VOL. LXI— NO. 9 



HAMILTON, ILL., SEPTEMBER, 1921 



MONTHLY, $1.50 A YEAR 



HONEY AREAS OF TEXAS 



Notes on the Principal Regions of the Lone Star State and Its Nectar-Bearing 



Flora— By H. B. Parks 



THE flora of the State of Texas 

 has been studied quite exten- 

 sively. Published articles give 

 the distribution of several of the ma- 

 jor honey plants. No general ac- 

 count, however, has been printed. 

 The State is so large that it embraces 

 almost every class of flora. In the 

 eastern part of the State the Missis- 

 sippi flora is present. Beech, maple, 

 linden, Virginia persimmon and oth- 

 ers, give an eastern appearance to the 

 forests. The southeastern part has the 

 pine, palmetto, cypress and many 

 other plants common to the southeast- 

 ern pai-t of the United States. 



Central Texas possesses a flora all 

 its own. The high lands of the west 

 have the flora common to the Great 

 Plains counti-y. Southwest Texas is 

 Mexican in its plant life. The lower 

 Rio Grande Valley is almost tropical. 

 Texas, west of the Pecos River, is 

 mountain and desert. Yucca and cac- 

 tus are the more prominent plants. 



The State' is naturally divided into 

 several plant associations, the boun- 

 daries of which follow geological 

 lines. The most of the State is new. 

 geologically speaking. The great 

 glacier did not touch this State, and 

 little has occurred to obliterate for- 

 mation boundaries. Thus the transi- 

 tion zone is very narrow, even in the 

 case of the carboniferous and ar- 

 chaean. In fact, these zones are rare- 

 ly over a few hundred feet wide. In 

 this connection it is interesting to 

 note that many plants are rapidly mi- 

 grating to new locations under the 

 influences of agriculture. Mesquite 

 and retama are the best examples. 

 Great areas that a few years ago 

 were grassy plains are now covered 

 with a dense growth of these shrubs. 

 Post oaks are rapidly invading the 

 coast prairies. These are cases of 

 forestation rather than reforesta- 

 tion. 



Each of these natural divisions con- 

 tains its own nectar-producing plants. 



No. 1, as shown in the map repre- 

 senting the cultivated area, is pecu- 

 liar in that the most of the honey pro- 

 duced is accredited to introduced 

 plants. Fruit trees and sweet clo- 

 ver are given as the main plants of 

 value. Native annuals and certain 

 trees, including linden, doubtless con- 

 tribute much to the crop. 



No. 2 is the River Valley area. 

 Hard wood and pine forests, inter- 

 spersed with swampy land, and their 

 natural plant associations make a 

 flora that it is predicted will some day 

 become the equal of any for honey 

 production. While there are a large 

 number of bee owners here, modern 



Black land Horsemint (Monarda citriodora). 



methods are almost unknown. Linden, 

 tupelo gum, rattan, yupon (Ilex spec) 

 and many other hard-wood plants are 

 sources of nectar. Many swamp an- 

 nuals, including smartweed, water 

 lilies and pickerel weed, are known 

 to give a surplus. 



No. 3, the Gulf Area, is not so good 

 for a bee location. Along the water 

 courses yupon, wild peach and willow, 

 together with the annuals, give the 

 beekeeper good returns. In this di- 

 vision some horsemint is found and 

 cotton yields at times. 



No. 4, the Black Land Area. Both 

 the horsemints are found in abund- 

 ance. Gaillardia gives a spring sur- 

 plus, while cotton gives' the larger 

 crop. In places a fall flow from 

 smartweed and boneset is common. 



No. .5, the Chaparral Area, is the 

 commercial beekeeping section. Gua- 

 jillo, catsclaw, mesquite, guayacan, 

 granjeno, cactus and a large number 

 of less known bushes are nectar bear- 

 ing. Horsemint, cotton and a host of 

 wild annuals add to the surplus. It 

 is a notable fact that the newer the 

 land geologically, and the less the ni- 

 trogen content of the soil, the larger 

 per cent of leguminous plants. As 

 the legumes are the best nectar 

 plants, this area presents an unique 

 location for the beekeeper. This sec- 

 tion is famous for the water-white 

 guajillo, or Uvalde honey. 



No. 6, the Mesquite Plain Area, 

 lies north of the chaparral, west of 

 the black land, and east of the west 

 plains. It is covered with mesquite, 

 cactus, catsclaw and other semi-arid 

 plants. Few bees are kept and honey 

 flows are reported locally from cats- 

 claw, mesquite, whitebrush and an- 

 nuals. It is not probable that this 

 section will ever become a honey-pro- 

 ducing area. This is because of the 

 fact that this area receives much less 

 rainfall than the chaparral, which has 

 almost the same plant association. 



