378 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



ing the latter part of May. There has been 

 nothing like spring dwindling in our apiary. 

 We fed barrels and barrels of sugar ; they 

 didn't. 



BEES IN CUBA. 



HONEY FHOM THE BANANA, ETC. 



N Gleanings of Dec. 1 I flncl an inquiry as to 

 I; why bee-keeping in the tropics is not a success 



while hauanas are grown htrgely. In this lo- 

 calitj', and in a radius of two or three miles, 

 there are many thousands of banana and palm 

 trees, each of which blossoms a "racemos," or clus- 

 ter of blossoms, which average 3'o ft. in length, with 

 a diameter of 3 ft. across the shoulder— a solid mass 

 of creamy-white blossoms, upon which the bees, 

 when other stores are scarce, actually swarm. They 

 are never neglected, even when the campanea is in 

 bloom. There is also a tree here called " digame," 

 which is a mass of white blossoms for two or three 

 weeks, at this time of the year, and I should say a 

 very ordinary bee-keeper could make a success, in 

 this province at least. The others I know nothing 

 of but from hearsay, which reports honey every- 

 where and all the tinae. 



We are situated about six miles from the town of 

 Principe, which is connected by a i-ailroad of about 

 45 miles with Nuevitas, a port on the north coast, 

 and one of the finest harbors in the island. Vessels 

 sail from there to New York, and make the trip in 

 from 8 to 14 days. A good steamer could do it in 4. 



The climate is most lovely, the thermometer aver- 

 aging about 80° in the day to 70° at night. I never 

 saw it below T0° the coolest night I have experienc- 

 ed; but that was in June, when one would suppose 

 it to be the warmest of the j'ear. 



The people are the most hospitable I ever met or 

 heard of. When you arc introduced to a Cuban at 

 his home he says, " My house is yours; do what you 

 please with it;" and I verily believe, that if you 

 could pick it up and carry it off on your back, the 

 Cuban would climb a tree and rest satisfied that he. 

 had carried out his hospitality in the sense it is un- 

 derstood by his people. All of the women are 

 beautiful, and as amiable as lovely; In fact, I am 

 yet to see a woman or child with any other disposi- 

 tion than that of a smiling and pleasant one. 



The soil is the richest on earth; and if the Span- 

 ish government carries out the spirit of the letter of 

 their treaty with the United States, this island will 

 be as near a paradise for the producer as can be 

 found on this earth. By irrigation, plants can grow 

 the year round. As it is, two corn crops are grown 

 on the same field in one season, extending from 

 April to December; but with the agricultural ma- 

 chinery of the United States, three could be obtain- 

 ed. The cultivation of the land is done in the most 

 primitive manner. The plow that Moses might have 

 used is still in use here. There is not a foui'-wheel- 

 ed wagon in the province. The carts, and all labor 

 of that description, is done by oxen, and I shouldn't 

 be surprised if these oxen were cotemiiorjvrics of 

 Moses also. Every thing is done in a very old way; 

 but when an American gets down here they think 

 they have a circus right on hand. The comments 

 upon their ability to carry out any thing except in 

 their way is very amusing, if not Mattering. But 

 they find the American is " not the kind of cat" to 

 back out of any thing he undertakes. When we 

 commenced to set up our hives, and talk bees, hon- 



ey-slinging, floating the farm in it, and sailing a 

 canoe in it from here to town, they claimed we 

 could not do any thing with our new and improved 

 methods. Now we are showing them about it, and 



I the astonishment of the visitors that come here to 

 view the "circus" makes us smile. Neither Hed- 



j don nor Hutchinson would ever get the stomach- 

 ache if some poor fellow started his toes on the edge 

 of his field, as I think there is no limit to the amount 

 of bees that can be kept by one party. One elderlj- 

 gentleman visited us, who, when younger, kept 1000 

 of the native hives, with a banana plantation of 

 40,000. He stated there was money in it. He now 

 owns 66,000 acres in the island, worth §800,000. 



Wm. H. Wood, C. E. 

 Puerto Principe, Cuba, Dec. ::6, 18-^4. 



HONEY-DEW, ONCE MORE. 



ARE VVE TO HAVE A REPETITION OF THE THOUIi- 

 LES OF LAST SEA.'^ON';:' 



■ri^DITOR GLEANINGS :-Would it not be well 

 P|) *° ^'^" *^^ attention of bee-keepers to the 

 |*^'r matter of the bark-lice (Lccajiiuni), and the 

 ■ ^" sweet excretion from them? These lice are 

 verjt common again this season. They are 

 now to be observed as small but rapidlj' growing 

 scales on the under side of the branches of the 

 trees. We find them here very abundant on white- 

 ash and bitternut, and quite so on basswood, sassa- 

 fras, and maple. They are now sucking the juices 

 from the tree in such quantities as to greatly in- 

 jure them. At the same time they excrete the 

 sweet substance which lures the bees. Last week 

 I saw the bees thick about the lice-infested branch- 

 es. Later, the blossoms of the maples and willows 

 have attracted the bees to more wholesome nectar. 

 It behooves us to keep a close watch, that we may 

 know if the bees are storing or have stored this un- 

 savory sweet, that we may extract it in case it has 

 been gathered to any extent, that it may not be 

 mixed with our white-clover honey. Such precau- 

 tion would have saved hundreds of dollars to the 

 bee-keepers of the country last year. This nectar 

 secretion, if rightly managed, may and will prove 

 only a benefit. It will stimulate the bees to greater 

 activity, and may be used to feed in early spring, 

 or anj' time in the summer, if care be taken that it 

 is not stored Mith honey to be marketed, or with 

 the winter stores. 



Mr. Editor, have you never wondered why this 

 secretion was poured forth by these scale lice? I 

 think I have the solution. These scale lice are de- 

 graded insects, and so mimic the bark of trees in 

 color, and aie made so inconspicuous by their flat 

 form, that they are protected largely from birds 

 and other insects. Thus they gain by their lowly 

 plain habit and mode of life. There is no physical 

 energy required to move about, and so all is used to 

 increase reproduction, and hence the immense pro- 

 liflcness of these bark-lice. Hut real virtue, even 

 when garbed in plainest dress, can not always re- 

 main hidden. That these lice have virtue, is mani- 

 fested in a phenomenon which has pleased us very 

 greatly the last few days. Some chipping sparrows 

 and Baltimore orioles have been licking up these 

 lice by the thousands. The beautiful golden orioles 

 will take a limb and pass its whole length, and 

 scarce leave a louse. It is very interesting to see 

 them taking their several meals from a favorite 



