Ten Texas Topics 27 



portation of the large Italian bee, that seems to have found 

 its natural home in Texas, was an experiment that has 

 proved a blessing. Her product probably is not superior 

 to that of the native little black bee, but it is greater in 

 quantity, and she is found to adapt herself more readily to 

 domestication and the improved methods for saving the 

 result of her tireless energy. The result has been that nearly 

 all of those who have made bee-keeping a business have the 

 best bees, and have prepared themselves to conduct their 

 business in order to reap the greatest financial benefit 

 from it, and their success has been greater than they antic- 

 ipated. As evidence of this, it may be stated that accord- 

 ing to the most recent and most reliable statistics, in fact, 

 nothing less than the last Federal census, Texas produced 

 during 1899 nearly $500,000.00 worth of honey, taking the 

 first place in the sisterhood of States as a producer of that 

 very necessary as well as luxurious adjunct of a well regu- 

 lated menu. 



The above figures are nearly four years old, and since 

 that date bee-keeping has kept on developing at a rate that 

 makes it safe to say that the value of the product for 1907 

 will be over 11,250,000.00, and promises to progress until 

 it becomes one of the chief industries of the State, rivaling 

 in its financial returns any of the staples of which we boast 

 so much. 



The charm of the proposition to go into the bee busi- 

 ness is the fact that it requires very little capital, and the 

 further fact that the application of the most scientific 

 methods really requires but very little time of the farmer 

 who is sufficiently up to date to take advantage of every 

 means to increase his income, and at the same time di- 

 versify his sources of revenue to such an extent that he has 

 no fear that his farm -will fail to reward him for his labors 

 from year to year. All he has to do is to furnish his num- 

 berless little workers with a properly equipped home; they 

 wi'l board themselves while hoarding up a valuable store 

 for their owner. Every bud in this flower-bedecked region 

 is dripping with nectar awaiting the busy bee in order to be 

 saved for man's benefit. The time will never come when 

 there will be enough of the energetic workers to put a stop 

 to this waste ; and there will never come a time when the 

 supply furnished forth by these dew-kissed blossoms will 

 be of such magnitude as to preclude the possibility of a 

 good price being paid for the delightful fruit of the efforts 

 of the unselfish little laborers. Probably the story of bee- 

 keeping, its prospects, and the present advantages it offers, 

 could best be told by one actually engaged in the business. 

 I, therefore, take the liberty of quoting from a friend with 



