30 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



A Safe Device for Swarming Bees. 



An Ohio man, says the Philadelphia Rec- 

 ord, has invented a safe device for catching 

 bee swarms without danger of stings. The 

 illustration shows what the device looks like. 

 In appearance it resembles a megaphone, be- 

 ing a conical device with a handle at the 

 pointed end and made of slats. One of these 

 slats is movable and can be slid up a short 

 distance to form an opening, like the open- 

 ing in a hive. When the bees have been col- 

 lected in the device the slide can be pushed 

 shut and kept closed until it is desired to 

 liberate the insects within. 



Tobacco from Cuban Seed. 



Seed selection offers a wide field for im- 

 provement. Under the advice of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture the best tobacco plants 

 in a field have paper bags tied over their 

 flowers. The self-fertilized seed thus ob- 

 tained is put through a machine invented by 

 a government expert, which fans out the 

 lighter seed, leaving only the heaviest, which 

 is best for planting. 



Cuban seed has been acclimated in Texas 

 and is yielding 800 pounds to the acre, good 

 Havana wrapper and filler. The United 

 States Government is encouraging the grow- 

 ing of tobacco from Cuban seed in Alabama 

 and is meeting with success. In Ohio the 

 agricultural department has been carrying 

 on tobacco investigations for a number of 

 years, and good fillers and wrappers from 

 Havana seed are being grown. 



Frederic J. Haskin. 



Cuban Grape Fruit. 



In the week ending May 22 there were 

 some small lots of Cuban and Jamaica 

 grape fruit on the New York market, 

 but in the main the quality and condi- 

 tion were only fair. Here and there 

 good Cuban stock was held up to the 

 outside figures, but the mixed counts 

 were easy and the tendency lower. 



In the week of May 28 Cuban grape 

 fruit sold at auction at from $5 to $5.37^ 

 per box on desirable sizes. There were 

 some lots in the same offering that sold 

 down to $2 per box. This wide range in 

 auction values illustrates the situation 

 here. There is a demand for fancy stock 

 in the medium sizes, but no interest is 

 shown in the choice or low grades in 

 any size. The season so far as this 

 market is concerned may be said to be 

 over. Several small lots have sold in a 

 jobbing way up to $5.'50 per box in both 

 Cuban and Florida stock, but as a rule 

 the tone is weak, with demand restricted 

 to jobbing lots here and there. It is 

 expected that the stocks to arrive from 

 now on to the end of the season will be 

 small, since late arrivals have shown a 

 good deal more waste than usual up to 

 now. There is, however, a fairly active 

 call for the best stock in all oflferings. — 

 N. Y. Fruitman's Guide. 



Cuban Pineapples. 



The week's business in pineapples (to 

 May 28) was on a liberal scale and the 

 market, in spite of the large arrivals, 

 showed a strong tone. On the large 

 sizes there was an advance of from 10c. 

 to 15c. per crate. The week's arrivals 

 included 124.500 crates from Havana, 

 1,000 crates from Nipe Bay, 22,200 crates 

 from Porto Rico and 565 crates from 

 Florida. The market on Monday, May 

 24, showed a very steady tone on all 

 sizes in good sound Cuban stock suitable 

 for shipping. There was a steady and 

 higher tendency at the auction on Tues- 

 day, with the general range as follows: 

 18s, $1.35 to $1.70; 24s, $1.40 to $1.70; 

 30s, $1.20 to $1.55; 36s, $1.30 to $1.40, 

 and 42s, $1.25 to $1.35 per crate. There 

 was an advance of the full equivalent of 

 10c. per crate over these figures at the 

 sale on Wednesday so far as 24s, 30s 

 and 18s were concerned. 



The total imports of pineapples so far 

 this month have been the largest in the 

 history of the business, figuring up to 

 approximately 462,214 crates from Hav- 

 ana and Porto Rico, compared with 262,- 

 686 crates in the same period last year. 

 The April imports were 212,709 crates, 

 compared with 72i,92)7 crates in April last 

 j'ear. — N. Y. Fruitman's Guide. 



