10 



Texa-S Department op Ageicultuee. 



ed with the old method of ruthlessly cutting the combs of honey from 

 the box hives after these have been carelessly pried open, is nothing 

 short of barbarous. The bruising and mashing of beautiful combs is 

 a disagreeable process in itself, and the drowning of, and otherwise 

 destroying, thousands of little innocent bee lives by the rude hands of 

 a merciless owner is to be detested. 



How different the beekeeping of today, with the movable frame 

 hive by which every part of the interior of a colony of bees can be 

 examined at will, without the destruction of the most tender comb 

 or the life of a single bee ! And it is hoped that the instructions in 

 this bulletin will help to bring about a more complete change, that 

 the old-time, unprofitable "bee gum" may go, and the modern frame 

 hive take its place everywhere. 



THE FAEMEES' GEEATEST FEIBNDS. 



Most of the bees in the State are kept on the thousands of Texas 

 farms, each farm containing generally only a few hives, or colonies, of 



The unprofitable "bee gum" from which only a very small crop of 

 honey is obtained. 



bees, or just enouuh to supply home demand for honey for the farmers' 

 table if the bees are given the proper care and attention. To find 

 bees on so many farms is a gratifying circumstance, as there are very 

 few places where several colonies of bees can .not be kept profitably 

 and It IS to be hoped that more of the great number of farms where 

 none are kept now will be stocked with a proper supply No farm is 



