468 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JrNE 1 



for material to build his palm house, for 

 there is usually one of these huts near the 

 apiarj'. 



In the~ illustration we have a very good 

 sample of a bee-keeper's hut; 

 and, what about the bee-keeper? 

 According- to a recent census of 

 Cuba, 75 per cent of the popula- 

 tion are illiterate. While in 

 many instances the Cuban bee- 

 keeper can i-ead, there are many 

 who can not; or perhaps the api- 

 ary is owned by an educated Cu- 

 ban, and is cared for by one who 

 is illiterate. 



The reader can readilj^ sur- 

 mise that, under such conditions, 

 there is not much progress either 

 in bee-keeping or any thing else 

 where the native is concerned. 

 Not a scrap of literature in his 

 cabin, and how barren a home 

 and the minds of the occupants, 

 without books and papers I how 

 narrow their little circle of 

 thought, scarcely beyond the 

 "tinea" (farm) upon which they 

 live. Except what has happen- 

 ed to themselves and under their 

 own observation, they are igno- 

 rant of the great events that have happenetl 

 upon the island of Cuba. 



And, my dear reader, if you have senti- 

 ments of benevolence toward your fellow - 

 beings, there would arise many sad reflec- 

 tions while traveling over the western por- 

 tions of Cuba. During a wheelride of about 

 56 miles I counted the ruins of what were 

 once substantial stone houses to the number 

 of 65; but this was on only a portion of a 

 single road ; now multiply this by 20, and 

 you can have some idea of the wreck and 

 ruin caused by the Cuban war for independ- 

 ence. Not only isolated farmhouses but 

 whole villages were wiped out. The wip- 

 ing-out of these homes, villages, sugar- 

 mills, etc., has left many portions of the 

 country desolate. It is in these waste 

 places that the honey flora abounds, and 

 the best portions are being occupied by the 



bee-keeper. But this soil is also fertile, and 

 the enterprising agriculturist from the 

 States is buying lands here, and it is only 

 a question of time when they will be re- 



^IJI^UiKUmlljIIMll: 



A BICIC-KKICPKK vS PALM HUT. 



claimetl ; and I have an idea that, when 

 these acres are reclaimed and brought un- 

 der a high state of cultivation, as they sure- 

 ly will be, the honey flora in many places 

 will be curtailed if not wholly destroyed. 



In Southern California the bee-keeper has 

 been driven back into the mountains by the 

 agriculturist. I fear it may be the same 

 with the Cuban bee-keeper, except that we 

 have not so many mountains to go to. With 

 the uncertainties of this matter before me I 

 should dislike to give up a fairl^^ good loca- 

 tion in the States for one in Cuba ; so I am 

 hanging on to iny interests in California 

 while I am studying up the possibilities of 

 this island. I want to test the rainy season, 

 the sand-flies, the mosquitoes, the heat, and 

 the health. But I fear that some of my 

 friends here in Cuba are a little worried 

 over the fact that Cuban bee-keeping is be- 

 ing written up (of course I can not write it 

 down) ; but I certainly hope that these Ram- 

 bles will not induce any of the breed of an- 

 imals mentioned by the editor as settling in 

 an overstocked location in Idaho to ever 

 settle in Cuba. 



There are two ways in which to find a 

 location for an apiary. One is to sneak 

 around into the neighborhood of 

 a bee-keeper who is doing well, 

 and sneak in an apiary where it 

 will interfere with his chosen 

 field. That is what I call the 

 wrong way — the mean and un- 

 principled way — the way of the 

 — "hog." It would seem that a 

 hog would consult his own inter- 

 est, and get into a wider field; 

 but hogs never reason. 



Another way to find a location 

 is to consult the bee-keepers al- 



