STO 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1.-) 



A swAKM of bees is reported as settling on a 

 man's chin; and the C. B. J., commenting on 

 it. says. "It is evident that the queen lighted 

 on the man's chin, and the bees settled around 

 her. same as they would on an ordinary limb." 

 Hasn't brothel' Jones been caught napping for 

 once? Do the bees follow the queen in settling, 

 any more than they do in leaving the hive? 

 Bees often settle on a limb when the clipped 

 queen is not with them at all. 



CYPRUS ; BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



f'OXTINUED FKOM LAST ISSUE. 



The way led us through badly paved and 

 narrow streets until at length we arrived at the 

 house, which was in a miserable condition. 

 Through a low gateway he led us to his garden 

 where a profusion of lemon-trees, orange-trees, 

 pomegranates, and others were planted in adis- 

 oi'derly way. In the midst of the garden he 

 had arranged his hives in a pyramidal shape 

 above each other, with stone slabs closing up 

 both ends of the two to three foot cylinders. A 

 big entrance-hole (big enough to let the death- 

 head moths and hornets fall upon unprotected 

 hives) was in the lowei- part of the slab. The 

 bees were working actively on cucumber, veg- 

 etable marrow, and 01 her f1owei-s of the cucur- 

 hitacte. especially the "squirting cucumber" 

 (Echallium elaterUim), which yields bitter hon- 

 ey. This plant grows wild all over the East, 

 but seems to prefer ruined places. Ashes and 

 crumbled building material seem to be just the 

 right thing to make them thrive. The plant 

 very much resembles the cucumber at a dis- 

 tance, with its small yellow flowers; but com- 

 ing nearer vou find the leaves very prickly, 

 much rougher than garden cucumbers, and the 

 fruit a tiny cucumber growing at an angle of 4.5 

 degrees on an upright stalk. When we boys 

 used to run about the ruins of Zion and Jeru- 

 salem we used to have great fun touching one 

 of the ripe fruits, and off they go on the next 

 person, sending out the juice and seeds right 

 into the face or some part near the direction 

 the fruit points. This is one of Nature's curi- 

 ous ways of propagating its kind by sending oft' 

 the seed to a great distance. The cactus was 

 also yielding some honey; but as too few hedges 

 grow around Larnaca. and the cactus yields 

 honey very sparingly, this source is equally a 

 poor one. Thistles also, of the carduus tribe, 

 grow round the town; and the best of all hon- 

 ey-plants for summer was just beginning to 

 come into bloom— the thyme— of which we met 

 four donkey-loads being brought to town from 

 the mountains, for the oven. I felt very fidgety 

 about it. although not living in the place; still, 

 in Palestine they ar(- doing the same thing, and 

 robbing bees of their pasturage in the near fu- 

 ture. Plenty of carob-trees grow all ovei' Cy- 

 prus, and these carobs form an important arti- 

 cle of export, while the flowers yield honey of a 

 dark brown color. In places where cotton and 

 hemp are cultivated, the bees also get a chance 

 to gather some surplus; but cultivation or ag- 

 riculture is carried on in the most primitive 

 way. The island having bi'en chosen as an 

 abode for the gods by the ancients. Jupiter 

 named the mountain Olympus, and 



Sweet Venus, born of ocean's creamy foam. 

 Chooses the sea-kissed Paiilios as lier liome. 



In fact, a temple dedicated to Venus was dug 

 up near Paphos. and is supposed by archaeolo- 

 gists to be one of the oldest temples in the woi'ld 

 —at least of the Greek world. 



old Neptune calls up finm tlieir ocean bed 

 His favorite Nereids to tlie mountain's liead; 

 Shows tliem the sacred land, and bids each say 

 Where on the tliirsty soil hei' streams sliall play. 



But the beauty and fruitfulness of this island 

 have gone, partly by the cai'elessness of its in- 

 habitants, by the past government, and the 

 teeth of '3.'iO,0(X) goats roaming about the island. 

 The British government has done a good deal 

 to make the island in some distant future what 

 it was 



Wlien Ceres, bounteous g-iver of the sU)re, 

 With lavisli liorn gave ever more and more. 



But the heavy taxes which the British gov- 

 ernment 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 ma- 

 nuring, will have come into vogue, so that 

 every farmer will have found the usefulness of 

 the plowman's toil, 



Wresting- from the fruitful womb of motlier Earth, 

 Heaping' tlie garners and dispelling- dearth. 



Here, as in Malta. I could find no statistics 

 about bees or honey. Although the govern- 

 ment 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 Cypri- 

 ote 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-ke.e])er would go ahead 

 and put up his apiai'y in such places as afford 

 pasture enough; but, to be sure, I would not 

 change another locality to live among a de- 

 graded race, such as the Cyprians, so long as 

 there are a good deal better places to live in. 



Going round the town, a candle-manufactur- 

 er was bu^y nuinufacturing pure wax candles 

 (mixed with .")0 per cent of ceresin) for the 

 churches, with which the island is well provided, 

 belonging mostly to the Greek orthodox. The 

 man had a big kettle on the hre, 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 

 ovei' foot-long cotton threads hanging over the 

 kettle by hundreds. As soon as the wax was 

 cooled, another ladleful was poured over, till 

 every thread had received some. The first was 

 again cooled enough, and patiently he slowly 

 went oviM' his lot. evei'y time thickeniug the 

 candles. He had sonu:! weighing sevi'ral pounds, 

 while the greater part wf'igh 1:.' or more to a 

 pound. The beautiful yellow candles go fast 

 into tlie churches as 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 thi'se average 

 about 3 lbs. of honey and I4 lb. of wax per hive, 

 winch is almost all sold on the island itself. 

 Government taxes ai'e 3 pence a hive. 



As in all other Mediterranean countries, the 

 bees swarm out in April and May, and drones 

 are killed soon after. The honey is taken after 

 the r:;4th 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 bitter- 

 ness! The honey is cut up into small chunks, 

 and put into baskets away from robbers, to al- 

 low the honey to drip out. The wax is melted 



