860 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



apiary of Bro. Brown, of Tulipan, and 

 learning- that he stood it on end for winter- 

 ing- in the cold climate of Vermont, my mem- 

 ory jog-ged back several years to a conven- 



THE TOBACCO- BUG BOYS. 



tion in Albany, N. Y., where I saw the 

 same hive and principle, and Mr. Davis 

 with it, and here we were again, met in 

 Cuba under the palms. The hive does not 

 receive much attention here, except from the 

 inventor; and now he has returned to Ver- 

 mont, the hive will probably be discarded. 



Somehow Mr. Davis had allowed some- 

 thing to sour his mind against 

 all bee associations and all 

 bee journals, and he appeared 

 to me like a man looking for 

 trouble, and, as is usual in 

 such cases, he got what he is 

 looking for. He is something 

 of a manufacturer of bee-sup- 

 plies, and almost his parting 

 word to me was that he was 

 going back to Vermont to knock 

 out the Root Co. in the supply 

 business. I told him I was 

 real sorry for him, for he had 

 a big contract on his hands. 



Besides the shipment of bees 

 by Mr. Davis to the Isle of 

 Pines, there have been a few 

 other shipments, but which 

 have not made much of a rec- 

 ord. 



Santa Fe is a delightful old 

 town. Then there was such a 

 pleasant party of us! Two 

 gentlemen from the Central 

 States; Mr. Storms, from Min- 

 neapolis; the Rambler, from 

 California. Our real - estate 

 men proposed to show us land 

 and climate in solid chunks. 

 They said we could not use 

 our wheels on this route, so 

 we mounted mules, and Mr. 

 Storms and Mr. Moe were 

 stowed into a volante. The 

 photo shows what an animated 

 crowd we were when ready 



to start; and the volante such an anti- 

 quated vehicle, with such a weight upon 

 the poor mule's back! the other mule is at- 

 tached to the vehicle with ropes, and our 

 Jehu mounts him; and, such a 

 Jehu! his lash is going all the 

 time, accompanied by his shout- 

 ing. In the United States such 

 cruelty to the poor beasts would 

 not be tolerated. There is one 

 consolation — the volante is sel- 

 dom used; they are almost out 

 of date. 



On this day's trip I saw the 

 first coft'ee-plantation. The lit- 

 tle blossoms on this shrub are 

 very fragrant, and the bees work 

 upon them with enthusiasm; but 

 they last for only a day, and the 

 period of bloom is short. 



The land here is what they 

 call mulatto soil, and the best 

 land in the world for tobacco. 

 All along our trip were tobacco- 

 farms, and here they made those 

 50-cent cigars — or, rather, they 

 are sold in the States for SO cts. and $1.00. 

 Here in this wilderness is an old lady 

 who has made thousands of cigars, and she 

 smokes several of those 50-ct. cigars every 

 day. My traveling companions all had ci- 

 gars, and extolled their mildness, richness, 

 and flavor. I did not pay much attention 

 to their talk until all of a sudden I thought 







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