:!••)(■. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



>Lvv 1. 



oiul lings. TIh' I'uzz is strongly inclined to yel- 

 low; a sliglit tingo of orangt' marks both sides 

 of the first ring. Very few men (as a rule no 

 bee-keeijers) have any movable - bar - ti'ame 

 hives, either Langsiroth. Abbott, or Itastain. 

 None of them have an extractor. They can 

 have only a very little moi'e honey tlum the 

 "tixists." About Toulon. Cannes, and Nice, 

 they move their bees on muleback to the higher 

 Alpine regions in summer. i)uttiug the hives in- 

 dividually in sacks, tied at top. In autumn 

 tliey bring them back again, and then take the 

 honey in lh(» mannei- above descrih(>d. In Nice 

 a single woman had a bee-hive in a cork-oak 

 trunk, only the bark being used as a hive. She 

 was selling comli honey right out of the hive. 

 The bees, naturally enough, had been sulphur- 

 ed previously. Tlie hive was well lilled with 

 sealed comb, and might have contained 40 lbs. 

 oi honey. No robbing was going on. as the hives 

 are kept at some distance from town; and even 

 Nice had such weather in January as to keep 

 bees at home. They .seldom have ice here, 

 though. Flowers ai-e sold all the year round. 

 Foreigners from England, and even America, 

 flock here in winter. 



I'H. d. HAI.I>EXSrERf4f:R. 



Marseilles. France, Januaiy 11. IS'JL 



[And so. friend V,.. honey-cakes are not a 

 modern invention, aftei' all. We are vei'y much 

 obliged to vou for the bii-dseye view you give us 

 of bee-keeping in the Old World: and we hope 

 our friends mentioned by you will soon get into 

 the modern ways, and throw aside their brim- 

 stone and rude hives. 1 



AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM CUBA. 



."iOO fOIA)NII^:s OF BEES IN ONE AI'IAin-. WITH 

 A PRODUCT OF 70,000 POUNDS OF HON- 

 EY IN A POOR SEASON. 



Friend i?oot;— Another year has gone, and 

 left behind it one more short crop. As this was 

 the first season since I came to Cuba, when I 

 have had what I called bees enough in one api- 

 ary to test the honey resources of any one lo- 

 cality. I naturally feel disappointed that the 

 weather was such that it was impossible to ar- 

 rive at any thing like an accurate estimate of 

 what .'itX) colonies of bees in one apiary would do. 

 Well. now. for the results. We began extract- 

 ing Nov. 3 (that is, to go over the bees and take 

 out what old honey they had left over from the 

 summer, which amounted to only .500 pounds). 

 The season was opening up fairly well, and tlie 

 bees did well through Novejuber. wo taking 10.- 

 400 lbs., an amount never before taken in the 

 month of November. The first ten days of De- 

 cetnber we took 1200 lbs., and with us we think 

 by the 10th of December the season is hardly 

 begiin: but on that very day a cold wave sti'uck 

 us, and foi' 47 days the w ind blew from the 

 north, coki. cold, evei'y day. The cold weather 

 in England. France, and vSjjain. did not spend 

 all its force there; but in ci'ossing the Atlantic 

 it seemed to have got the "grip." and for eight 

 weeks it held us Cubans with a grasp we could 

 not shake otT. The records show this last winter 

 to have l)een the coldest since 1855. Now. from 

 Dec. 10 to .Ian. :i7. 47 days, is the lieart of our 

 surplus season. To prove there was something 

 wrong, look at the record of the last two years. 

 The fall and spring of mm and "Ul (then we had 

 about 30(1 colonies of i)eesi in November we took 

 3(500 lbs.: this year, with over 500 colonies, we 

 took 10.4:i5 lbs. " Last year the first ten days of 

 December we took 3275 lbs.: this year, 1200 lbs. 

 Lastvear for the month of December we took 

 lii.000"lbs.: this yeai' for the same mnntli. 2i.40n. 



Last year in Jan. we took 25.500 lbs.: this year, 

 same month. 19.025. Last year in Feb. wetook 

 .5,5(10 lbs.: this year. 10.40o" lbs. Last yeai' in 

 March we took nothing: this year (5150. making 

 for th(i crop 70.2.50 lbs. 15y looking at the 

 amount- of honey taken in the two last seasons, 

 and comparing dates, you will see that, up to 

 the 10th of December (when the cold weather 

 began), we had taken 22.400 lbs., against 0875 lbs. 

 for the same date the year before. Then you 

 will see, in January we took only 1!»,025 lbs. 

 against 25..5(K) lbs. the year before, and we con- 

 sider January much the best surplus month 

 of the year; but it was too cold this year. 



I think I told you last year, that.' when the 

 business here is so managed that two good act- 

 ive men can take care of .500 or more colonies in 

 one apiary, and take 75.0(K)or 100,000 lbs. of hon- 

 ey, then the business would pay. Now, with 

 such a winter as this last one has been, we have 

 produced 70.(XJ0 lbs., and at this date our bees 

 are in tine condition, with liives full of bees and 

 honey, and swarming daily. Does this crop and 

 the conditions under wliich it was taken, provi' 

 to the advocates of 50-colony apiaries that 550 

 can be made to pay all under one roof, and con- 

 trolled by one management and set of hands 

 and fixtures'? Resulis have placed it beyond 

 the reach of doubt. It is no longer a question. 

 '•Will it prny i'" but, " How can we best take 

 care of tlie crop as fast as it is stored, with tlie 

 least possible outlav of monev and manual la- 

 bor'?- 



Give me a common Cuban wint( r next winter, 

 and if I do not produce 50 tons uf honey from one 

 ajjiary. then it will be very much ditl'erent from 

 w hat 1 exjject: foi- 1 know this last one has been 

 but a very little more than half a crop. This 

 result has been obtaim d against the advice of 

 all the novices jlnd the would-be eypei'ts. both 

 ill Cuba and the U. S. — men w ho knew as much 

 about the honey resources of Cuba as I know 

 what the strides in the science of electricity will 

 be in the next 50 years.' 



THE HOFFMAN P'RAME NOT SUITED FOR CUBA. 



You have called for an expression from 

 "Southern bee-keepers" upon the Hoffman 

 frame. I do not like the frame for Cuba nor for 

 Califoinia. I can not do any bett<r than add 

 my tt^stimony to that of W. W. Somerlord. of 

 San Miguel. I could not bother with Mich an ar- 

 rangement here. Wecould notg<'toiit .50 frames 

 a day here, wli(>re the bees glue every thing 

 fast, unless there is plenty of room for them to 

 pass freely all around. Then they will not sticlv 

 them. When I first came to Cuba in 1883 I was 

 prevailed upon to bring some of the HofTman 

 frames: but after a trial I took the hatchet and 

 made open top and side frames of them, and 

 have not tried any since. We have our frames 

 liung on tin rabbets that are thin on the edge, 

 so there is no chance to stick them. You know 

 we have to go over our bees every week. Well, 

 to go over .5.50 colonies in six days, and extract 

 the honey iiy hand, tlier<' is no time to lose in 

 fussing and prying to get your frames out of 

 the hives. I would not for the world say any 

 thing against the closed toji and end fi'ame in 

 localities where there is hardly any iiropolis: for 

 those that use and like it would g(>t mad 

 about it. 



TWO vs. SIX FltA.ME EXTRACTORS. 



Tliere are many things used in small apiaries 

 that would hardly do for us here. We have to 

 adopt the fixtures that arrive at results with 

 the least possible waste of time. For example, 

 this year we ran two six-frame extractors and 

 a comb-cart holding from 80 to 85 combs: and. 

 liad the winter been like those I have seen since 

 coming here.we should have been behind in get- 

 ting the honey out of the way of the bees; but 



