1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



119 



ease it was not to be gotten rid of so 

 easily. The germs still lurked in 

 some safe corner and in six months 

 similar operations were performed 

 with the result that it soon appeared 

 again and it is there yet, and will be 

 until every hive, bee and frame is 

 burned up; for it is all through six 

 hundred swarms of bees more or less- 

 Some of these have got strong in 

 spite of the disease and swarmed and 

 gone off to the woods to keep it going 

 for as soon as it gets at large that 

 ends the story. How many years 

 will it be before every native apiary 

 in Cuba will have it ? And pray tell 

 me if we Americans can't manage it 

 with our modern frames and tight 

 hives, what can the Cubans do 

 with it where they don't work with 

 their bees at all and of course they 

 know nothing about it, that it is the 

 worst bee disease there is and should 

 be killed at once. 



Already I know of a fellow that 

 spits fire every time he sees the moth 

 eating up a swarm and he lets an 

 awful oath fall as he refers to former 

 years, saying he don't know what is 

 the matter with his animals this year 

 as they are often called here on ac- 

 count of their bad habits. "Why, 

 says he, if this goes on for a couple 

 of years, my fine colmenar of one 

 hundred boxes will be dead entirely." 

 Well it surely will go on according 

 to our experience and much faster in 

 these old logs than in our hives. So 

 I say, " No sir ! bee-keeping for the 

 Cubans for profit is doomed but there 

 is one thing greatly in their favor, 

 and that is that they run their bees 

 for wax and this means that the bees 

 are smoked off most all of their 

 combs which are cut out and melted 



into wax. They only leave them pre- 

 haps a square foot of comb at the last 

 extracting, so you see this retards the 

 foul brood very materially. With 

 this management prehaps they will 

 have a certain amount of success. I 

 am going to get a few figures showing 

 the amount of wax and honey raised 

 on this island for it must be quite a 

 considerable and I guess it will sur- 

 prise a good many of the bee-keepers 

 who think Cuba is a common out of 

 the way place, noted only for a few 

 things like sugar, tobacco, pineapples 

 and bananas, but I think honey and 

 wax from this island if figured lip 

 would make quite a showing. When 

 one comes to think of not only hun- 

 dreds but thousands of swarms in one 

 apiary, why of course they must re- 

 turn something. In some places 

 here in Cuba where there is no 

 macadamized roads i. e. the best bee 

 ranges are off these roads, for along 

 them the ground is plowed up and the 

 means of transportation is poor. The 

 honey after being squeezed out of the 

 comb is thrown away for it is heavy 

 and cheap, they do not consider it 

 worth bothering with. 



The wax they pack for miles on 

 pack animals and this year these large 

 bee-keepers must have made a good 

 deal of money for wax has sold quick 

 for 30 to 35 cts a pound. This honey 

 that ib thrown out is gathered again 

 by the bees (what don't soak into the 

 ground) and converted into wax, for 

 it is in the spring of the year and 

 the queen wants combs to lay in. 

 Then in (.)ct. they are " cleaned " out 

 ready to build new combs for the 

 white honey that commences in Nov. 



N.)W let me tell you northern bee- 

 keepers a little story (its not a fish 



