18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



AGRICULTURAL MATTERS. 



Keeping Liquid Honey — Packing Limes — Tobacco in the Santa Clara District, etc. 



Keeping Extracted Liquid Honey in 

 Florida. 



Right near the honey-house door, on 

 the south side of the building, is a shal- 

 low box covered with a glass sash, the 

 box and sash being tipi^ed so as to in- 

 cline toward the sun. In this box are 

 glass jars of honey, I think about all the 

 year round, and this honey stays there 

 in the hot Florida sun until it is used to 

 fill orders. I have just oeen handling 

 the jars; and although it is between 8 and 

 9 P. M. the jars are still almost hot. 

 He says that, in the afternoon, they are 

 often too hot to handle, but not so hot 

 as to impair the flavor of the honey. 

 This high temperature, with, perhaps, 

 some other influence from the strong 

 glaring sunlight,, is almost a sure pre- 

 ventive against candying, eve,n when 

 these jars of honey stand for days and 

 weeks on the shelves of the retailer; 

 and the longer the honey stays in this 

 "sterilizer" the better it becomes, because 

 it is thoroughly ripened. 1 do not know 

 how common this idea is for ripening 

 extracted honey, but it seems to me 

 every bee-keeper should use this "hot- 

 bed" feature. The same apparatus can, 

 of course, be used for a solar wax-ex- 

 tractor. The sash should be hinged so 

 as to turn back against the wall of the 

 building; and to save lifting, a cord 

 and pulley should be attached so the sash 

 can easily be swung up with one hand. 

 — Mr. Root in Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Packing Limes. 



At the Colonial Fruit Show, held in 

 London a few months ago, the following 

 reference to limes in the official report 

 is interesting. The secretary said: 

 "With regard to limes, there is no ques- 

 tion that the cases measuring 1 cubic 

 foot, and containing from 200 to 220 

 fruits, are the most marketable, while, 

 as I have so often pointed out, those 

 limes wrapped in stout brown paper 

 last far longer than those protected by 

 thin tissue paper only." 



Keeping Ants From Bee Hives. 



I have my colonies on stands or 

 benches. ]\Iy idea in placing them on 

 stands is to keep the ants away. I put 

 ashes under the stands to prevent the 

 grass from growing. Under each leg of 

 the stands I place small lids, filled with 

 pine tar, which need replenishing about 

 twice during the summer. This is the 

 best remedy I have ever tried. — Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture. 



Curing and Packing of Oranges. 



Investigations, carried out by officers of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, as to 

 the most suitable methods of transport of 

 oranges from California to the Eastern 

 States of America have been in progress for 

 a considerable time, and the recently issued 

 Bulletin 123 of the Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry gives a full account of all the work 

 done. 



It is mentioned that in California, as in 

 many other orange-exporting countries, it 

 was the common practice to allow the 

 oranges to stand for a time before packing, 

 with the object of curing or wilting the skin. 

 It was believed that if the fruit were packed 

 in a fresh condition, wilting would occur in 

 the box, and the contents would arrive at 

 the journey's end ina loose and possibly 

 damaged condition. Comparative tests made 

 to ascertain the effect of the prelirninary 

 curing showed, however, that except in the 

 early part of the season, the fruit can be 

 packed quite as successfully when the cur- 

 ing is omitted. The skin of the immature 

 fruit is hard, and wilting undoubtedly facili- 

 tates the packing process. Later in the sea- 

 son when the fruit is ripe, curing had little 

 influence, since at that stage the skin is na- 

 turally pliable. 



Cuba's Fertile Lands. 



The resources of the island, however, 

 seem as yet to be scarcely touched. 

 Great stretches of inexhaustibly fertile 

 land in the immediate vicinity of Habana 

 lie uncultivated. One sees almost no 

 orange or banana plantations, and only 

 here and there is sugar cane grown in 

 a systematic and wholesale way. Small 

 fruits and vegetables offer all kinds of 

 flattering possibilities. If the government 

 can only remain stable, the country is 

 bound to see within the immediate future 

 an immense increase in the output of its 

 natural products and a consequent vast 

 inflow of the wealth which they will 

 bring. — Editorial correspondence, The 

 Christian Advocate, Nashville, Tenn. 



Prizes for La Gloria Fruits. 



Three firsts, one second and three 

 third premiums, out of a total of sixteen, 

 is the La Gloria record for exhibits at 

 the recent exhibition in Havana of the 

 Cuban National Horticultural Society. 



During January, 1909, Henry M. Burn- 

 side, of La Gloria, picked sixteen boxes 

 of good, marketable grapefruit from one 

 eight-year-old tree on his grove. — La 

 Gloria Cuban-American. 



