THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



\W 



carelessness of its inhabitants, by the 

 past government, and the teeth of 250, 

 000 goats roaming about the island. 

 The British government has done a 

 good deal to make the island in some 

 distant future what it was 



When Ceres, bounteous giver of the store, 

 With lavish horn gave ever more and more. 



But the heavy taxes which the 

 British government levies on the poor 

 inhabitants weigh so much on them 

 that it will take a generation before 

 the island will begin to show, before 

 better methods to cultivate the soil, 

 and maturing, will have come into 

 vogue. 



Here, as in Malta, I could find no 

 statistics about bees or honey. Al- 

 though the government levies 2 pence 

 on each hive, nothing could be found 

 out positively. Only approximately 

 could we find a few numbers. 



Bee-keepers here depend on wild 

 honey -plants. No clover or such 

 plants grow here. As we have very 

 long and dry summers, the scattering 

 of honey-plant seeds would avail little 

 or nothing on hard, uncultivated, sun- 

 scorched grounds. And, again, neither 

 Cypriote nor Syrian nor Palestinian 

 would trouble himself or move a finger 

 in such work. Cyprus would yield 

 just as nice and as much honey if 

 some intelligent bee-keeper would go 

 ahead and put up his apiary in such 

 places as afford pasture enough ; but, 

 to be sure, I would not change another 

 locality to live among a degraded race, 

 such as the Cyprians, so long as there 

 are a good deal better places to live in 



Going round the town, a candle- 

 manufacturer was busy manufacturing 

 pure wax candles (mixed with 50 per 

 cent of ceresin) for the churches, with 

 which the island is well provided, be- 

 longing mostly to the Greek orthodox. 

 The man had a big kettle on the fire, 

 in which he put his wax to melt. A 

 sieve, simply put inside the fluid mass, 

 kept all filth out; and with a ladle he 

 was taking out hot wax and pouring it 

 over foot-long cotton threads hanging 

 over the kettle by hundreds. As soon 

 as the wax was cooled, another ladle- 



ful was poured over, till every thread 

 had received some,, The first was 

 again cooled enough, and patiently he 

 slowly went over his lot, every time 

 thickening the candles. He had 

 some weighing several pounds, while 

 the greater part weighed 12 or more 

 to a pound. The beautiful yellow 

 candles go fast into the churches aa 

 offerings. For sick persons, or any 

 other vow, candles are offered. The 

 whole island may possess between 10, 

 000 and 30,000 "bee-hives, which rise 

 and fall in number according to the 

 seasons, and these average about 3 lbs. 

 of honey and \ lb. of wax per hive, 

 which is almost all sold on the island 

 itself. Government taxes are 2 pence 

 a hive. 



As in all other Mediterranean coun- 

 tries, the bees swarm out in April and 

 May, and drones are killed soon after. 

 The honey is taken after the 24th of 

 June, (equal to our 7th of July), St. 

 John's day. Taken before this the 

 honey must taste bitter — not because 

 it is mixed with the bitter flower of 

 the squirting cucumber, but because 

 St. John's blessing must fully come 

 down on the hives and take away 

 every bitterness ! The honey is cut 

 up into small chunks, and put into- 

 baskets away from robbers, to allow 

 the honey to drip out. The wax is 

 melted in a kettle and in a sack, and 

 is squeezed out with the simplest 

 machinery possible, Mr. Derwishlan 

 tried another day to open his nuclei : 

 but after having got the first sting on 

 his forehead in his life, he put on a 

 veil and took me to his "lamblike" 

 Cyprians, and gave them a few table- 

 spoonsful of syrup to quiet them down ; 

 but even this sweet inducement would 

 not do. They went for us, all for the 

 sake of Louis G.'s rough handling three 

 days ago, I could hardly look at them . 

 and we decided to have a turn about 

 the town, but we were soon done. Mr. 

 D. took me to silkworm raisers. He 

 indulges in this branch, and believe* 

 he gets a better living from this than 

 by buying bee-fixtures from England 

 He was told, years ago, of 20 to 50 lbs. 



