1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



543 



10 feet high. The thick, green, pear-shaped 

 leaf-like stems or joints, from which the plant 

 gets its name, are generally mistaken for 

 leaves; they are very thick and succulent, and 

 bear bunches of small stout bristles and 

 longer-barbed spines; hence it will be seen 

 how such a plant can "keep on growing," 

 even during dry seasons, from the "water" 

 stored up in these joints. Consequently the 

 cactus-plants had not suffered during the 

 dry spring mentioned, as did other plants; 

 and as the roots are very shallow, or near 

 the surface of the soil, and wide spread, the 

 light rain, coming at just the right time, help- 

 ed these wonderfully while it had little effect 

 on other vegetation. Both an abundance of 

 honey and pollen were obtained, the honey be- 

 ing light amber in color, of heavy body, but 

 "stringy" — so much so that it fairly draws 

 out into "strings" when very thick. The 

 flavor is very rank; and, from reports of oth- 

 er bee-keepers, as well as from my own ex- 

 perience, it is too rank for human food, while 

 it is quite valuable for brood-rearing, espe- 

 cially during an off season as here related. 



The "leaves" of this cactus form an im- 

 portant food for grazing animals, known as 

 "nopal." In portions of West Texas, and 

 over a great deal of South and Southwest 

 Texas, the prickly pear has long been regard- 

 ed as an unmitigated nuisance; but during 

 seasons of droutn the ranchmen of those sec- 

 tions have found it a very good cattle food 

 after the spines have been burned off over a 

 brush tire or otherwise. Many ranchmen 

 have provided themselves with "pear-burn- 

 ers," as they are called (large gasoline- 

 torches), which are carried around over the 

 pear-producing area, and the spines are burn- 

 ed off the plants. The slight scorching given 

 the plants during the spine-burning process 

 does not seem to affect the taste for tne cattle, 

 for they eat it with avidity, and it is apparent 

 that, had it not been for the spines, this plant 

 would long ago have been wiped out of ex- 

 istence. 



Since the impetus given the making of de- 

 natured alcohol it is claimed that these cactus 

 lands will become valuable for the making 

 of alcohol, and the owners are figuring on a 

 large revenue from such. 



The "nopal leaf" is much used for poul- 

 tices, and I know of nothing I like better for 

 "drawing" sores or boils. The spines are 

 scorched off over a fire, and the leaf baked 

 through well, when it is split in two and a 

 piece tied over the sore while as hot as can 

 be comfortably borne. 



Editor Root was much interested in "this 

 beautiful plant" that "any Northern land- 

 scape gardener would give any thing for if 

 he could only grow them up North." Yes, 

 Mr. Root, do you still remember how my 

 mother laughed at you for admiring "our 

 common old cactus ' ' so much, shown in your 

 A B C of Bee Culture when visiting me in 1 900 ? 



[Yes, indeed, well do we remember it. We 

 admired it much. Perhaps if we were more 

 intimately acquainted with it, we might 

 think less of it.— Ed.] 



MR. O. L. HERSHISER AND HIS METHOD OF 



WINTERING BEES; ARE BEE-SUPPLIES 



SOLD AT TOO HIGH A PRICE? 



There are advantages in traveling. You 

 see many things from a different angle from 

 what you are accustomed to. We learn of 

 how little consequence we are in the great 

 world in which we live and move. We get 

 new ideas in exchange for our own, and such 

 trades are often of mutual advantage. These 

 thoughts were suggested by a short visit at 

 O. L. Hershiser's, at Buffalo, N. Y. 



Now, really, Mr. Hershiser is quite a fel- 

 low. I believe he will weigh more than 200 

 pounds; and if he were a policeman, and if 

 I were living on his beat, I should not want 

 to be caught cutting up any questionable 

 pranks. Besides, what he doesn't know 

 about making beeswax hardly seems of much 

 value. The fact that he can afford to buy 

 what other bee-keepers throw away, and 

 transport it hundreds of miles, and make it 

 pay, is what few bee-keepers would care to 

 attempt. I can now understand why he ad- 

 vertises for 'slumgum." His idea of trying 

 to squeeze all the ink, color and all, out of a 

 sponge is one of the brightest ideas I have 

 seen lying around loose in quite a while. 



Then there is the "Hershiser hive-bottom." 

 It looks to me like a good thing. I went in- 

 to his cellar — not a dead bee on the cellar 

 bottom. No, that is not quite right. I did 

 see just one, but that is not bad where 75 or 

 100 colonies are stored. 



His bees appeared to be as quiet as kittens. 

 You could scarcely hear them purr. And 

 then to be able to look into the bottom of 

 each hive and see just how many bees had 

 died was something new. Of course, you 

 can sweep up the dead bees from the cellar 

 bottom, but somehow I never seem to get 

 them all; and how it does make one feel to 

 step on dead bees! And then to think that 

 you can carry them in and out of the cellar 

 without a bee getting out! I try to think 

 mine will not come out of their hives, but 

 they always do, and bees are not apt to be 

 very tidy when they first come out in the 

 spring. 



If I were using single-wall hives I should 

 want every one to have just such bottoms; 

 but whether I could afford it is another thing. 

 It seemed to me the price asked for these 

 hive-bottoms was rather high, but perhaps 

 not higher than other supplies. 



This reminds me that I found there was a 

 feeling quite general among bee-keepers that 

 those who furnish supplies for bee-keepers 

 have set their prices quite too high, and are 

 getting I'ich at the expense of bee-keepers. 



