690 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. is 



g-ave Mr. and Mrs. Moe a sort of surprise 

 party. 



Mr. Moe had just commenced extracting- 

 honej', and had a few bocoys filled, and 

 several more waiting- to be filled. I pre- 

 sent you a jihoto of a few of the unfilled 

 bocoys at the entrance to the extracting- 

 tent. Mr. Moe stands between the bocoys, 

 Somerford to the right, Beaver to the left, 

 and Munson in the rear. I believe Howe 

 was off somewhere reading- a mag-azine, ac- 

 cording- to a habit of his. 



You will note that these bocoys are well 

 calked between the hoops, which shows that 

 they need much coopering- before they are 

 ready for honey; and even after the honey 

 is in, there is sometimes quite a leakage. 

 All of this happened at the commencement 



it will relieve him of any anxiety about his 

 food and clothing for the coming season. 



Mr. and Mrs. Moe both firmly believe in 

 more bees, and now he is planting new api- 

 aries; and by the time this reaches the 

 reader he will have his 1000 colonies. 



Another thing that Mr. Moe aims at is to 

 cover completely his field. He has pur- 

 chased half of a caballeria of land (a ca- 

 balleria is SS'j acres), where he will be in- 

 dependent, and have a permanent headquar- 

 ters. He is led to this from the action of 

 some of the Cuban laud-owners. Perhaps 

 they will rent a parcel of land for an api- 

 ary for $20 or $25 per year. The next j'ear 

 they reason that the bees are there, and a 

 further squeeze is practicable, and the rent 

 increased. It was increased in this man- 



HOW BARRELS OF HONEY ARE LOADED ON TRUCKS IN CUBA. 



of the honey season. At the writing of this, 

 in May, "the season is passed and the har- 

 vest is ended," and from his 600 colonies 

 Mr. Moe has secured 73 bocoys (7300 gal- 

 lons), or 87,600 lbs. 



During the height of the honey-flow Mr. 

 Moe was short of help, and at one time 

 nearly every hive was full and the combs 

 sealed to the bottom. Mr. Moe believes in 

 aiming well up on the mark, and early in 

 the season he had aimed to secure 83 bocoys 

 and a few pounds over, or 100,000 lbs. ; and 

 but for this lack of help there is no doubt 

 he would have hit his mark, or been very 

 close to it. As it stands, he has no cause 

 for complaint, and has an excellent show- 

 ing for his two years' labor — a brand-new 

 apiary of 600 colonies; and, though the net 

 price of honey v\'as close to ly-z cts. per lb., 



ner on Mr. Moe to the tune of $100, and he 

 disappointed the rentee by moving his api- 

 ary. 



Mr. Moe, in common with the rest of the 

 bee-men on this end of the island, is trou- 

 bled with too much honey in the brood-nest, 

 and this to such an extent as to reduce the 

 colony to a non-producer. I mentioned this 

 matter when writing up Mr. Somerford. 

 Mr. Moe does not indorse the idea that Mr. 

 S. advanced about the black bee, but points 

 with evident pride to several colonies where 

 the strain is the best Italians from best 

 breeders. He has his red - clover strain 

 from the Home of the Hone3'-bees, and a 

 Hutchinson queen, which, by the way, Mrs. 

 Moe secured by writing an article for the 

 Review. I have tried to prevail upon her 

 to 4o so some more; but Mr. Moe seems tg 



