ri6 



(ILEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



brood-rearing is going on. [I have seen bee- 

 paralysis in several instances where there were 

 plenty of unsealed stores.— Ed.] 



The American Bee-keeper says there are 

 several candidates for president of the N. A. B. 

 K. A., and announces its own. First time I 

 ever heard of a candidate in advance of the 

 meeting, and I doubt the wisdom of prejudicing 

 any one's chances in that way. [So do 1.— Ed] 



Asked whether it was better to reduce the 

 room in a 10-frame hive by putting in two dum- 

 mies or two combs filled solid with honey, 11 

 replied in A. B. J. in favor of the combs of 

 honey; 7 preferred dummies, and 3 were non- 

 committal. Large-hive men will claim that as 

 an argument on their side. 



No CONVENTION did I ever enjoy more than 

 the last one I attended. It was at our house, 

 Aug. 23. The discussions were earnest, but the 

 order wasn't always the best, two speakers 

 often occupying the floor at the same time. 

 Ernest wanted to talk more than his share. 

 [Don't you believe the doctor. 'Twas the other 

 way.— Ed.] 



I'm glad to know that the younger Root is 

 not given to stimulants. He takes coffee as 

 weak as I do; and when I said, " Will you have 

 some pepper?" he left the table. [Yes, and 

 nearly choked to death over the very idea of 

 it. Don't believe it? It's a fact, and Dr. M. 

 could a tale unfold, but I guess he'd better not. 

 —Ed.] 



One oujection to those solid yellow bees is 

 the difKculty of finding the queen— workers and 

 queen looking so much alike. [And another 

 objection to them is, that the majority of them 

 seem to be bad stingers. The finger holding 

 this pen is smarting from a sting just rec'ived 

 from one of the yellow ones ; but, as 1 Jiave 

 said before, not all these yellow bees are t ross. 

 —Ed.] 



On the night of Aug. 32 I was awakened by 

 a tramp and a bicycle who wanted a bowl of 

 milk. I mean the man, not the bicycle, wanted 

 the milk. After a heavy coating of dust was 

 removed, he turned out to be a Medina editor. 

 [Tramp? That about describes the way I felt; 

 but all the same I was fed well and bedded 

 well. I'll tell the rest of the craft to call that 

 way.— Ed. J 



Bkace and burr combs have been merciless- 

 ly fought by nearly all. Doolittle comes to 

 their defense in A. B. J., saying the bees need 

 them for ladders, and that their great value 

 consists in the fact that with them bees com- 

 mence so much sooner in supers. [My own 

 observation in scores of apiaries, and the reports 

 that I have read, all go to show that, when 

 the bee-spaces are correct, burr-combs have no 

 effect either way. Doolittle is almost always 

 right, but in this case I think he would change 

 his mind if he were to travel among bee-keep- 

 ers as I have done. See Editorials— Ed.] 



THOSE SHIPLOADS OF CUBAN HONEY. 



CUBA AND THE HONEY TARIFF; THE DARK 

 SIDE OF CUBAN BEE-KEEPING. 



By Fred O. Somcrford. 



I notice in Gleanings of July 1.5th an article 

 from Mr. H. F Moore, on page 574. in which he 

 seems to be particularly aggressive against 

 Cuba and her honey-pioducers. While I ad- 

 mit that friend Moore's article was an able one 

 (for the protectionist), yet with the utmost cor- 

 diality, and with malice toward none, I can not 

 refrain from questioning the ground of his 

 insinuations about Cuba. In the first place, he 

 intimates that we bee-keepers this side of the 

 Gulf can produce honey for almost nothing — a 

 statement that is more or less generally believ- 

 ed by our Northern brothers; and to those In 

 the business here it sounds " fishy " in the ex- 

 treme. As one of Cuba's bee-keepers who has 

 produced something like 200,000 lbs. of honey in 

 the last few years, I am in a position to know 

 the realities that are in the business; for it 

 must be remembered that, in starting apiaries 

 here, every thing has to be imported; and as 

 freights and duties are so high, the first cost of 

 an apiary here is generally very great, to say 

 the least; and when the additional high cost 

 of living, caused by Spanish importation duties, 

 is taken into consideration, also the dearer cost 

 of land, rent, etc., all having a tendency to 

 make the conditions far different from those 

 generally supposed to exist in the " Queen of 

 the Antilles." and after some years in the busi- 

 ness here, I have gradually, and, I dare say, 

 truthfully, come to the conclusion that, unless 

 we get as much as 35 cts. per gallon for extract- 

 ed honey there is very little margin left for the 

 producer to glory over. It must also be remem- 

 bered that we are occupied twelve months in 

 the apiary here, instead of six, as is generally 

 the case in America. 



I was somewhat surprised at friend Moore's 

 assertion about " cheap and even slave labor." 

 Cheap labor in Cuba is, and has for some time 

 been, remembered as a thing of the past; for 

 the sugar-cane industry here, with its numer- 

 ous costly factories, has assimilated all the 

 cheap and idle labor in the production of 

 1,000,000 tons of sugar annually, and wages 

 have advanced until the laborer no longer 

 receives as his reward a European pittance, 

 but is paid nearly as well as his more fortunate 

 comrades in America; and if Spain would only 

 tear down the Chinese wall she has built around 

 her subjects here through her custom- house — 

 emancipate them, as it were — the island would 

 no longer be considered an inferior place for 

 developing the highest traits of manhood. 



