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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



Beekeeping in the Soith west. 



BY LOUIS H.SCHOLL. COLLEGE STATION TEXAS 



What are the bees doing in the North at 

 this time? They can't do what ours are do- 

 ing here in Southwest Texas ! Broomweed is 

 in full bloom, covering the entire prairies, and 

 the bees are storing honey for winter sup- 

 plies. The summer has been a seyere one 

 on bees, and the colonies left are not very 

 strong. Since the fall flow (a slow, steady 

 one for over two months) brood-rearing has 

 been kept up, and the colonies go into win- 

 ter in the best possible condition — an ideal 

 one — with a lot of young queens and an abun- 

 dance of stores. What a harvest there will 

 be next year if the season is favorable ! 



SOUTHWEST TEXAS. 



Are you interested in that country of 

 Southwest Texas? If you are you will want 

 to get better acquainted with it — its location, 

 rivers, railroads, counties, towns and infor- 

 mation about each of these. You want some- 

 thing that will help to give an idea of just 

 what the country is. Hundreds of letters 

 that I have received the past few months are 

 proof of this. 



In answer to these a map was gotten up, 

 and here it is. Keep it always ready, in a 

 place where you can find it. Remember it 

 was in the Christmas number of Gleanings. 

 This will help you to find the map. Fre- 

 quent reference will be made to this map in 

 articles during the coming year. A trip of 

 several weeks this fall has given me an 

 opportunity to learn of some things that are 

 done only in Southwest Texas. A thorough 

 study of the map will enable you to under- 

 stand subsequent articles mjuch more fully. 



LOCATION OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS. 



This section, divided from the rest of the 

 State, as given in the map, is my own, and is 

 to be applied simply as a division according 

 to apicultural resources that are very much 

 alike in the whole section. North and east 

 of the boundary lines the conditions are very 

 much different for bee-keeping. A different 

 flora also begins there. The division on the 

 map, however, is by no means a distinct one, 

 as the natural dividing line between the two 

 divisions may extend both further east or 

 north for some distance into adjoining coun- 

 ties at some places, while the same may not 

 extend to the outer boundary-line of the 

 counties included in the map. For conveni- 

 ence, the outside boundaries of the counties 

 have been used as a dividing line, and, as 

 well as I could ascertain, the division is close 

 enough to suit our purpose. 



Southwest Texas lies between the 97th and 

 loist meridian of longitude, extending slight- 



ly east of the 97th. North and south it ex- 

 tends from a little below the 26th to nearly 

 the 30th parallel of latitude. The distance 

 from the northernmost boundary of Bexar 

 County (pronounced "Bair") to the extreme 

 southern line at Brownsville is 290 

 miles. The width of this section of country 

 is about the same distance from east to west. 

 There are twenty-six counties — Bexar, Me- 

 dina, Uvalde, Kinney, Maverick, Tavalla, 

 Frio, Atascosa, Wilson, Karnes, Goliad, Bee, 

 Live Oak, McMuIIen, La Salle, Dimmit, 

 Webb, Encinal, Duval, Nueces, San Patricio, 

 Refugio, Cameron, Hidalgy, Starr, and Za- 

 pata — and nearly every one of these is adapt- 

 ed more or less to bee-keeping, some of them 

 containing many acres of fine bee-pasture 

 without bees. 



THE RIVERS AND RAILROADS. 



The section is traversed by several large 

 streams with their tributaries. The R:o 

 Grande forms the western boundary. In the 

 eastern portion the San Antonio and the 

 Nueces in the central part, make their way 

 through the entire length, and end in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. It is along these rivers and 

 along the railroads that most of the bee- 

 keepers are located. Of the railroads there 

 are three main trunk lines, spreading out 

 from San Antonio as a center. The San An- 

 tonio and Aransas Pass runs south to the 

 Gulf; the International and Great Northern 

 to Laredo, and makes through connections to 

 Mexico ; the Southern Pacific, through the 

 northern part, goes to El Paso, and is the 

 main outlet to the Pacific-Coast country. All 

 these extend east of San Antonio and make 

 through connections at their terminals as 

 well as at other connecting points to all 

 parts north and east. 



Besides the above, the Mexican National 

 and the St. Louis and Mexico ply the south- 

 ern parts and connect with the San Antonio 

 and Aransas Pass. Other railroads will be 

 built as soon as the country becomes settled 

 more, thus opening up much new bee-keeping 

 and other valuable territory, and providing a 

 better outlet. 



IN ANSWER TO NUMEROUS LETTERS. 



Many of the inquiries sent to me ask for 

 information about Southwest Texas. It is 

 impossible for me to give them a personal 

 reply, consequently this means is resorted 

 to in answering all of them at one time. 

 Other information will be given in Glean- 

 ings from time to time throughout the year, 

 and to this I should like to call the atten- 

 tion of the interested bee-keepers. 



In reply to the letters in regard to South- 

 west Texas I believe I can do no better than to 

 refer you to a copy of the "Texas Almanac," 

 published by the Galveston and Dallas Nems, 

 of our State. The almanac gives a descrip- 

 tion of each of the counties of Texas, their 

 soils, water supply, climate, topography, re- 

 sources, industries, and products ; also in- 

 formation concerning population, schools, 

 churches, transportation facilities, etc. These 



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