332 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. is 



cheaper to hire it done than to keep and 

 feed a team. 



The bicycle answers all purposes for run- 

 ning- from one apiary to another, and the 

 wheeling- on the calzada is sublime; but it 

 is only a step to the ridiculous. Just turn 

 into one of those side roads, and you have 

 it, just as I will show you a little later. 



Apiaries are plentiful along- the g-ood 

 roads, and bee-men are somewhat jealous 

 of their honey resources. Cuba is not all 

 bee-pasturage. There are extensive areas 

 along the calzada where but few honey- 

 plants are visible; and I am assured that, 

 in some places, bees would scarcelj' make a 

 living. The honey-yield from which the 

 bee-keeper secures his revenue comes dur- 

 ing the months between November and 

 April. Owing to the shortened days of 

 winter the bees work on an average about 

 four hours. 



Though the nights are not so cool as in 

 California, still they are cool enough to 

 drive the bees to the brood-chamber, and it 



gin to swarm, and keep the bee-keeper busy 

 with a rapid increase. 



Mr. Somerford was well supplied with 

 helpers, and I herewith introduce them to 

 your readers. First to the left, Mr. Somer- 

 ford; next Mr. Faulkner, from New Jersey; 

 Mr. Livingstone, Mr. Wade, and two Cuban 

 boys. Observe the machete on Nicano, 

 ever present on a Cuban, and the scarf 

 around the neck of Frederico, and in such 

 a mild climate! We shall have more of this 

 apiary in our next. 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 



Bee-keeping in and about Los Angeles ; some of the 

 Characteristics of the Business in California. 



BY E. R, ROOT. 



W. W. SOMERFORD AND HIS HELPERS 



has been found that bees are slow to occupy 

 section supers and draw foundation; there- 

 fore comb honey has been produced to a 

 limited extent. This feature will probably 

 be overcome, for several are experimenting 

 with comb honey this winter. I have an 

 idea that a shallow hive will fill the bill 

 for comb honey in Cuba. 



The honey gathered at this season is from 

 aguinaldo, or bellfiower, or morning-glory, 

 just which you wish to term it. There are 

 three varieties. The first to bloom is just 

 like the well-known morning-glory of the 

 States. The next is a purple and smaller 

 flower; and the last and most profuse is 

 the white. These flowers are ordinarily 

 all gone by Feb. 1. Then for several weeks 

 ramerillo amarillo comes into bloom. This 

 is a plant of bushy habit, bearing a pro- 

 fuse bloom of small yellow flowers; the 

 honey a light golden yellow, much like the 

 sunflower honey of Central California. In 

 fact, the blossom is a very small sunflower. 

 In March and April, when the weather is 

 warmer, and fruit-bloom is on, the bees be- 



The conditions as well as the methods 

 which prevail in California are somewhat 

 different from those in other portions of the 

 United States. The great bulk of the hon- 

 ey produced is extracted, and 

 one of the reasons for this is, 

 doubtless, owing to the fact that 

 a very large part of the product 

 must necessarily be shipped 

 out of the State. Another rea- 

 son is, that the honey from sage 

 is not inclined to candy, and 

 because it keeps liquid so long 

 it can be sold anywhere. 



As a general thing the hives 

 I saw in California were home- 

 made, and poorly made at that. 

 Some of them had seen ten or 

 twenty j'cars of use, and were 

 somewhat the worse for wear. 

 But in that climate almost 

 •'any thing goes" so long as it 

 will hold together and protect 

 the bees from the hot rays of the 

 sun, and from the rains that last 

 for a comparatively short time. 

 If there is any place in the United States 

 where bee-keeping is conducted on an ex- 

 tensive scale it is Southern California. As 

 a general thing, non-reversible or two-frame 

 extractors would be considered mere toys. 

 The extensive bee-keepers on the coast will 

 have nothing smaller than a four-frame re- 

 versible machine. This they want mounted 

 on a slight elevation on the side of a hill. 

 The honey runs from ihe extractor into a 

 spout that connects with a ten or twenty ton 

 galvanized-iron tank. Talk about letting 

 the hone_y run into a tin pail and then lift- 

 ing the pail and dumping it into a can — 

 why, those fellows would laugh at you. 

 They want things handy, and they have 

 them so — all but the hives. Of all the mis- 

 erable contraptions that some of those big 

 bee-keepers will put up with! I never saw 

 the like. Brood-frames — some of them look 

 as if they had been made with a hatchet — 

 and, as I have been told, were actually 

 chopped out with this rude tool. Burr- 

 combs? Yes, they have them galore, be- 

 C3.use the bee-spaces vary all the way from 



