Volume 33 — In Sunny Southland

CONDUCTED BY MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY, Beeville, Texas.

Everything Booming in Texas.

I will now tell you about the weather up to date (Dec. 28th). We are having summer weather, and the bees are just booming on wild currant, which began to bloom about a week ago. The boys are to-day transferring bees from 16 box-hives that they brought in last evening, and they say that the robber-bees are not bad at all, as the bees are busy on the currant bloom. To-day the thermometer registers 75° in the shade; at sunrise this morning it was 66°, and at sundown last night 70° above zero.

On Christmas day husband rode out some, and plucked an orange out of Major DeGan’s orchard, where he saw trees bending with fruit of many varieties of oranges; also the Japan plums were in bloom. The Major’s fish-pond was partly covered with water-lilies, and stocked with the finest perch he ever saw, and they were very gentle; they would come right up to him for food. Then he went out to some of the many gardens in Beeville, and found vegetables in great profusion—radishes, white head cabbages, lettuce, mustard, English peas, new Irish potatoes, and a great many other things too numerous to mention.

The lowest the mercury has been here up to date is 33° above zero, and we are now having lovely weather, and everything shows a springlike appearance. I will keep close watch of all the honey-plants, and at the end of next season I will be prepared to tell all about them, etc. If we have fine weather ten days longer, our strong colonies will fill their hives with new currant honey, as it is very plentiful here.

We have drones hatching, and our swarming will begin about Feb. 15th, or 45 days from now.

Jennie Atchley.

Sending Queens by Mail.

I think Mr. Faylor is a little “off” when he says, on page 697 of the Bee Journal for November, 1893, that no queens are any good after being transported through the mails. The best laying queen, or one of the best, I ever had, came clear across the ocean, by mail, from Italy. She lived fully three years; and, in fact, I have received thousands of queens by mail from different parts of the country, and do not remember ever having a queen damaged in the mails in good weather. I have received them nearly dead, and they turn up O. K. Still I believe some queens are injured in transit, both by mail or in nuclei by express, as I have received such reports.

But my opinion is, that nine-tenths of all the queens that arrive in good condition by mail (that is, lively) are just as good as those not so transported. There are hundreds, yes, I will say thousands, of bee-keepers that can testify in this case, if they will. Please let let us hear some of the evidences; the court is ready. This is a very important question.

Jennie Atchley.

Fruits and Vegetables.

As some friends have not yet gotten enough about southwest Texas, I’ll tell them about the fruits and vegetables. Grapes grow and fruit the heaviest here of any place I ever saw; some bunches of ripe grapes weighing 2½ pounds, and very rich in flavor, and they always fruit—no failures.

Oranges do well here, but have to be irrigated during the dry seasons. I drove by any orchard yesterday that was loaded with ripe oranges, and I tell you it was a pretty sight.

Bananas do only moderately well, but I do not believe the people here understand their culture. There is hardly ever any ice here thicker than a knife-blade, but I see the people wrap up and protect the banana-trees.

Pears do excellently, and young trees grow into bearing very quickly, compared to some countries. Blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, dewberries, currants, and all small fruits do well here. Peaches do well if the varieties are chosen that are acclimated to this latitude. Apples only bear sparingly—it is too warm for them, and the trees do not live long. The whole country here is covered or strewn with wild currants, and they bear every year, and are very fine.

Jennie Atchley.

Hints that May be Valuable.

If you wish nice yellow beeswax everytime, do not use any iron vessel in rendering it. Use tin, brass or copper, as iron will make it dark.

Don’t rest too long, as you may lose considerable, and the “Stitch in time saves nine” adage holds good in bee-keeping, surely. Have you got your sections, frames, and the supplies all ready for next season? If not, you had better see about it, as no bee-keeper in the world can reap a full harvest, and be behind with his supers, hives, frames, etc. It is always best to be ready, whether the harvest comes or not. But should it come, and find the tub bottom up, but little is caught.

It is not best to ask too many questions when you start out in apiculture. Remember that one idea learned yourself, is worth more than if two were told you.

Remember that you may read agricultural papers for years, and without any practice you are no farmer. It is the same with bees. It is right and proper to learn all you can from others, but to be real successful you must learn some yourself.

Jennie Atchley.

Many Vegetables and Few Neighbors.

If a person doesn’t have all the vegetables he can use, it is his own fault, as they can be raised at any time of the year here. I notice cabbages just beginning to head-up now, and tomatoes are plentiful, as the vines seldom are killed by frost. Cabbages grow best in winter, and, to make this short, I will say that people are making garden all the time—while some are harvesting, others are planting. I planted peas, lettuce, radishes and cabbages to-day (Dec. 14th). I have only been here three months, and have raised one crop, and we do not have the time to devote to our garden that it needs, to make a real success of it, still we can, with very little trouble, have all the vegetables we need.

Sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, onions, carrots, artichokes, and celery are all paying crops here. Every known variety of melons do well. There are plenty of ripe water-melons now, and I see new vines coming up.

Now, all of this may seem flattering, but it is true, nevertheless. But this is a new country, out from the towns, and thinly settled. Willie and Charlie say they traveled nearly all one day—about 20 miles—without seeing a house, and it was a public highway, too, or what we call a “county road;” so you see there is room here for you. But you must be content to live without a near neighbor, for awhile, at least.

Jennie Atchley.

Grading of Honey.

I have lately been looking over some old bee-papers, and find that the grading of honey has occupied considerable space, with but little accomplished, as I look at it. Now, it is a very easy matter for us bee-keepers to school ourselves, also easy to school the dealers, but schooling the public is a different thing altogether, and I yet believe that the simple figure plan is the best, such as No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, etc. For to get the consumers to know what grade of honey they are buying, the grade should be on each section, the producer saying something like this: If you wish honey like this, buy my No. 1 or No. 2, as the case may be. John Smith, producer, Chicago, Ills.

Every producer should mark his honey in plain figures, and then the public will soon know how to buy honey, and these plain figures are so easily read. Just think of White, Extra White, Superfine, etc.—too much name for me. I shall brand what section honey I produce, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, etc., and try to school my Southern consumers to understand the meaning of the same.

Jennie Atchley.

Resources of Honey, Etc.

I am told that everything that has thorns on it produces honey, and if that be the case, there are but few shrubs that do not furnish honey. West of this place, for 40 miles, or as far as I have been out, it is thickly covered with shrubs, vines, etc., not much taller than one’s head, and I will name a few for the benefit of bee-keepers who might wish to make inquiry.

Catclaw is very thick in places, so thick that cattlemen sometimes have to pay Mexicans a big price to go into the catclaw brush and “round out” their cattle. “Waheeah” is another sticky brush that is very plentiful, and a good honey-producer. “Wesach” is about the earliest bloom we have—now ready to bloom—and fine for bees. Then we have black and white chapparal, both good for bees. Mesquite is here in abundance, and also yields honey, and there are a great many other plants that yield honey that I know no name for.

And now, while the honey-producing plants have thorns, the bee-keeper feels some of them, in the way of drouths, skunks, cutting ants, moth-worms, and other drawbacks; but if one will make up his mind to overlook these troubles, he will find this a fine bee-country.

Jennie Atchley.

Bro. Chas H. Thies, of Steelville, Ills., has been greatly bereaved in the death of his mother on Dec. 19th. In a kindly letter written to us on Christmas Day, he speaks thus tenderly of his blessed mother:

Friend York:—While I have never met you, and you have never met me or any of us knowingly, yet I feel as though I could divide my sorrow by writing you a few lines. In the past years, when I felt troubled or sad, I could tell my mother, which seemed to unload just half of my trouble, and she was always very glad to share in our troubles and sorrows, as well as in our joys. But since Tuesday, Dec. 19th, she has not been with us, for God saw fit to take her Home, where sickness, pain or death will never more reach her.

She told us before going, that she would like to stay with us longer, but that if God wanted her she was ready to go.

We are all grown up, and do not need a mother to supply us with our daily bread, etc., but yet we should have been glad to have had her with us a few more years. We are trying in this case, as in many others, to say, “Thy will be done,” yet it seems a little harder now than in many cases, particularly for my aged father, who is now 70 years old.

But one thing we are glad of, mother did not suffer long. If each of us only can truly say, when our time comes, “I have fought a good fight,” we have the assurance of meeting her again.

Yours very truly, Charles H. Thies.

[Yes, Bro. Thies, one by one our loved ones are passing to the other side of the river, and we all will soon be called to follow. Then “what a meeting and a greeting” there will be!

Although we are personally acquainted with but few of our readers, yet in their sorrows as well as joys, we feel deeply interested, and wish to assure them that especially in the sad hours of bereavement they have our sincerest sympathy. Surely, we are only a large family, and of all folks bee-keepers, it seems to us, are more interested in each other’s welfare than are any other class of people on this earth. Please remember, then, that the Bee Journal is always ready to hear from its large family of readers, and, whenever possible, will be only too glad to help them.—Ed.]