1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



261 



to spots near railroad stations and a strip along 

 the stone roads. Of these there are only 

 about 200 miles all told ; but they are the finest 

 it is possible to make — perfect for wheel-rid- 

 ing. 



Then came the foul-brood problem again. 

 Only two of these roads lead out of what was 

 clearly known as the foul-brood district. A 

 ride over all of them showed only about six 

 localions where there was room for more than 

 one apiary not already occupied outside of the 

 foul-brood zone. In many places one could 

 ride for miles and not see a single flower of 

 aguinaldo — nothing but waving grass and a 

 species of palm not good for honey. 



Then came a study of railroad locations; but 

 a five-minute conversation with a general 

 freight agent fixed that. One cent a mile per 

 100 pounds was about the figures. This would 

 not allow one to get out of the foul-brood zone 

 which extends around Havana, and get enough 

 for his honey to pay freight. There is also a 

 strip around the coast where they can freight 

 by water, which I did not look up far. I 

 wanted to be where there was mail once in a 

 while. This reduced me to one of the six lo- 

 cations which I now proceeded to study in de- 

 tail, and grade as nearly as I could. By the 

 time this was done I had been four months at 

 it, and had come to the conclusion that there 

 were more places where bees would starve 

 than there were where one could get twenty 

 gallons to the hive as some have done this 

 year. 



Of the six places I soon decided which stood 

 first, and then came the real trouble. The 

 unit of land measure here is about 33 acres, 

 and I could not rent a less piece, and rent is 

 high here. Finally, however, I got two places 

 rented, and began to feel easy, when the own- 

 er of the one on the best bee location sent 

 word that he had sold out to an American 

 syndicate. As my patch was near the middle 

 of the farm of 36 square miles I was out of it, 

 and at the present time I have not been able 

 to rent another place. 



In addition to the location, the possibility 

 of getting bees for seed came in. Mr. W. W. 

 Somerford was at the same time engaged in a 

 search for bees, and in the five months we 

 have been a^'le to buy only three small lots. 

 I have at the present writing 83 colonies which 

 I have transferred into modern hives. 



The bte search revealed two things : 1. The 

 great scarcity of bees ; 2. The presence of foul 

 brood in all sorts of unexpected places. There 

 is, of course, a very large amount of the finest 

 bee country in Cuba. I have traveled for 

 miles through a perfect tangle of honey-bear- 

 ing plants, but it would cost more to bring out 

 the honey than it would to raise it. In the 

 good time to come, when Cuba has roads, or 

 when the railroads are compelled to carry 

 freight at a decent price, there will be great 

 chances to raise honey here. At present the 

 good places are few indeed, all things consid- 

 ered. 



San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, Feb. 15. 



[All of this is very interesting to me, as I am 

 planning to make a trip to Cuba next fall. 



Whether I shall go on a wild-goose chase with 

 our friend Harry remains to be seen ; but this 

 much I should like to do — take a trip on their 

 good roads, or where they are good, rather, 

 and see something of the country. P'rom sev- 

 eral sources we learn that foul brood has got- 

 ten a terrible foothold in the island ; and the 

 fact that there is a great deal of ignorance on 

 the part of many native Cuban bee keepers 

 makes the situation a good deal worse. In- 

 telligence, coupled with the right kind of leg- 

 islation, is the only thing that will keep this 

 dread scourge in check.— Ed ] 



FOUL BROOD IN CUBA. 



A Good-natured Burlesijue : the Folly of Ameri- 

 can Bee - keepers Hushing to Cuba ; Cuhan 

 Honey will Never be a Competitor of 

 American Honey, and Why. 



BY GEO. ROCKENBAUGH, JR. 



Now that Florida is in the old ruts, as she 

 was in 1896, a good many of the so-called bee- 

 keepers, or would-be bee keepers and fruit- 

 grov\ers will turn their eyes to Cuba, and prob- 

 ably some will carry their household goods 

 with them, bees and all, before coming here 

 to look for a location. lean almost imagine 

 I see a shipload of bees and hives coming now. 

 Those who contemplate coming here uetd not 

 carry any bees with them, as the wocds are 

 full of them ; and as to locality, one can squat 

 down in any old place and it will support 200 

 or 300 colonies providing he takes foul brood 

 in the bargain. The expenses in coming to 

 Cuba are very slight. The railroad companies 

 charge 10 cts. per mile, baggage extra, and 

 the ship companies have only doubled their 

 rates in the last three months. Living is also 

 cheap here. Carne de vaca (or jerked beef) 

 is 26 to 36 cts. per lb.; American salt pork, 12 

 cts. per lb. ; flour, !?8 00 per barrel ; coal oil, 

 40 CIS. per gallon ; common shoes, $5.00; cot- 

 ton prints, from 12 to 15 cts. per yard. Eggs 

 are 60 cts. per dezen ; spring chickens $1.20 

 per head. 



The Pan - American and Cuban express 

 charge enormous prices. You prepay express 

 charges in the Slates, and you will have to 

 pony up here again on a package of garden 

 seeds weighing 6 lbs., $4,22. But, enough of 

 preamble. 



In the Philadelphia meeting of last fall I 

 think the discussion ran high about Cuban 

 honey overstocking the American market. 

 Not so, my friends. There never will be 

 enough produced to supply New York city. 

 Foul brood has finished this island for good. 

 I have gone 300 miles on horseback in an un- 

 broken coimtry, and mountains that line the 

 north coast, and resemble the Sierra Nevada. 

 Sometimes I would stand in the saddle for half 

 an hour, going up and down at a break-neck 

 speed. I have inspected some 30 native api- 

 aries, numbering from nothing to 75 log gums, 

 and have yet to find one ihat is not rotten 

 with the disease. 1 have been as far south as 

 Sinta K-piritu, west to Caibarien, ard find 

 every thing in the same condition. 



