Ten Texas Topics 31 



even now there are in Texas, bee-keepers who own over a 

 thousand colonies of bees. Within a few years such a num- 

 ber will not be an unusual thing. 



"It may be asked, how is the market for honey, and 

 what about freight rates on supplies? These are natural 

 questions, and were anticipated so long ago that they have 

 been satisfactorily settled to meet present conditions; and 

 that very fact has assisted materially in developing the 

 business to its present proportions. There are several large 

 honey buyers in the State, and they pay a good price for 

 all the honey offered, and they in turn ship it to distant 

 markets. We raise what we call bulk comb honey. This is 

 simply comb honey packed in cans and extracted honey 

 poured over it to fill the space. We use three, six and 

 twelve-pound friction-top cans and sixty-pound square cans. 

 The friction top cans are round in shape, and twenty three- 

 pound cans are placed in a case, while ten of the six and 

 twelve-pound cans and two of the sixty-pound cans con- 

 stitute a case. The friction top cans make very nice shelf 

 packages, and are becoming very popular. We honey 

 dealers contract our whole crop in the winter and early 

 spring at the following prices, f. o. b. our nearest railroad 

 station: The sixty-pound cans, 8^ cents; twelve-pound 

 cans, 9J cents; six-pound cans, 10 cents; three-pound cans 

 IO5 cents. All we have to do is to haul the honey to the 

 depot, take the bill of lading to the bank and get the cash. 



"In the matter of supplies, it will be gratifying news to 

 all those interested in the business to know that the A. I. 

 Root Company have established a large branch house in 

 San Antonio, where they sell everything a bee-keeper needs 

 at factory prices. 



"As those who are informed know, according to the last 

 census, Texas is the leading State in the production of 

 honey and the value of apiarian products. It 1899 there 

 were produced here, 4,780,254 pounds of honey, and 159,690 

 pounds of beeswax, valued at $468,527.60. We produce 

 nearly a million more pounds of honey than any other State, 

 and bee-keepers from other sections, who are aware of our 

 advantages, are locating every year in our midst. In 

 nearly every portion of Texas bee-keeping pays, but it finds 

 its best place in South and Southwest Texas, where the 

 flora is so extensive and so well adapted to the production 

 of honey. Texas has never known an entire failure of the 

 honey crop, which is something that can not be said of any 

 other State in the Union. For these reasons I believe 

 South and Southwest Texas to be the best bee country in 

 the world, and a section in which entire confidence can be 

 placed in the production of a honey crop every year, thus 



