1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



667 



honey-room are entirely open, no screen be- 

 ing needed. 



The whole building is cheaply construct- 

 ed. All the lumber used is what is known 

 as No. 2, which can be bought at a much 

 lower price than first class. The whole thing 

 is covered with corrugated galvanized-iron 

 roofing, making the roof and walls durable 

 and fire-proof. 



New Braunfels, Texas. 



CONDITIONS IN CUBA. 



Conditions Brighter than for Some Time. 



BY PRANK KBIMAN. 



The prospects for a large crop of honey 

 are fine in this part of Cuba. We have had 

 abundant rains without any excess, as in 

 other years. The Cauto River never rose a 

 foot above high tide. It usually rises from 

 40 to 50 feet at Cauto in ordinary years, in 

 May or June, and again in September or 

 October, which are the cyclone months. 

 Here we still have plenty of woods which, I 

 think, are the source of the rainfalls. In 

 Manzanilla it sometimes does not rain at all 

 in the summer time, although it borders on 

 the sea, because there are no woods nearer 

 than about 20 miles. The indications are 

 that in fifty years most of the island of 

 Cuba will be barren if the destruction of 

 woods keeps on, which it will unless the 

 United States government takes hold of 

 things here and does better than it did un- 

 der Magoon's administration of Cuba. It 

 must be remembered that there is no rain- 

 fall between October and May; and when 

 the woods are cut off there is very little rain 

 in the summer, when it is absolutely neces- 

 sary, on account of the scorching heat from 

 a vertical sun and the thermometer at 90°. 



The spring honey crop begins with the 

 first rains in March or April, and lasts till 

 June or July. In case there are no rains in 

 June or July then there are bad times for 

 the bees. The first very dry summer I ex- 

 perienced in Cuba I lost 500 hives. Last 

 summer was very dry; and after feeding $200 

 worth of sugar I still lost 400 hives, having 

 only 550 left, and mostly in poor condition. 

 This year we had plenty of rains at the 

 proper time, and the bees actually increased 

 from 1050 to 1100 hives after the close of the 

 spring honey crop. All the hives are full 

 of brood, and in good shape to begin on the 

 fall crop, which begins Sept. 1, and lasts to 

 Oct. 15, after which we have our winter crop 

 of bellflower or white morning-glory. 



I started March 1 with three yards, con- 

 taining in all 550 hives. I started two new 

 yards and increased to 1100 hives. The bees 

 will probably increase to 1300 by Nov. 1. 

 Last year I had natural swarms in Novem- 

 ber, which made their full share of honey. 

 My spring crop was 70 barrels, mostly dark 

 honey. My fall crop, which will be all dark, 

 will be about 25 barrels; and the winter 



crop, which will be pure white, will be over 

 100 barrels. Our barrels hold 50 gallons 

 each, or about 600 lbs. My wax crop will be 

 about 4000 lbs. this year. I have all five 

 yards along the Cauto River, the yards 

 about a mile apart, and the furthest is only 

 three miles from the home yard. 



In seven years I have known only three 

 days when the bees could not work iu Cuba. 

 On Jan. 24, 1904, the thermometer was H4° 

 in the morning, and never reached 55 all 

 day, with no sunshine at all. In the same 

 year. May 15, we had heavy rains all day, 

 being a cyclone storm. On Oct. 18, 1908, 

 we had another cyclone storm which de- 

 molished the bee-house and drowned sev- 

 eral colonies. In the rainy season the 

 showers fall, usually, between 2 and 5 in 

 the afternoon, never in the morning and 

 very seldom, at night; but cyclone storms 

 rain day and night. However, the winters 

 in Cuba are very fine. The thermometer 

 hardly ever goes as low as 55, and never 

 above 80. For this reason Cuba is a very 

 popular winter resort. 



Cauto, Cuba. 



THE BEST HONEY-COMBS ONLY FROM NEW 

 COMBS. 



BY T. P. ROBINSON. 



Seeing an article in Gleanings for Aug. 

 1, setting forth the importance of using only 

 virgin or newly made combs for the produc- 

 tion of the best grade of extracted honey, 

 and by the request of the editor to hear from 

 others on the subject, I have been persuad- 

 ed to give my own experience, which is an 

 absolute conclusion in my case or so far as 

 I am concerned. 



Mr. Leon C. Wheeler, page 482, Aug. 1, 

 in his contention that the best grade of ex- 

 tracted honey is taken only from virgin or 

 new combs, is correct. There is not a comb, 

 that has once contained brood, that will 

 produce quite so white or quite so mild a 

 honey in flavor as a new comb. I have no- 

 ticed that even white combs one or more 

 years old that have never contained brood 

 do not produce quite so good a grade of ex- 

 tracted honey as the new combs. The dif- 

 ference is very slight but noticeable. 



Honey from combs that have contained 

 brood is darker and stronger, even when 

 produced in the same hive, filled by the 

 same bees, and gathered from the same 

 flowers. The difference is not so great in 

 my case when producing a lower grade of 

 honey; but when I have a special order for 

 the very best I select the white or new combs 

 from which to take the honey. 



Fortunately I am located in a country 

 where the honey is very uniform, both as to 

 color, flavor, and body; and honey taken 

 from the brood-combs goes as a first-grade 

 article. I never have to discount on account 

 of having brood-comb honey. This has 

 been my observation for the last ten years. 



Bartlett, Tex. 



