the afternoon se.=sion was called to 

 order all present were glad to see and hear E. 

 R. Root, who gave what he was pleased to call 

 "a talk," but which was really a very in- 

 teresting and instructive address on " Baby 

 Nuclei " and "Package Honey." 



Mr. York, of Chicago, Mr. *Wm. Russell, 

 and Miss Mary Sinclair, furnished entertain- 

 ment in song, and dancing in Highland cos- 

 tume that was greatly enjoyed. 

 ^ The session closed with the election of the 

 following officers for the coming year: 



Pres., Dr. E. K. Jaques, Robbinsdale. 



Vice-Pres., Mr. Scott Lamont, Jaretts. 



Tres., Dr. L. D. Leonard, Minneapolis. 



Sec, Mrs. W. S. Wingate, Station F., 

 Minneapolis. 



•<>»• 



MEXICAN BEE-KEEPING. 



BY F. A. LOCKHART. 



Mr. Root:— I send you by this mail a pho- 

 tograph which was taken in the mountains 

 near Guanajato City, Mexico. It represents 

 a Mexican apiary. The hives are made of a 

 kind of coarse tough grass in the shape of a 

 long round basket. There is a cover for 

 each basket hive, which is put on until the 



holds the basket hive up under the cluster 

 of bees and gives the limb a shake, then 

 throws the cloth (which you will see lying 

 on his shoulder in the picture) over the 

 mouth of the hive, and then drops the hive 

 in the shade of a tree and then runs for the 

 nearest shelter. In the evening he takes 

 the hive and places it in the apiary. He 

 has to be very careful to shake the hive well 

 by putting on some old pieces of staves or 

 brush, as the bees would not stay long in 

 one of these queer Mexican hives exposed to 

 the hot sun of that climate. 



I must say something about the clothes he 

 wore. He had on a pair of long loose 

 white pants which came up almost to his 

 neck, and no shirt, and a high broad-rimmed 

 Mexican straw hat. 



The old coat he had on, shown in the pic- 

 ture, I should say belonged to some one 

 else, as it is quite too large for him. You 

 will notice that the sleeves in the coat are 

 turned back from his hands. He puts that 

 coat on only when about to hive a swarm of 

 bees, so the bees, when shaken from the 

 limb into the hive, will not fall on his bare 

 neck and back. 



He wears sandals on his feet. You see 

 about every kind of grass, weeds, or brush 

 in Mexico has some kind of sharp thorn or 

 burr on it; and there are cactuses of many 

 kinds which abound everywhere in Mexico, 

 and they all have sharp thorns. 



colony gets established; then it is taken off 

 or it drops off itself, for these Mexican bee- 

 keepers are a rather careless lot. Any old 

 way is good enough for them. 



The young Mexican shown in the picture 

 is about to hive a swarm of bees which is 

 hanging on a limb of a near-by tree. He 



When ready to take some honey the bees 

 are killed by putting the hive over a brim- 

 stone or sulphur pit. It is quite often the 

 case, when moving a hive in the apiary, to 

 find a large rattlesnake coiled up under the 

 hive. 



Lake George, N. Y. 



