VOL. LVIII— NO. 9 



HAMILTON, ILL., SEPTEMBER, 1918 



MONTHLY, $1.00 A YFAR 



GLIMPSES OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS 



Beekeeping Conditions in the Semi-Arid Region Where Every Bush has a Thorn, 



as seen by Frank G. Pellett. 



TEXAS seems to be divided into 

 several natural regions, from 

 the standpoint of the bee- 

 keeper, as already mentioned in a 

 previous article. San Antonio is near 

 the northeastern border of the 

 mesquite region. Mesquite is plenti- 

 ful for a long distance north of that 

 city, but near the northern boundary 

 of Bexar county is the line where 

 cotton begins to yield honey in sur- 

 plus quantities. Accordingly that 

 territory must be regarded as in the 

 natural division where cotton is the 

 predominant honey plant. A line 

 drawn in a southeasterly direction 

 from San Antonio, through Cuero 



and Victoria to the gulf, would prob- 

 ably mark the approximate eastern 

 boundary of the mesquite region. 

 Figure 1 shows a characteristic 

 group of the southwestern honey 

 plants at Goliad. Here are seen 

 agarita, mesquite, hackberry, Mexi- 

 can persimmon, brazilwood, anaqua, 

 prickly pear and huisatche; all good 

 honey plants, growing together in 

 one group. At Victoria, in the next 

 county and only about thirty miles 

 away, we find a very different flora. 

 Agarita is common at Goliad, but is 

 absent at Victoria. Victoria is about 

 the eastern limit of mesquite at 

 that point. Anaqua is still to be 



Fig. l 



ump of southwestern honey-plants at Goliad, T 

 hackberry, brazilwood, anaqua, prickly pear and huisatch' 

 all good honey-plants growing togethe 



Aganta, mesquite, 



found in limited quantity, but the 

 flora is, for the most part, the same 

 as common to other parts of east 

 Texas. It is surprising what a change 

 one finds in the flora in such a short 

 distance. After finding the thorny 

 flora of the southwest for a continu- 

 ous stretch of about two hundred 

 miles, one is not prepared for such 

 a sudden change. The natural boun- 

 dary of this region is not difficult to 

 find. The escarpment between San 

 Antonio and New Braunfels distinct- 

 ly marks the northern boundary, 

 while the river at Victoria is almost 

 as clearly the eastern boundary. The 

 Rio Grande valley marks the south 

 and west boundaries. 



It is in this region that commer- 

 cial beekeeping has reached the 

 highest development in Texas. In 

 some counties one finds more com- 

 mercial beekeepers than in whole 

 States in other sections of the coun- 

 try. Instead of getting honey from 

 cultivated crops like cotton or clo- 

 ver, the beekeeper is dependent al- 

 most wholly on the wild flora for 

 surplus. Beekeepers report that 

 wherever the land is cleared they 

 find it necessary to move their api- 

 aries, as none of the cultivated 

 crops common to this section yield 

 honey in surplus quantity. Even 

 cotton is of little value on the light 

 soils of this part of Texas. 



Most of the honey comes from 

 thorny shrubs, such as catclaw, hua- 

 jillo (pronounced waheya) and me- 

 squite. The soapbush has the ap- 

 pearance of an evergreen shrub, and 

 is able to withstand the most se- 

 vere drought. It is reported as yield- 

 ing from ten to fifteen days during 

 its period of bloom. 



One marked peculiarity of the 

 plants of the southwest is the un- 

 certainty of the time of blooming. In 



