584 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



July 



honey, etc. Although I am not a scientist, and 

 have no facilities for fine work, yet I will venture 

 an opinion that a fungus or animalcule resides in 

 the honey, or about the hive. This State is over- 

 run with minute pestiverous things, roaming about 

 seeking whom it may devour, and it gets therein 

 all cases. If I mistake not, this thing of which I 

 write will, ere the new year, make a pretty clean 

 sweep of the principal apiaries in this county. I 

 am melting combs and clearing up, with a view to 

 quit the business. Others concur with me in these 

 vie.vs of the situation. W. A. Webster. 



Bakerstield, Kern Co., Cal. 



It seems to me that you are taking a rath- 

 er dismal view of the matter. I may be 

 mistaken, but I can hardly think that this 

 one you mention is any thing more than a 

 temporary matter. We should be very glad 

 to receive reports from your neighborhood 

 in regard to it. There is one thing, how- 

 ever, that does disturb me somewhat. When 

 I saw the ravages made by the parasite on 

 the orange-tree, and realized how plentiful 

 were house-flies even in January, it occur- 

 red to me more than once that in a climate 

 without frost and snows, insect or fungus 

 enemies can get a going ; and who shall say 

 where the end will be without any frost to 

 cut it short, as it cuts short the yellow fever 

 in Florida? 



BEE-KEEPING IN CUBA. 



CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE. 



TT will be seen that we have a steady flow of hon- 

 M ey during the entire year; that there is at no 

 W time a complete dearth of honey, such as oc- 



"*■ curs in all of the States at times; that during 

 at least eight or nine months of the year, the 

 bees obtain more honey than they need for their 

 own use; that the flow commences very slowly, 

 gradually increasing for about four months, then 

 as gradually decreasing for the same length of 

 time. 



Cuba is like all other countries in the fact that, 

 while many different kinds of flowers yield honey, 

 the surplus is obtained from two or three kinds on- 

 ly. At least three-fourths of our surplus comes 

 from the bellflower, or bejuco campanea, or bejuco 

 aguinardo; a correct description of which, but not a 

 correct engraving, will be found on page 7t>7 of 

 Gleanings for 18 B 6. The habits of this flower are 

 very peculiar, different from any other honey- 

 yielding flora I know of, it being a daily and not a 

 constant flowering plant. The flower opens out in 

 the morning, continues in bloom the larger part of 

 the day, then closes up, wilts, and Anally drops off, 

 having lasted one day only. The most peculiar 

 thing about it is its great irregularity in amount of 

 bloom from day to day. One day we may not be 

 able to tind a hundred blossoms in the course of an 

 hour's search, while on the next the fields and 

 hedges may be white with bloom; the next day, 

 half as many; the next still less, and so on. The 

 daily yield of honey fluctuates in almost exact pro- 

 portion to the amount of bloom. A study of the 

 table of daily yields during December and Janu- 

 ary, as given on page 540, may not only be interest- 

 ing to those who are in the habit of keeping such 

 records, but shows very accurately the amount of 

 bloom each day. 



The next in point of value to the campanea is the 

 royal palm (and a royal tree it is too), which yields 

 honey at all times of the year. I doubt whether 

 we ever get much surplus from it, but its habit of 

 yielding some honey steadily during the summer 

 months, when few or no other flowers yield any 

 thing, makes it of great value to the Cuban bee- 

 keeper. 



There is also a species of Spanish needle which 

 commences to yield honey in September, and is 

 still in bloom. A detailed description of the minor 

 honey-plants here would not be valuable to your 

 readers, as they are unlike any in the States. 



Bellflower honey is of excellent quality, in color 

 about like basswood honey; bedy nearly or quile 

 equal to white-clover honey, while in flavor it ranks 

 next, in my judgment, to that honey. The flavor is 

 more pronounced than is that of mangrove honey, 

 but not as sharp or aromatic as either basswood or 

 California honey. Honey from other sources is 

 dark in color, of good body and fair flavor for dark 

 honey. 



Brood - rearing commences to increase about 

 Christmas, increasing rapidly in amount until hives 

 are full of brood and bees. All good colonies keep 

 up brood-rearing during the entire summer and 

 fall; but such colonies as do not gather their own 

 supplies usually cease nearly all brood-rearing, ex- 

 cept in lower stories, during the summer months, 

 commencing again when the fall flow of honey sets 

 in. The apiary was at its lowest ebb the first part 

 of September, but from the 15th of that month un- 

 til Nov. 1 it built up as rapidly as I ever saw bees 

 build up anywhere at any time of year. About 

 Nov. 1, queens generally commence to take their 

 annual rest, but they do not entirely cease egg-lay- 

 ing at any time. We had to depend on the bees 

 that were hatched out during October and Novem- 

 ber for our honey-gatherers during the main honey- 

 flow. We have had so little natural swarming here 

 that we know little about the time for that, except 

 that the few swarms we have had, less than 20 in 

 all, came out in February, March, April, May, Oc- 

 tober, and November. Probably having so many 

 bees in one place is the reason why there has been 

 so little swarming. 



Some of the advantages here are the entire ab- 

 sence of swarming, and the small amount of brood 

 in upper stories during the main extracting season. 

 Nearly all can understand the value of these condi- 

 tions. Queens are raised every month of the year; 

 but it isn't best to raise any more than we can help 

 during November and December. 



Climatic conditions in Cuba make it necessary to 

 work bees under sheds. Ours are covered with 

 tiles; those at the Casanova apiary, with palm- 

 leaves. The last are the best for all reasons, except 

 duuger from fires. 



This last year has been the first one that any fully 

 established apiary here in Cuba has been run for 

 extracted honey alone. The Casanova apiary not 

 having been, since it was built up, in charge of an 

 experienced bee-keeper, and this one was run for 

 increase the first two years. I have not only had to 

 learn the peculiarities of a new climate and new lo- 

 cation, entirely different from any IVng I had pre^ 

 viously known anything about, but 1 couldn't tol- 

 low closely in the footsteps of my predecessor, as 

 he always worked for iucrease while in Cuba, and 

 we cared only for honey this year. The work has 

 been almost as fascinating as it was when first com- 



