1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



503 



^^'..iic^ 



^\ 





TROPICAL COMPETITION. 



Not to be Feared in America ; why West Indian 



Honey will Go to Europe instead of the United 



States ; the American Tariff on Honey 



Amonnts to Nothing ; Competition 



from South America; Interest^ 



ing and Valuable Information. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Considerable apprehension has been felt 

 (or, rather, is felt) by some bee-keepers 

 that the tropical countries now looming' up 

 as honey-producers will crowd the Northern 

 bee-keepers too closely. As one who has 

 taken a part in the work of exploiting the 

 modern system of bee-keeping in the tropics, 

 a word or two from me may not be amiss. 

 Cuba bulks largely in the mind's eye of 

 some Northern bee-men just now. They 

 forget that the land is comparatively small. 

 Texas is ten times as big, and a good deal 

 of Cuba will be rendered unfit for bee- 

 keeping by the advance of the sugar indus- 

 try. But even if it produces all the honey 

 that its most sang-uine admirers think it 

 will, it is certain very little of it will be 

 consumed in the United States. Honey sells 

 for more money in Europe than it does in 

 America, hence for a long- time Cuban hon- 

 ey will gravitate toward Europe as is the 

 case at present. 



I do not think the present tariff of a cent 

 or so a pound on honey sent to the United 

 States avails very much. It only tends to 

 discourage trade. If honey were on the 

 free list the dealers in New York would buy 

 the whole Cuban and West Indian crop and 

 re-export it to Europe. The American bee- 

 keepers would lose nothing- by the opera- 

 tion; on the contrary, a market would be 

 created which, in times of plenty, would 

 be a valuable asset to the United States. 



Adulteration and the comb-honey lie do 

 far more to depress the price of honey than 

 all outside competitors combined. I know 

 it is a tremendous undertaking- to fight 

 these enemies; but if the bee-keepers and 

 their farmer friends were to unite to fight, 

 it seems certain the price of honey would 

 soon go up several cents a pound. 



At present Jamaican honey gravitates to- 

 ward England, and more of it would go 

 there if more attention were paid to quali- 

 ty. Here is where the tropical bee-master 

 comes to grief. Even as I write, Jamaican 

 honey (best quality) is selling- in England 

 at 5 to 6 dollars per 100 lbs., while best Cal- 

 ifornia is bring-ing- $10 for the same quan- 

 tity. And I may add, without offense, that 

 California depends very kirgely on foreig-n 

 markets; and if Great Britain were to adopt 

 a protective tariff the former would be hard 

 hit. Hence it is that, so long- as honey is 



cheaper in New York or San Francisco than 

 it is in Europe, a tariff for protection is 

 practically useless. If the United States 

 government were to devote its attention to 

 putting adulterators in jail I think it would 

 do the bee-keepers more g-ood than any thing- 

 that within reason can be suggested. 



If your readers could only see the coun- 

 tries they have to compete with they would 

 lose their fears. Even in the British West 

 Indies, where English is spoken, the people 

 are wofully behind in utilizing the resources 

 of our modern civilization. They are far 

 in the rear in nearly all that pertains to 

 scientific agriculture. Here and there, like 

 an oasis in the desert, the traveler meets a 

 man who understands the principles of 

 modern agriculture and then he does not 

 understand the practice. But the great 

 mass of the people are only a little removed 

 from savagery. Such people are not likely 

 to be serious competitors in anything what- 

 ever, and, least of all, bee-keeping. At- 

 tempts made to lead them in the right way 

 meet with but little success, for, like all ig- 

 norant people, they think they are well in- 

 formed. Even the white man who is native 

 born is dragged down by the terrible incu- 

 bus of his environment, and is much inclin- 

 ed to descend in the intellectual scale. In 

 the case of San Domingo and Haiti, civili- 

 zation is dead; and, so far as my opinion is 

 worth an3^ thing, Cuba will share the same 

 fate unless the United States lends it a 

 helping hand. 



Usually the sugar-men are antagonistic 

 to bee-keeping, and in some countries, nota- 

 bly Barbadoes, Trinidad, and British Gui- 

 ana, this influence is strong. Somehow or 

 other the sugar-producers think they are 

 the salt of the tropics; and it may be said 

 that sugar-cane cultivation is about the only 

 culture that is done reasonably well. This 

 is due to the fact that crude ignorant labor 

 is nearly all that is required in this busi- 

 ness. The chemists and managers are Eu- 

 ropeans, and they furnish the "brains." 

 It is different with other cultures, where a 

 high kind of intelligence is required. Take 

 orange-growing for example. The West 

 Indies are beautifully adapted to it; but, 

 in spite of this, buyers are disgusted with 

 their attempts to create a trade. Bananas 

 are at home around the Caribbean Sea, and 

 every black man thinks he knows all about 

 banana-growing; but the United Fruit Co., 

 which controls this business, can tell quite 

 a different story. And bee-keeping is much 

 more difficult than banana-growing. If the 

 tropical bee-keepers had some one to lead 

 them in the right way, and keep them there, 

 great things might be done; and if the trop- 

 ics were inhabited by people similar to 

 those of Europe and North America, they 

 would swamp the world with honey and 

 wax; in fact, there is no limit to the possi- 

 bilities of the honey business in these lati- 

 tudes; but they will never do it in our day 

 or generation. All over the West Indies 

 and South America, bee-keeping has start- 

 ed ; but it will be evident to experienced 



