330 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



iY ,.. 



/A oRo'CAsTCEf^=^-j::-^^r 



RAMBLE 200. 



A Visit at W. W. Somerford's ; More Troubles with Spanish ; Calzadas ; Scenes on the Train. 



BY RAMBLER. 



Before coming- to Cuba I had some corres- 

 pondence with Mr. W. W. Somerford in re- 

 lation thereto. In fact, Mr. Somerford was 

 the first person to put a Cuban bee in my 

 hat; and now being on Cuban soil Mr. S. 

 was one of the first bee-keepers for me to 

 find outside of Havana. Caimito, his home, 

 is 20 miles west of Havana. Mr. Craycraft 

 g-ave me full directions to find him. First, 

 take the train ten miles to Marianao, then 

 by stage. There is a little bit of a twist 

 in the pronunciation of allot these Spanish 

 words, and Marianao is not an exception; 

 and the more I repeated it the more it be- 

 came "Marrj'-me-now; " then my horror in- 

 creased when I found the station filled with 

 ladies of all colors and sizes. In order to 

 proceed it would be necessary to ask ques- 

 tions. I asked a policeman the way to 

 Marry-me-now. He evidently didn't know, 

 for he shook his head and said, "No sabe." 

 I exhausted all the resources in the male 

 line, and then desperatelj^ turned to the la- 

 dies. It was "no sabe" here too; but they 

 were kinder than the men. I had asked 

 the way to Marry-me-now, and clustered 



'a petite jewel of a woman took in- 

 terest IN the matter." 



around until a petite jewel of a woman took 

 interest in the matter, and remarked, in 

 good English, that I was evidently on the 

 wrong line; that Marry-me-now lay through 

 the priest's office, and the price of the tick- 

 et was from S20 to S40. 



Well, the good lady set me right, and in 

 the brief visit I learned for a wonder that 

 her name was Brown — widow Brown — of 

 Matanzas. She has a place out there, splen- 

 did for bees, and for rent, at SlOO per month; 

 and as the train pulled out, the matter was 

 left open for further negotiation. There is 

 no knowing what will come of that slip 

 from Marianao to Marry-me-now. 



I discovered various new things on this 

 little journey. One of them is, that there 

 is not much of a color line here; and al- 

 though there is a first, second, and third 

 class on the train, white, black, and Creole 

 can secure the best by paying the better 

 rate. 



Another discover}', after it was too late. 

 Widow Brown called my attention to it. I 

 asked for a ticket without specifying tlie 

 class, and in such cases the ticket agent is 

 sure to give j^ou the highest-priced, and a 

 return at that. I regretted it, for it took 

 me to another car away from widow 

 Brown. 



After changing from rail to coach I dis- 

 covered all colors here, and nearly all of 

 the ladies were bareheaded, or with the 

 black mantilla thrown gracefully over the 

 head. 



Nearly all themenand boj's were smoking. 

 The Cuban next to me smoked three big ci- 

 gars while going that ten miles. If any 

 one wishes to start a reform on the line of 

 tobacco- using, Cuba offers a fine field. 

 Women are often seen with a big cigar in 

 the mouth. 



Another thing of interest, and always 

 under consideration in Cuba when locating 

 an apiary, is the calzada (macadamized 

 stone road). These calzadas lead out from 

 Havana in various directions. This one 

 leads 60 miles toward the west end of the 

 island. It is marked off in kilometers, and, 



