1898. 



THE A3IEEICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



139 



and secured only by a liberal applica- 

 tion of white lead pnd linseed oil, with 

 a single two-inch screw through the 

 centre, into the end of the lid-board. 

 This rests upon the seven-eighths 

 inch honey-board cleats, bb, leaving a 

 free passage, c, for the circulation of 

 air over the honey-board, d, of which 

 some are made of three-eighths and 

 some of half-inch material, by way of 



X 



^^ 



experiment, and as the latter are pro- 

 portionately more firm and substantial, 

 we now prefer them to the thinner 

 ones. The combination makes a solid, 

 convenient, and, to our notion, a per- 

 fect cover. The line, e, indicates the 

 bee-space of about one-fourth inch 

 over the top-bars, which have also a 

 like space at the ends, and are guided 

 to their proper position by spacing 

 staples, ff, in the ends of the bottom- 

 bars. The gained block, g, is to hold 

 the inner end of the record slate, with 

 which each honey-board is provided; 

 as they are also with a permanent 

 feeder, shown at the opposite end, 

 which, though seldom used, is always 

 in position and at no time any incon- 

 venience. 



This, of course, is a summer arrange- 

 ment, for, in their present location, it 

 is always summer; but if we were 

 keeping bees again in the northern 

 states or Canada, we should certainly 

 use the same cover, as with our method 

 of wintering, in packing cases, a hive 

 needs no lid, and in fact is better 

 without it. 



The extra cost of such a cover is but 

 slight, and its advantages, we think, 

 are many and important. 



CUBAN THOUGHTS AND OBSERVA- 

 TIONS. 

 Last month we briefly outlined our 

 trip to Cuba with a small lot of bees, 

 concluding the description upon arrival 

 at La Gloria, the apiary site selected a 

 short distance out from the city of 

 Cienfuegos. 



La Gloria is one of many Cuban 

 plantations that have been abandoned 

 by their Spanish owners through fear 

 of lawless bands headed by such noto- 

 rious brigands as Matagas and Espan- 

 oca, who have terrorized the island for 

 years, by plying their profession of 

 pillage and plunder, and is located but 

 a few hundred yards from the boy- 

 hood home of the latter, where his pa- 

 rents and less distinguished brothers 

 still reside. Being situated upon a 

 beautiful eminence, overlooking a 

 broad valley of waving sugar-cane, to 

 the south, dotted here and there with 

 groups of white plantation buildings, 

 groves of cocoa and royal palms, and 

 the blue peaks of the coast range 

 mountains rising several thousand feet, 

 as a background, with hundreds of 

 square miles of wild land affording an 

 inexhaustible bee range to the north, 

 east and west, and the capacious rooms 

 inclosed by massive walls of masonry, 

 an abundance of shade beneath the 

 spreading branches of giant ceiba trees, 

 rows of almond, orange, lemon, date 

 and other truly beautiful specimens of 

 the palm family, the location was an 

 ideal one in every particular. As inci- 

 dents of interest are revived in memory 

 through this reflection, we almost re- 

 gret the restriction which a bee-paper 

 places upon the general character of its 

 contents. No part of Africa could well 

 be more "foreign" in certain respects 

 than is the south coast of Cuba, or 

 than it was at the time of our sojourn 

 there, eleven years ago. Vegetation, 

 climate, language, customs, architect- 

 ure, and all else so thoroughly foreign, 

 no one but a real bee-keeper whose lot 

 it has been to muse alone, " a stranger 

 in a strange land," could appreciate the 



