628 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



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CONDUCTED BY 



Floyd, Hunt Co., Tex. 



Bee-Notes from Texas — Bee-Cayes. 



The prospect is good at present, in 

 this part of Texas, for an average crop 

 of honey. Our bees gathered very little 

 surplus the forepart of the season, but 

 now an average of 40 or 50 pounds per 

 colony is assured. The fine rains in 

 August made a splendid growth of the 

 plants that produce our fall flowers. 



The honey-plants now in bloom are 

 broom-weed, with its small yellow 

 flowers covering nearly all the pastures ; 

 then the aster family is well represented. 

 The golden-rod is just beginning to 

 bloom — I notice two distinct varieties of 

 that. 



There is also a wild catnip that is in 

 bloom the whole summer, and the bees 

 work on it considerably. The iron-weed 

 is now in bloom, with its large, yellow, 

 sunflower-shaped blossoms ; and last, 

 but not least, nearly all the cultivated 

 land is covered with the wild morning- 

 glory, or " tie vine," as it is often called 

 here, because it " ties " the cotton plants 

 together. I think the bees work almost 

 entirely on it until about noon, when it 

 closes up, and they then work on the 

 other plants named. There is one more 

 which is much sought after by the bees, 

 which I almost forgot to mention, 

 namely, the " rich " or frost weed, 

 which yields a great deal of honey. 

 Cotton is also still in bloom. All of these 

 plants mentioned produce a very fair 

 article of honey, and the bees are not 

 able to gather a tithe of the honey 

 which these plants produce. 



I am afraid, Mrs. Atchley, you have 

 missed it a little in regard to bee-caves. 

 I tell you there are some "whoppers" 

 in the bluffs of the Colorado river. The 

 number of bees working in some of these 

 caves is something wonderful to behold, 

 and as they are so situated that it is 

 almost impossible to get at them, we 



cannot tell how many different queens 

 are in there, but certainly more than 

 One, and I do not consider this very 

 strange, if the cavity is large, which it 

 is likely to be. As a matter of fact, the 

 stream of bees that issues forth is im- 

 mense, and as Rambler says, I have 

 always thought there were " numerous " 

 queens in there. 



I will try to find time to investigate 

 this matter, and will try to visit the bee- 

 cave on the Colorado river 30 or 40 miles 

 above here. A. C. Aten. 



Round Rock, Tex., Sept. 23, 1892. 



Bro. Aten, in regard to the bee-caves, 

 you are writing from hearsay, and I 

 wrote from personal investigation. The 

 same caves you speak of, are the ones I 

 explored, and found them as stated in 

 my former article ; and I think that 

 when you investigate for yourself, you 

 will then agree with me exactly. 



Honey from Morning-Glory, Etc. 



We have had one of the best fall 

 honey-flows I ever saw here, from morn- 

 ing-glory. Bees had not done much 

 through the spring and summer — just 

 gathering enough to keep them in good 

 condition — but on Sept. 1 the " shower" 

 came in earnest from this wonderful 

 honey-plant. There was at least 3,000 

 acres of it in reach of my bees. One 

 colony stored 80 pounds of surplus 

 honey from it alone. This was my best 

 colony. The honey is of the finest 

 quality, as clear as spring-water, and 

 the flavor is just splendid. 



I have 200 colonies now, all in fine 

 condition for winter. Wintering bees is 

 no trouble here. All that is required is 

 plenty of honey — 15 or 20 pounds is 

 enough — and they will winter in any 

 sort of a hive. 



About 15 years ago, when I first be- 

 gan keeping bees in the old-style box- 

 hive, sometime in December a mule ran 

 over one of the hives, and knocked it 

 over. I went at once to stand it up, but 

 the bees were so irritated by the jar that 

 they stung me so badly that I vowed 

 they might lie there and freeze. The 

 winter was severe, but they came 

 through in good condition, to my sur- 

 prise, as I thought they were dead. 



Hunting Bee-Trees and Wild Game. 

 — Bee-trees are plentiful here. One man 

 cut 45 trees last year, and secured con- 

 siderable honey from them. Game — 

 such as squirrels, ducks and some tur- 

 keys and deer — is here. I love the sport 



