1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



861 



of the followiag- passag^e of scripture: 

 '"And the earth brought forth g-rass and 

 herb yielding- seed after its kind, and the 

 tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself 

 after its kind; and God saw that it was 

 g-ood." — Gen. 1:12. 



Tobacco was created for some good pur- 

 pose, surely. Now, I have been troubled 

 for several years with insomnia, and have 

 tried various remedies. It occurred to me 

 that I had never tried smoking a cigar. 

 Now was the opportunity while in the best 

 cigar country in the world; and the next 

 time Mr. Cody offered me a cigar (he had 

 his pockets full) I accepted one, to his evi- 

 dent surprise; and, what is more, I smoked 

 it to a finish. I was surprised, in my turn, 

 at the ease with which I smoked it, and 

 without the least nausea. I slept well that 

 night in the old hotel at Santa Fe, and, 

 more, I came in from the 20-mile mule-back 

 ride that day the least fatigued of any man 

 in the crowd, except, of course, the real-es- 

 tate man and the Jehu of the volante. But, 

 dear reader, my remedy was of short effect, 

 and my smoking of short duration. I am 

 troubled with insomnia yet. 



Tobacco has many enemies; and from the 

 time the seed is sown until the curing, con- 

 stant vigilance is necessary. When the 

 plant is tender, bugs or slugs like those on 

 potatoes are prevalent. I present herewith 

 a photo of the potato-bug boys. They were 

 picking slugs and putting them in the bot- 

 tles shown in their hands. From the ap- 

 pearance of the central youth you will note 

 that, though this photo was taken in Janu- 

 ary, he was lightly clothed.* These country 

 boys wear no shirts, and many grown men 

 are dressed the same. 



If I have dealt more in real estate than 

 in bees and honey in these Rambles in the 

 Isle of Pines, it is clearly the fault of the 

 island to supply the material. The isle is 

 not up to Cuba as a honey-producer. To 

 the person who wishes to build a beautiful 

 home in a generous and healthful climate, 

 and isolated far from the wear and tear of 

 business, and far from friends and relatives, 

 far from libraries and lectures, far from 

 the daily press and your favorite periodi- 

 cals, far from rail and electric roads, then 

 the Isle of Pines presents all of the condi- 

 tions necessary. 



»«■« 



THREE GREAT HONEY-PLANTS. 

 The Date Palm, Cocoanut Palm, and Royal Palm. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



The date palm {Pluryiix dactyl if era) is 

 known almost universally as a useful tree. 

 The dried fruit is sold wherever civilization 

 extends, and yet it is not, I think, known 

 as a first-rate honey-plant, producing a 

 large amount of nectar in its flowers, which 

 bees greedily collect. Sometimes I have 

 counted as many as 200 bees on a single 



* Our artist seems to have put on a coat and a shii t 

 -Kn. 



flower; and the first time my attention was 

 attracted to this phenomenon I almost laugh- 

 ed outright at the way the bees sat doivn to 

 sip the nectar, for that is about the only ex- 

 pression that will convey to the mind of my 

 readers the manner in which bees get the 

 sweet nectar. 



As the d:ite-tree is of the first economic 

 importance, it follows that this is a great 

 acquisition to our list of honey-producing 

 plants. It is now some years since it was 

 first known to the writer in this aspect of 

 a nectar-producer, and having carefully 

 watched it in various localities I place it 

 high among the list of bee-plants. There 

 are various locations where the date jialin 

 will flourish in the United States and Aus- 

 tralia, and these are just the places, prob- 

 ably, where bee-men most require a honey- 

 plant that is a thorough drouth-resistor. 

 In Arizona, California, and Florida there 

 ought to be a future for this tree in its dunl 

 role of a fruit-giver and nectar -bearer. 

 True, it does not stand much cold, but son e 

 of its congeners may. The wild date, tf 

 India, is hardier, and this produces sugar 

 ;.f:er the manner of a maple, so we are not 

 without hopes of extension northward. 

 Auj'^ way, both are very tough plants and 

 easy of handling, growing readily from 

 seed. Probably the kinds grown for house 

 decoration, Pluvnix rupicola, P. tenuis, and 

 P. reclinata are good honey-plants, but 1 

 ha\e had no means of discovering the fact. 



The cocoanut palm (Cocoa niicifera) is, in 

 my opinion, by far the most important of 

 all the palins. Its usefulness to man is al- 

 most incredible to persons unacquainted 

 with the tropics. The timber is very use- 

 ful and very durable when properly han- 

 dled; the leaves are used for a variety of 

 purposes ; the coir, or fiber, which covers 

 the nut, is known to everybody who has 

 seen a cocoanut mat; and the nut (or, rath- 

 er, the kernel of the nut) is known to all. 

 The green cocoanut furnishes a drink that 

 is both very palatable and refreshing in 

 hot countries. It is, indeed, a great delica- 

 C3'. The meat of the nut is one of the most 

 useful foods of the tropics, for the reason 

 that it supplies both nitrogen and fat— two 

 things that are very much lacking in most 

 tropical fruits. Instead of lard or olive oil 

 the tropical inhabitants use the oil of the 

 cocoanut, and, to my taste, it is superior to 

 either, for it has a sweet nutty flavor. If 

 doughnuts are made in cocoanut oil they 

 have a nutty taste that adds much to their 

 palatability. The cocoanut palm flourishes 

 all around the tropic seas, for it is a plant 

 which requires a little salt in its food, and 

 it is usually seen nodding over some tropic 

 ocean strand. Mr. Cook, who has charge 

 <if the tropical work of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, has formulated 

 a theory that the cocoanut is a native of the 

 interior valleys of the Andes, in Colombia 

 and Ecuador, where there are salt lakes. 

 If this is so it opens up possibilities for the 

 culture of cocoanuts in entirely new locali- 

 ties hitherto deemed unsuitable. 



