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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



American honey versus Cuban or any other 

 of the so called strong- honeys. The result 

 was that we invariably won them over to 

 using- that produced in the States; but if 

 the tariff did not exist our Eastern mer- 

 chants could sell the West India honey to 

 Europe from New York city, or any other 

 Eastern seaports that have ships trading 

 reg-ularly between the United States and 

 the islands, and to that extent should be 

 benefited. 



We fully commend your opinion of the ar- 

 ticle, and hope that those who are thinking 

 of going to the islands in the Atlantic will 

 first have the opportunity to read Mr. Mor- 

 rison's communication. 



Chicago, 111., June 20. 



[I do not think the bee-keepers of the 

 United States need to worry a particle over 

 any possible effect that Cuban honey may 

 have on American markets. The time may 

 come when manufacturers — that is, bakers 

 — will require more honey than America 

 can produce. In that case they will proba- 

 bly draw on Cuba for an additional supply. 

 But from what Rambler writes elsewhere, 

 it is evident that Cuban honey is put up too 

 thin, and contains too much impurity to en- 

 ter as a competitor against our honey. 

 The time may come, however, when Ameri- 

 can methods will prevail in Cuba, as they 

 undoubtedly will, when a better grade of 

 honey, better ripened, and cleaner, will be 

 put up. — Ed.] 



CUBA. 

 The Tariff ; Reduction on Sugar ; Stingless Bees. 



BY F. N. SOMERFORD. 



According to Mr. Havemyer's testimony 

 before the Senate committee, a reduction of 

 import duties into the United States on Cu- 

 ban sugar would not lower the price in the 

 United States. But would tend to raise the 

 price in Cuba to the full extent of the re- 

 duction. Then Rambler was correct in his 

 statement, page 236, in stating that Ameri- 

 can producers need not fear that lower prices 

 of honey in American market would result 

 from a reduction on imports of honey, for 

 the rule applied to sugar would apply to 

 honey. Rambler is correct in that state- 

 ment; but we Cuban bee-keepers joirutly ask 

 the editor to reserve space in Gleanings 

 eight months hence, when the Rambler, aft- 

 er a year's experience in Cuba, will prob- 

 ably be prepared to retract some other 

 statements that he has made. 



Mr. Harry Lathrop makes beedom jingle 

 with poetry. His advice of not thinking of 

 to-morrow is not needed by the majority 

 here. 



They never think about to-morrow. 



But to-day — to-day alone ; 

 They don't grieve o'er future sorrow, 



But are with the breezes blown. 



I have a colony of those little stingless 

 Cuban bees, mentioned by Rambler in his 



visit to the postmaster, page 423. My con- 

 victions are that they are very worthless 

 little creatures ; for, while the other bees 

 were giving 100 lbs. per colony, this colony 

 gave four or five ounces — just enough to 

 taste twice. The remainder I gave to a 

 Cuban to put in his eye, as something had 

 gone wrong with one of them, and the Gua- 

 jiras county people claim wonderful medic- 

 inal properties exist in both the honey and 

 wax of the stingless bee. I asked a drug- 

 gist, and he stated that it was used for 

 many purposes by the country people, but 

 in reality was not worth much for any thing. 

 Still they keep it in stock to accommodate 

 the trade. I therefore presume that its re- 

 deeming qualities are that it is harmless. 

 It is milder in flavor than other bee honey, 

 while the wax differs considerably, being, 

 after rendering, gummy like propolis when 

 warm. This wax has its peculiar odor, 

 and never gets hard and brittle. 



The little bee has no sting, but can bite 

 real hard — so hard that they can easily, by 

 a few quick bites, sever the head of an or- 

 dinary bee from its body if it comes nosing 

 around to rob. When I took their honey I 

 saw one of them dispatch three ordinary 

 bees in short order. When they would come 

 and start into their entrance, a hole the size 

 of the base of an ordinary queen-cell cup, 

 the sentinels would dart on to them, alight 

 on their back, gather them by the neck, 

 give two or three quick short bites, and off 

 drops the robber's head, he not having an 

 opportunity to use his sting in his defense. 

 The little bee, too, is harder than an ordi- 

 nary bee, while the queen seems much soft- 

 er, being shorter than a common queen, and 

 thicker through the abdomen, making her 

 very clumsy and ugly. I have never found 

 a drone among them, and don't believe they 

 have drones. The comb is built with cells 

 on one side only; and instead of being built 

 vertically it is horizontal, the little bees' 

 brood standing straight up. These pieces 

 are circular, one ring of comb just a bee- 

 space above the other, each layer smaller 

 than the one below it, till the last, which is 

 as large as a fifty-cent piece. 



The brood seems to require about sixty 

 days or more to develop from the egg to the 

 hatching bee. Another peculiarity about 

 these little creatures is that they never put 

 brood in the same comb twice, but tear the 

 comb to pieces after each batch of brood 

 hatches, and use the material to build new 

 combs of. They have no white comb — all is 

 the same color (light chocolate). 



The above-mentioned comb is for brood 

 only. They store their honey in a separate 

 and distinct manner ; i. e., in little balls 

 the size of a walnut, all piled in any old 

 way around the brood-nest, each being par- 

 titioned off from the other. They gather 

 pollen, also mix it into a sour mushy paste, 

 storing in cells the same as are used for 

 . their honey. They seem to increase very 

 slowly, and there are two colors of them as 

 of our other bees — black and yellow. 

 There are two swarms near me in a ledge 



