Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-04
PRODUCTS Of TEXAS
Bee Culture and Fruit Industry
Sources of Profit.
LARGE OUTPUT OF HONEY
Pecan Regarded as the Most Pro-
life Wealth Producer.
ORANGE GROVES A SUCCESS
Truck Gardening Also Carried on
With Unfailing Returns-Irri.
cation System Adopted.
ORANGE GROVES A SUCCESS

By WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Especial Correspondence Of The Star and the
| Chicago Record-Herald.
HOUSTON. Tex, March Is, 1911.
With other distinctions, Texas is the
great bee state OF the Union and pro-
duced more than fifteen million pounds
OF honey last year. valued at $4,000. 900.
While it Is impossible to obtain definite
figures. it is estimated that there are
100000 swarms Of bees In the state. val
ued at five and a half million dollars.
and 1t is known that they are increasing
very rapidly. They are mostly Spanish
bees. descendants Of swarms that were
brought over by early immigrants. and At
first were kept in a primitive manner.
Square board hives were used and
the honey. But, like cows and steers, the
bees have been bred UP. and improve
ments suggested by scientific investiga-
ton have elevated agriculture to a high
| plane and a profitable basis. Bee keeping
is SO profitable that ordinary farmers
| have become specialists and swarms are
counted by the hundreds where there
| were only dozens before.
The most favorable locality is along
| the Nueces river, where are vast areas
of Towering plants and trees that are
loaded with sweetness. and naturally the
center Of the industry Is at the town OF
/ Beeville. Bee county, down in the corner
| of the state where the railroad, from Hous-
ton and San Antonio meet, perhaps thirty
miles northwest OF Corpus Christi. There
| is the greatest apiary in the world, with
| eight thousand hives Of bees owned and
managed by the same man. Beeville Is
| the only town and Bee county the only
county. suppose, that were ever named
population of about $500. and the county
Of about 5000. More than q million
pounds Of honey are shipped out Of that
place every year.
Effect on Fruit Crops.
It is a curious fact that bees insure
large fruit crops. This is not q boom
story, but q scientific phenomenon. and
is due to the industry Of the bee. which.
fitting from blossom to blossom In his
work Of gathering honey, distributes tho
assisting in the production Of the fruit.
This duty Is usually left to the breeze,
but that is never as reliable as the bee.
There are large manufactures engaged
exclusively ox. in making lh,a hives, honey
other supplies for bee culture. which are
not found in any other state. and bee
ranches are increasing SO rapidly that 1t
is difficult for them to supply the de-
mand.
wouldn't dare repeat the big stories
that are told about the honest hen Of
Texas. The values of the different kinds
OF poultry products are almost incredible.
Texas stands first in the number of hens
among the states Of the Union, and in the
| number of turkeys, having gone up from
the fifth place during the last ten years.
Millions Of dollars worth of eggs. chickens
and turkeys are shipped as far as New
xzyf,t
speciality of this business. have hundreds of
agents driving from farm to farm pick
ing up eggs and chickens. paying cash
for them and shipping them to central
and sent on east. At least 5000 900
dozen eggs were shipped out Of the state
last year, and 100000 chickens, for
which the farmers wives and daughters
who look after that department realized
more than $12O0O,00O.
Development Of Fruit Industry.
The fruit industry is developing rapidly.
Texas has more peach trees than any
other state In the Union-probably TO-
100000 or more-which are increasing and
| improving all the time. and perhaps
100000 apple trees. 100000 pear trees
| and an equal number Of plum trees. all
OF which find the soil and the atmosphere
favorable: The low lands along the
l IayOrAhle
for peach culture. and are said to be
free from the ii to which peach orchards
IN nigh ATTITUDES and attitudes are ex-
posed.
Grape culture is increasing. also. for
similar reasons, but the pecan is the
| great thing and Texas is the pecan state
| The crop of nuts is valued at $500. 600
year. more than half Of 1t coming from
wild trees.
The pecan is claimed to be the most
prolific source Of wealth in Texas with
| the least labor. A few acres of trees
Will bring regular and permanent in
come SUFFICIENT for the want OF q mod
crate family, and IL once established an
| orchard will outlive the grandchildren OF
| the man who planted It. At first con-
siderable cultivation Is required, but the
amount OF necessary labor grows less ana
less from year to year until, when the
| orchard is mature, the only care it needs
| Is to cut away the dead limbs and
branches and prune down the live ones
that show too vigorous growth.
Seeds Planted in Beds.
The practice is to plant the seed pecans
in beds. and when the young trees are
a year or two old to transplant them into
well plowed and narrowed ground at the
rate Of forty to the acre. When the
young trees have taken hold they are
budded from the best Of the old trees
| anu seven years dIterWarQ they Will reach
maturity and produce at the rate of 500
| or 800 an acre. Several people have
! told me that they have realized 5000
| an acre from mature trees and I have
| heard Of one man who receives a steady
| income Of $4,000 a year from an or
| chard OF less than sixty acres
Four men look after the place, except
| at picking time when extra help has to
| be employed. In several sections in
| southeastern Texas the nhabitants derive
| almost their entire income from pecan
orchards. There doesn't seem to be any
diminution in the price or in the demand
but naturally there can be no great mar
ket as for cotton. corn. vegetables and
| fruit. The pecan tree Is a native OF
Texas river bottoms and the wild fruit
| is always marketable, but cultivation i'm
proves the quality and increases the
4 quantity and naturally the profits
| Luther Burbank. the plant wizard Of
California. is quoted as saying that if he
| were young man he would go to Texas
and devote his life to propagating new
| species OF pecans which he believes
would be the most profitable occupation
/ offered to mankind.
Fig Crop Profitable.
The fig crop is also profitable, and in
creasing rapidly. About three thousand
acres are now planted to figs In Texas
and the largest orchard in the world ia
said to be in Galveston county. Most