legi 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



IVi 



As for friend Moore's slaves, I am happy to 

 say they exist only as a " protectionist's fabri- 

 cation," for political winvpullers to mislead 

 the public, as slavery has been abolished a 

 great many years. There is very little Cuban 

 honey sent to America to be sold, as the com- 

 mission men here depend mostly on European 

 markets. Even if the duty were lowered to 10 

 cts. per gallon, it is hardly possible that much 

 honey from here would be sold in American 

 markets; but it might be favorable to Cuba by 

 making American markets open to Cuban 

 honey, thus stimulating competition with the 

 buyers of Europe; but it is impossible that the 

 importations increase a large amount in Amer- 

 ica, as there are only about ten movable-frame 

 apiaries on the island, and they are owned by 

 Americans, with but few exceptions. There 

 are, however, numerous box-hive apiaries that 

 receive but little attention, and give corres- 

 ponding results. And as for those " shiploads" 

 of honey ready to be dumped on American 

 markets as soon as we have favorable tariff 

 legislation, that, too, exists only as a supposi- 

 tion, for in reality there is not honey enough on 

 the island now to furnish ballast for one ocean 

 steamer. 



That America has competitors in nearly 

 every manufactured article exported is not to 

 be doubted; neither is it to be questioned that, 

 in all Latin-American countries, her fabrics 

 are most sought after; but that Cuba, as it 

 exists to-day, will become her competitor in the 

 production of honey, and entail a lossof half a 

 million dollars a year to American bee-keepers, 

 will hardly be indorsed by an intelligent people 

 —much less entertained for a moment by the 

 writer. 



San Miguel, Cuba, Aug. 33. 



[Notwithstanding our purpo^^e, as already 

 stated, to drop the tariflf discussion, it is no 

 more than fair that a resident of Cuba have a 

 chance to state the facts so far as they really 

 exist on that island: for by reason of the dis- 

 tance he has not had an opportunity hitherto 

 to state his side. Quite a number of bee-keep- 

 ers, to our certain knowledge, were expecting 

 to move to Cuba: and it is certainly very im- 

 portant that the dark as well as th^ bright side 

 should be presented. When beekeepers ask 

 our advice regarding the advisability of emi- 

 grating to some more favorable clime, we gen- 

 erally say, "Stay where you are," All loca- 

 tions have their bright as well as dark sides; 

 and. too oftpu. the •* dark side" has been dis- 

 covered after a long exniMi^ive trip, and an en- 

 tire failure of honev. — Ei>.l 



BAMBLE 116. 

 5AXTA PAULA AND VENTURA. 



B}i Raiiihler. 



The next honest bee-keeper we clasped hands 

 with was Mr. R. Touchton. of Santa Paula. 

 Mr. T. regulates the affairs of his city by hold- 

 ing the office and performing the functions of 



justice of the peace. In other words, he is a 

 sort of queen-bee of the city. The city was 

 evidently behaving itself in a proper manner, 

 for we found the justice's office locked, and he 

 was about other business. We were welcomed 

 at the house by Mrs. Touchton, and, soon after, 

 the worthy esquire put in an appearance, and 

 we discussed bees and a good dinner for an 

 hour or so. Mr. T. is not largely engaged in 

 honey-production at present, but has enough 

 work in that line to keep him busy some weeks. 

 His wife is as much interested in the pets as 

 himself, and is a willing helper during the 

 honey season. We find that nearly all bee- 

 keepers' wives are thus interested in their hus- 

 bands' management of the bees, and think it 

 next to a picnic to get out to the bee-ranch for 

 a season. It seems to relieve the monotony of 

 the every-day home life. 



Mr. Corey's residence is but a short distance 

 away, but he was out on his bee-ranch in 

 the Newhall region. We regretted to mis> 

 seeing this veteran in our industry. His face 

 and voice are always so prominent in our con- 

 ventions, and the Messrs. Corey. Touchton. and 

 Richardson, all of Santa Paula, are such help- 

 ers upon such occasions, that it s a pleasure to 

 meet them; and it is to be regretted that there 

 are not more like them to take an interest in 

 such matters. Mr. Richardson was also out of 

 town. He works the trade of architect in with 

 bee-keeping; a'^d during this off season, when 

 his tons of honev will not be so numerous as 

 they were last year (64 tons), he is plying his 

 trade in the Ojai iOhl) Valley. 



Mr. Touchton had the same story to rehearse 

 as the rest— no honey, and a good prospect for 

 feeding. Santa Paula had also grown since our 

 last visit, and still continued to be the center of 

 the coal-oil industry, the pipes leading out 

 from here to the many wells in various locali- 

 ties miles away. Our stop with Mr. Touchton 

 was for only a few hours, and we were oh the 

 road again. 



Soon after leaving Santa Paula we enter the 

 great bt-an-belt of Ventura Co. The largest 

 bean-v:inch, 1(5,000 acres, and all to beans, is 

 owned by Dixie Thompson. The withholding 

 of winter rains was having its effect upon the 

 bean, and the output will be several score car- 

 loads less than usual. 



We entered Ventura near evening, and. hav- 

 ing learned from Mr. Mclntyre that Messrs. 

 Wilkin. Mercer, and Mendelson, were out to 

 their apiaries, we concluded that our stop would 

 be short in Ventura, and camped that nigiit 

 near the river, with the intention of pushing 

 along again the next morning. When that 

 time arrived we resolved ti have some repairs 

 made upon our wagon; and, unloading our 

 movables into our tent, Mr. Wilder went off 

 calmly to superintend the repairs, while I re- 

 mained in camp to answer several letters which 

 I had just received in Ventura. A budget- of 



