206 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAi_. 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY. 



Beeville. Texas. 



Distance Apart for Combs. 



I have been requested to measure the 

 combs in box and log hives while trans- 

 ferring, to get the exact distance the 

 combs are placed from center to center. 

 We transferred the bees from a wagon- 

 load of box-hives a few days ago, and by 

 careful test we found the combs to aver- 

 age, as nearly as we could get at it, 1% 

 inches from center to center. These 

 combs were all straight, and in good 

 condition. 



I do not believe that it is any use to 

 be so particular about it. I think any- 

 where from 1 ?8 to IVi inches will do; 

 but should you wish to be exact, put 

 them 1% from center to center, and 

 you will have the combs as nearly a 

 natural distance apart as it will be 

 necessary to get them. 



Information About Southwest Texas. 



Mks. Atchley:— I am trying to in- 

 form myself in regard to Southwest 

 Texas, from Galveston west. How can 

 I, with the least expense, do so ? How 

 about malarial diseases? How about 

 mosquitoes and various kinds of poison- 

 ous insects and reptiles ? Give us, 

 straight out and out, some few of the 

 most objectionable features of that 

 country, that would be brought against 

 it by Northern parties settling there? 

 Please answer through the American 

 Bee Journal. E. Liston. 



Virgil City, Mo. 



Friend Liston, I will answer your 

 questions as nearly to the point as I can, 

 and as T see these things. The country 

 from Galveston west for 50 to 100 

 aailes is very flat and level, and is a fine 

 fertile, black loamy soil, suited to most 

 kinds of fruit and vegetables suited to 

 a semi-tropical climate. But I do not 

 consider it nearly so healthy as this 



part (Beeviile and vicinity), as here we 

 have no local cause for sickness ; the 

 lay of the land is hills and valleys— not 

 hills like we see in the old Eastern 

 States, but a country that lies .just right 

 to drain itself, and to furnish nice places 

 of eminence enough to be fine building 

 locations. 



During the wet seasons they do have 

 some mosquitoes in the low lands of 

 Brazoria, Galveston and Fort Bend coun- 

 ties. We have no mosquitoes here, and 

 no malaria. We have some rattlesnakes 

 that live in waste places. There are 

 spiders and lizards here, but no one 

 fears them. There are some few cen- 

 tipedes and copperhead snakes, but no 

 more than in other new Southern coun- 

 tries. I think the best and cheapest 

 way to satisfy you, and to inform your- 

 self, is to come and see the country for 

 yourself. I do not know what would be 

 raised as an objection by Northern peo- 

 ple. 



It gets very dry here in the fall, but 

 not so hot as in Missouri, as we have a 

 refreshing breeze, and our nights in the 

 summer are delightful. We have good 

 water, the best of society, schools, 

 churches, etc., and really I am at a loss 

 to know what objections might be raised 

 by Northern people. 



Land is cheap, good, and timber and 

 stuck plenty. My neighbor has 1,000 

 bushels of corn now in his barn that he 

 raised on 30 acres of ground last year, 

 and has fed his stock all winter from it, 

 besides. He only lives 400 yards from 

 me, and has lived here 45 years, and 

 has not missed a crop since he has been 

 here. I heard him say yesterday, that 

 he used to think this a fine stock coun- 

 try and no farming country, but says 

 now he has turned the scale, and finds 

 it a fine farming country and no stock 

 country, as it takes an abundance of 

 rain to produce grass and keep it grow- 

 ing, while it does not take so much to 

 make a crop of corn or cotton, etc. 



Now, this is straight out and out in- 

 formation, and all this evidence stands 

 right here to be seen when your come. 



I saw some time ago, a letter from 

 some one in Minnesota, in the Bee 

 Journal, that came to Texas many 

 years ago, and lost his family or his 

 children, and that all the children looked 

 as though they had been fed on skim- 

 milk. Now, this friend made a mistake 

 and settled in that black, waxy region 

 of north Texas, and near the Red river, 

 where it is sickly, and not a desirable 

 place for one seeking a healthy locality. 

 Now please remember that Texas is a 

 big State, and that we are 500 miles 



