1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



555 



FIG. 4. — U. M. EDWARDS OUTDOOR FUKN.YCE FOR 

 MELTING UP WAX, LIQUEFYING HONEY, ETC. 



old combs or slumgum for the wax- press. 



Another thing that is very convenient is the 

 moving bottom— see Fig. 5. As shown, this 

 is a shallow Ijox just large enough to allow 

 a hive to stand in it. The bottom of this box 

 is made of thin wood and wire cloth. The 

 regular bottom-board is removed, and the 

 hive set into this shallow box and held there 

 by a nail driven half way in at either end. 

 There is no chance for this to get knocked 

 off, and yet they are easily taken off when 

 necessary. There is no entrance, and the 

 only opening is through the wii'e cloth at 

 the" bottom, which provides sufficient venti- 

 lation. 



It took quite a while to see all these things, 

 but it was still early in the morning when 

 we started for the apia- 

 ry of the Huegely Broth- 

 ers. On the way I saw 

 for the first time a brush 

 fence It interested me 

 greatly, and so I took a 

 picture of it — Fig. G. 



It was in the honey- 

 house of the Huegely 

 Brothers that I tasted 

 some very tine broom- 

 weed honey. It was very 

 light and thick, and had 

 a good flavor, although 

 it was not as mild, of 

 course, as white - clover 

 honey. Broomweed hon- 



ey often candies in one night. In 

 three days the cans into which it 

 is put maybe turned upside down 

 without danger of the honey run- 

 ning out. That is, in this time it 

 becomes perfectly solid, especially 

 if the weather is a little cool, as it 

 generally is when the extracting 

 is done. 



Some of the other honey-plants 

 lire the guajilla, the cat-claw, and 

 I he mesiiuite. These were fully 

 illustrated and described in the 

 Nov. 1st issue of Gleanings for 

 iliOl. 



Before I left, Mr. Edwards re- 

 marked that, in one place near 

 Uvalde, there were 1500 colonies 

 wilhin two miles, and that the 

 bees were unable to store surplus 

 honey, therefore, except in an un- 

 usually good year. While it may 

 be true that certain localities are 

 nut apt to be overstocked, yet it 

 seems only reasonable that, in 

 most places, there is a limit to the 

 number of colonies that should 

 be kept in one place and that, 

 after this limit has been passed, 

 the amount of surplus honey de- 

 creases as the number of colonies 

 increases. As the whole region 

 is overstocked, there is not room 

 for another bee-keeper to squeeze 

 in. 



,..,'.-^ . 



TRAY FOR MOVING BEES. 



FIG. 6. — A TEXAS BRUSH FENCE, 



