lSi)8. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



li)l 



American honey, by Mr. Muth, he in- 

 cluded two which are produced in the 

 South — in our hottest climates. 



In order to facilitate an earlier dis- 

 semination of light, The Bee-Keeper 

 respectfully suggests that Mr. Whit- 

 comb tell us through its columns, 

 specifically in what way alfalfa 

 honey produced in Colorado and Ne- 

 braska is superior to that obtained in 

 the San Bernardino, Salt River and Pe- 

 cos valleys. 



Honey Production in Our New 

 West Indian Possessions. 



[Read befoiv the T. S. B. K. U. Conxention, at 

 Omaha, Neb. 



The coming Americanization of Cuba 

 and Porto Rico presents many interest- 

 ing problems to us as a people. This 

 is especially true with bee-keepers. 

 With some because of a contemplated 

 removal to one of these islands, and to 

 all because of the inevitable effect on 

 our business. 



It is possible my two years' experi- 

 ence in Cuba enables me to give some 

 idea of the good and bad features to be 

 found there, but I understand better 

 than almost anyone else can that the 

 subject can only be skimmed in an es- 

 say like this. 



Cuba is without doubt one of the 

 finest honey countries in the world. I 

 consider it as fully the equal of Cali- 

 fornia, and in some respects superior. 

 Should Cuba be annexed to the United 

 States, thus not only doing away with 

 all duties on honey shipped to this 

 country, and duties on hives and imple- 

 ments from this country, but in time 

 improve facilities for transportation all 

 over the island itself, it will, I think, 

 affect the honey market of this country 

 far more than the great crops from 

 California have yet done. It is well for 

 us to look these facts square in the 

 face. 



At present there is in Cuba an ex- 

 port duty of 6 cents and an American 

 import duty of 20 cents per gallon, over 



2 cents per pound on honey from there. 

 These duties and the wretched govern- 

 ment of the island itself are what has 

 kept our markets from being flooded 

 with Cuban honey. 



Remove these two conditions and the 

 result is plain. There are but few mov- 

 able comb apiaries in Cuba; so far as I 

 know, less than a dozen in all, nearly 

 all of them managed, if not owned, by 

 Americans. It is exceedingly difficult 

 to get reliable statistics of che amount 

 of honey annually produced at these 

 apiaries, but from such facts and fig- 

 ures as I did get while there, and since, 

 I judge that any well managed apiary 

 of 300 or more colonies is safe for a 

 yield of from 40,000 to 70,000 pounds of 

 honey each season. As there are 

 chances for locating such apiaries all 

 over the island, it can be easily seen 

 what an enormous harvest can be ob- 

 tained. 



One great advantage Cuba has over 

 any other place I know of, is that an 

 entire failure to secure a fair crop is 

 almost if not quite unknown. As well 

 as I can learn the poorest crop will be 

 fully as much as 50 per cent, of the 

 largest crops. All bee-keepers can fully 

 understand the advantage of these con- 

 ditions. 



The principal disadvantages are the 

 duties already mentioned and the bad 

 roads, making it so costly and difficult 

 getting honey to a shipping port. This 

 last difficulty is so great that many 

 owners of bee-gum apiaries in the in- 

 terior of the island, so I have been re- 

 peatedly informed, practice saving the 

 wax only, for sale, pouring large 

 amounts of honey on the ground to 

 waste. 



While there are scores of trees and 

 plants yielding some honey, the great 

 bulk of the crop comes from a plant, or 

 rather a vine, known to American 

 readers of our bee journals as bell- 

 flower or campanea. Its Cuban name 

 is aguinaldo, (literally, "a Christmas 

 present," so called because of its being 



