THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



177 



antee safe arrival by freight, and 

 trust the party for a short time Cor 

 pay. 1 liave 8okl to parties I have 

 never heard of any other way. A 

 safer way wouUl be to liave the 

 cash, but do not think much would 

 be sold so, for a busy dealer would 

 not take time to lind out your stand- 

 ing. Extracted honey I sell at 

 home if possible. I will peddle all 

 my hone}' before sending to com- 

 mission men. They may do the 

 best wa}' they can but we are the 

 losers. The season is discourag- 

 ing ; bees are light and clover dy- 

 ing from drought. Have hopes of 

 a good linden flow for the trees 

 are full of buds. The Api is a fine 

 paper. The June number is worth 

 §5 to a practical bee owner. 



Mr.W. F. Clark.— ''The hive you 

 want " would be a chaff-hive, witii 

 movable upper story, and movable 

 bottom, I think. 



Hoplcins, 3io. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



LETTER FROM TEXAS. 



Mrs. Sallie E. Sherman. 



GLOOMY BUT BETTEK PROSPECTS 

 FOR BEEKEEPERS IN TEXAS. 



The prospect for a good yield of 

 honey in this part of Texas is in- 

 deed gloomy ; though 1 am happy 

 to say thatour terribledrought has 

 come to an end. We had on the 

 2nd inst. a glorious rain and I am 

 in hopes that our bees will be able 

 to gather a living. Hoarhound is 

 in bloom now. Our only hope of 

 surplus, if we get any, will be from 

 fall flowers. I am just in receipt 

 of a letter from a beekeeping friend 

 in an adjoining count}- asking me 

 if I think it would pay him to move 

 his bees (about thirty colonies) 

 twenty-flve miles to good pastur- 



age. I think it would, but would 

 prefer Mr. Alley's answer to ni}' 

 own judgment. The drought has 

 cut off all prospect for any suri)lus 

 with him as well as myself. He has 

 quite a lot of little ones dependent 

 upon him for sustenance. Quite a 

 number of persons in and about 

 town that owned only a few colonies 

 of bees have lost all and would now 

 be glad to sell their empty hives for 

 a mere pittance, and let beekeeping 

 severely alone hereafter. Those 

 who have never passed through 

 such a severe drought as we have 

 just had cannot imagine how bad, 

 how terribly distressing, it was. 

 Water hauling was about all that 

 could be done. It looked like star- 

 vation staring us in the face, look 

 which way we would. Merchants 

 refused to credit, turned off their 

 clerks, reshipped their goods that 

 had been ordered and in many cases 

 closed their doors. Stock was in 

 danger of starvation. Horses that 

 were worth §100.00 could not be 

 sold for $2,3.00. There was no 

 demand for cattle that had hereto- 

 fore been cash in the si)ring. Every- 

 thing in the provision line went up. 

 Negro women were trying to hire 

 themselves out for their food and in 

 many instances failed. AVith all 

 these discouraging things to con- 

 tend with and witness, how could 

 I write for the dear " Api?" But 

 all is changed now. We have had 

 a good rain which made more glad 

 hearts in Bell Co., I dare say, tlian 

 ever was at one time before. Every- 

 body you see now wears a broad 

 smile and looks happy and all are 

 as busy as bees. 



Salado, Texas, May 5, 1887. 



[r advise moving bees if by so doing, a 

 good i)asUii;ige can be had. It is not an un- 

 usual tliiisg ror beul;eepers at the noitli to 

 move bees. Mr. L. C. Root, a lew years ago, 

 moved several hundi-ed colonies a lew miles, 

 and in about two weeks he was well paid lor 

 the trouble, as by moving the bees to a new 

 location, several tons ol' surplus honey were 

 sec-ured. 



We are glad to learn that the terrible drought 

 which has prevailed so long in Texas has 

 been broken at last.l 



