191] 



GLEANINGS IN I^EE CULTUKE. 



Mau. 



and for thousands of heathen! Who is sufficient 

 for these things? Hut God can do his will, even 

 with a feeble instrumentality. A. Bunker. 



Toungoo, Burmah, Dec. 1.5, 1884. 



AVliv. friend B., i.s it really a fact that yon 

 are ri;;iit in tlie Jieigliborliood of the .Ip/.s 

 (lorsaUi ! . Do you mean that yovu- people 

 belonging; to that church hnve tlie ^Ipis dor- 

 sata in the trees, or have they K<>t them in 

 hives? In any event, you seem to be a prov- 

 idence to the bee-keepers of the world. 

 Our short-hand writer suggests that the 

 solution of this difficult question of getting 

 hold of this race of Ijees is to come tlirough 

 onr niissioiiaiies. as have many of the great- 

 est blessings the world lias ever received 

 from lands liitherto unreaclied by the gospel. 

 May (iod bless your elforts in working that 

 greiit held where laborers are so few! 



'THE SILVER LUSTING 

 CUBA. 



A BOOM IN 



COO LBS. OF HONEY BMIOM .^ SlNCr.K COLON V IN ONE 



SE.\SON, WITH THE AID Of THE HOLY-LANU 



liKES. 



fill" cloud is seldom so darlc that it has not a 

 silver lining; but three months ago it seem- 

 ed impo.'ssible that there could be much light 

 behind the gloom of despondency and doubt 

 that hung over our future px-ospects for a 

 favorable report of our first year's work upon this 

 wave-washed little spot of land here in the middle 

 of the ocean. But we had " builded bettor than we 

 knew;" for when the first day of December opened 

 we had 113 colonies of bees left from the summer's 

 wreck; and with the advent of December came the 

 bellflower with all its hoarded stores of sweetness, 

 and such storing of honey as our 113 colonies in a 

 weak condition did for 6.1 days was seldom if ever 

 seen, I think. During that time they stored 40,125 

 lbs., making an average of 355 lbs. to the colony, 

 with 10 lbs. to spare. 



Good and grand as this average is, it is not what 

 is possible or probable in Cuba, with colonies in 

 good condition when the harvest opens; but as I 

 told you in a former article, we did not know how 

 to manage our bees for a winter honey-flow. When 

 the harvest began we had perhaps 30 colonies in 

 fair condition to store honey, and wo weighed the 

 honey from one of these as it was thrown out, 

 which amounted to 62J lbs. While I know that even 

 000 lbs. is a "terrible" yield per colony, for a large 

 apiary, yet with bees in such condition as any 

 Northern bee-keeper would have his bees in for a 

 June or July harvest, .500 lbs. to the colony I do not 

 think would be putting the figures out of reach or 

 too high, for this crop of honey that we have just 

 harvested is to be credited to Cuba's resources in 

 that direction, not to our management, for the 

 latter has been one succession of blunders, be- 

 cause, to manage bees for a winter flow, is as differ- 

 ent as the management for a spring and summer 

 flow as a locomotive is diflcrent from a i)rairie 

 schooner. And then the strain of bees has all to do 

 with the result. The Italian bee will not do for 

 Cuba. Why'!* Listen and see. The Italian is credit- 

 ed with having a great deal of sense, and their 

 judgment in that line stands them in a g-ood light 

 in the North; for as soon as our dearth of honey 

 begins the first of July, the Italians stop laying, 



and for four months they lay hardly enough to fur- 

 nish bees to protect the combs fi-om the moth; 

 then when the honey dearth is over, the winter 

 I months are upon them; then they want to go into 

 winter quarters; and the first day of December, 

 with the grandest honey-Uow in the world, finds the 

 Italians with no bees to gather it. 

 I Now this 19th day of February they are getting 

 j strong; but of what use are they now? Our white- 

 honey flow is gone, and for the next four months 

 I they will breed and swarm to their hearts' content; 

 but, to what purpose? To be able to sleep through 

 the next December and January honey-flow. 

 { Well, after what experience I had had with the 

 I Holy-Lands in California, I concluded to try them in 

 ! Cuba. So we ordered a breeding queen from I). A. 

 j Jones; but when her bees came out they were so 

 very cross, that we thought it would be impossible 

 I to handle them during a surplus season, so did not 

 i raise more than 25 queens from her; but there is 

 where wc fooled our own selves, for the bees reared 

 from the daughters of the Jones queen were as 

 I easy to handle as the Italians or blacks; and for 

 I honey-gathering they stood over them all as a class. 

 I Why? because they had bees to gather it. And why 

 I did they have the bees? Because, during the fall 

 ' months (even when there was no honey coming in) 

 i the queens kept laying; and when at last the 

 ; clouds did lift, there was the silver lining. The 

 Holy-Lands were ready for business. Now, friend 

 \ Hoot, can you see why the Italians are not good for 

 ! the Cuban bee-keeper? Again, I say, all this we 

 hud to learn; but if "fortune favors the brave," 

 j look out next winter. When, after two months of 

 I steady hard work, extracting every day, the Cuban 

 I bee-keeper finally "rests from his labors," he not 

 1 only has a good crop of honey in number of pounds, 

 j but he has as fine a crop of honey in qiuiUty as the 

 I ivoThl can produce. Cuba can, in a few years, 

 " without fear or favor," challenge the civilized 

 world to beat her in quantity or quality. He that 

 thinks this is boasting, let him watch the progress 

 and returns from this industry for the next ten 

 1 years. But it must of necessity go a little slow for 

 I the first years, for the art of numaging bees for 

 ] winter work must be fully learned, and I am sure it 

 j can be; then the coast is clear, for the honey is here 



—there is no doubt of that. 

 I One word now to my brother bee-keepers of the 

 I North, about overproduction, and I am done. Let 

 no one who keeiis bees in the U. S. fear that Cuban 

 honey thrown upon their markets will ever reduce 

 the price of their honey one farthing; for such 

 honey as is produced here by the use of the extract- 

 or will not go to the U. S.— but a very small per 

 cent at least, but will find a ready market in the old 

 countries, where it wiir be used princii)ally for 

 medicinal purposes. So, brother bee-keepers, go 

 ahead and produce all the first-class honey you can;" 

 it will sell. A. W. Osbcrn. 



San Miguel, Cuba, W. I., Feb. 19, 1885. 



Friend ()., the above sounds something 

 like it; and from Avhat experience I liave 

 had witli tlie Holy-Lauds and Italians. I can. 

 rciidilv iniderstaiid how tlic result yon men- 

 tion is i)ossil)le. The Ilolv-Lands would go 

 to work and raise bees right straight along, 

 drought or no drouglit. you may depend on 

 it ; and when the time comes to gather hon- 

 ev, they would probably be, "up and dress- 

 ed;" and the next rooye will be, not for Cal- 



