586 



into consideration in the various parts of 

 the State, there has already been produced, 

 as compared with the same time of the la?t 

 two years, a greater amount of honey up to 

 this time; and from indications and pros- 

 pects in general it is safe to say that the 

 production for the rest of the year will also 

 outweigh that of the past two years. This 

 may not be true of Southwest Texas unless 

 rains prevail during the summer months and 

 produce a late summer or fall crop, as has 

 been the case during several years. Usually, 

 however, Southwest Texas fig-ures only on 

 the spring crop, as the dry summer condi- 

 tions are too severe on the vegetation. 



It is also very difficult to obtain definite 

 figures in regard to the amount of tlie crop 

 thus far obtained, as well as the number of 

 pounds stored per colony in the various 

 extensive honey-producing sections. This is 

 largely due to the fact that Southwest Texas 

 is just winding up the main spring honey 

 season, and the beekeepers have hardly had 

 time enough in which to size up the situa- 

 tion in this respect. In central and more 

 northern portions of the State the supers on 

 the colonies are in such varying states of 

 completion, and the honey-flows still on, and 

 others in sight, so that new supers are being 

 added, that it is out of the question to ascer- 

 tain any thing more than a mere guess at 

 the yields per colony. Such guesses would 

 be of little value as compared with true 

 facts or even a fairly accurate estimate. 



Owing to the copious rains throughout 

 the fall, winter, and spring months, the 

 season has been most favorable for the 

 various honey-yielding plants and other 

 vegetation upon which the beekeeper de- 

 pends. Besides a greater profusion of all 

 kinds of spring flowers to insure stronger 

 colonies of bees, and a larger amount of 

 honey from this source, there was an abun- 

 dance of horsemint this year, and, conse- 

 quently, a good crop of horsemint honey 

 was obtained. Mesquite is now yielding more 

 or less plentifully in most localities of this 

 section of the State. Very little honey was 

 obtained from this source the last year or 

 two. 



Throughout the cotton belt, cotton, the 

 main source from which the biggest part of 

 the honey crop of central and the more 

 northern portions of Texas is obtained, is 

 in excellent condition, and also promises to 

 give us a better yield than last year. In 

 many localities, however, the cotton is in 

 poor condition on account of too abundant 

 rainfall during the spring months. This is 

 especially true of the heavy black-land sec- 

 tions and river-bottom lands. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sizing up the entire situation, it is safe to 

 say that there is already a large honey crop, 

 and that it will be considerably larger by 

 the end of the year. Compared with last 

 year the crop will be larger, and there will 

 be a still greater dit¥erence between this 

 year's crop and that of two years ago. This 

 is already indicated by the unsteady market 

 that prevails now on account of a great rush 

 of honey to the market without any regard 

 to systematic marketing. As Southwest 

 Texas came in with an early crop this year, 

 and with a large production, which was 

 rushed right on to the market, the honey 

 market is in a very demoralized condition at 

 the present time. Prices are just about two 

 cents a pound lower on all kinds of honey, 

 comb and extracted, than have prevailed the 

 last two years. Even at these low prices 

 there is slow demand, and it is difficult to 

 move any quantities of honey except in a 

 few occasional instances and at a low figure. 

 This demoralization is not due to the amount 

 of honey produced so much as to the way 

 the honey is slumped on the market. As the 

 crop in Southwest Texas comes with a rush, 

 and everybody is anxious to turn his honey 

 into money (many of the beekeepers are 

 compelled to do this of necessity, and every 

 effort is made to get it to market), there is 

 always a considerable amount of undersell- 

 ing. And in addition to the rush of honey 

 on to the market, the fact that first one bee- 

 keeper and then another sells at a lower 

 price in order to move his honey, causes, in 

 consequence, a rapid depreciation in honey 

 prices. 



A further result of this great evil of 

 underselling is that the honey-buyers and 

 jobbers get disgusted with such methods, 

 and quit handling the stuff altogether. The 

 fact that they can not rely on the prices of 

 this product may mean excessive losses to 

 them; and rather than subject themselves to 

 this they will refrain from handling honey 

 at all. For instance, an extensive jobber 

 contracts for honey from one source at a 

 certain price. Another jobber happens to 

 have honey offered to him for half a cent or 

 even a cent per pound less. It is apparent 

 immediately that the first jobber can not 

 compete with the other without selling his 

 honey at the same price. And as honey is 

 handled by these firms on the basis of a cent 

 a pound, it is readily seen that the first- 

 quoted jobber will have to sell for the same 

 price at which he contracted. Consequently 

 he prefers not to run these risks, and stays 

 out of the game of handling an unstable 

 product in the first place at a very unstable 

 price in the second. 



