SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 115 



of Uvalde, there are located about 15,000 colonies of bees, representing, with 

 apparatus and fixtures used in their care, an investment of at least $120,000. 

 In average seasons under competent management, these colonies yield from 

 100 to 220 pounds of honey each. Aside from honey sold and consumed 

 locally, there is shipped from Uvalde -annually an average of 546,000 pounds, 

 representing from $54,000 to $60,000. There are in Southwest Texas at 

 least thirty counties that would, if properly developed, equal or excel this 

 yield. In addition to this there is valuable honey-producing territory along 

 the Colorado, Guadaloupe, Brazos, Trinity, and Sabine rivers that is as yet 

 almost totally unoccupied. The entire East Texas territory, some parts of 

 North .Texas, as also the timber belts, are promising for future develop- 

 ment. * * * 



"The United States census for 1900 (U. S. Census Bulletin No. 229) 

 gives the total numb.er of colonies in Texas for that year as 392,644. Esti- 

 mate at $3.50 per colony, their value is seen to be $1,374,254. The amount 

 invested in honey-houses and other apparatus connected with bee-keeping, 

 exclusive of hives, will doubtless approximate 5 per cent of this amount, or 

 ^,712 more. The State Bee-Keepers' Statistics, as compiled by Prof. F. W. 

 Mally, show that, in 1900, 150,000 colonies under Texas conditions produced 

 11,250,000 pounds of honey, or an average of 751 pounds each. For all the 

 colonies in the State, this would, without doubt, be too high an average. 

 Thirty pounds per colony would seem a conservative estimate. This makes 

 the production of the 392,644 colonies 11,779,320. pounds, which, at an average 

 price of 6 cents per pound, aggregates $706,759.20. Also about $3,500 worth 

 of queens are annually raised and shipped from Texas. No estimate of the 

 wax produced, or colonies shipped from Texas, is given, but these obviously 

 amount to considerable. Summing up we have the total capital invested, and 

 annual output of the bee-keeping industry in Texas : 



"Bees $1,374,254.00 



Appliances 68,712.00 



Honey 7o6,7S9-20 



Queens 3.500.00 



"Total $2,i53-225-20 



"These figures serve to show the importance of the industry which has 

 been rapidly developing within the past few years, and great developments 

 are possible and probable in the future." 



This was half a dozen years ago. Since then Texas has made great 

 strides in bee-keeping. The number of practical apiarists has greatly in- 

 creased, and with it the number of colonies. As these are kept in frame 

 hives, and with up-to-date methods, it is safe to say that there are now 

 more than 400,000 colonies with a better average of honey produced per 

 colony than six years ago. 



LEADING BEE-KEEPERS. 



There are numerous bee-keepers in the State who number their colonies 

 by many hundreds. The largest owner at present is Willie Atchley, of 

 Beev-ille, who owns 1690 colonies; W. O. Victor, of Hondo, owns about 

 1500 colonies; W. H. Laws, of Beeville, 900; O. P. Hyde, Floresville, 80O, 



