804 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



If you use 1 lb. of water and 1 lb. of sugar 

 vou will have a thinner syrup to start with, of 

 course ; but it will be much more thoroughly 

 ripened by the bees, and make a much better 

 feed for them, because the bees, in the lan- 

 guage of the chemist, " invert " it or make of 

 it a substance having some of the characteris- 

 tics of honey, but not the same article ; but 

 they will not invert one-to-two syrup. By 

 using the proportions half and half it is not 

 necessaiy to use acid, honey, or any thing else 

 to prevent granulation. We have for several 

 years back used such thin syrup, aud now 

 would use no other. All that is necessary is 

 to pour the requisite quantities of each into 

 the extractor-can and turn the 

 reel until it is thoroughly mixed. 

 This can be done at the outyards, 

 thus saving the carrying of water. 

 We find that we get better results 

 from colonies fed half and half 

 than when fed one part of water 

 and two of sugar. 



If you, friend Crane, will try it 

 next year, I feel confident that 

 you will ever afterward use the 

 half-and-half proportion. 



Formerly, when we fed 2 lbs. 

 of sugar to 1 lb. of water, we had 

 more or less granulating in the 

 combs. The granules would form, 

 and the bees would carry them out and drop 

 them at the entrance. This is now all done 

 away with ; and, besides, the labor of making 

 is very greatly reduced. — Ed ] 



barge, giving the poor weak beasts a terrible 

 descent ; but such little things are unnoticed 

 here, where cruelty to both man and beast has 

 been the rule of the departing power. 



By afternoon all was ready, and bees were 

 handed down a step ladder of human hands 

 to the barge, soon tugged away, and I bade a 

 hearty farewell to the ship. Arriving at the 

 wharf, the bees were soon placed thereon amid 

 a crowd of open-mouthed wonderers ; large 

 mule-carts were near by, waiting to take the 

 bees away. They were soon loaded on, fifty 

 hives to a cart, and rolled away to the stables 

 of cart-men to start on their twenty-mile jour- 

 ney out to this place some time after midnight. 



BEES FROM TEXAS TO CUBA. 



The Success of the Venture ; a few Plain but Inter' 



esting Facts Concerning Bee-keeping in Cuba ; 



Bee-diseases and other Troubles. 



BY F. H. SOMERFORD. 

 Concluded. 



In the afternoon the city of Havana stood 

 out before us, and we were soon drawing down 

 on Morro Castle ; and glad I was, having 

 spent four days and a half in this miserable 

 old stock-boat with the bellowing of crippled 

 bulls, braying of kicking jacks, and snorting 

 of mustang ponies, and the desperate hum of 

 smothering bees, that did no harm whatever 

 to their other wild companions. 



The discharging of the stock was begun, 

 and continued till late in the night, and re- 

 sumed early next morning, till by noon noth- 

 ing remained aboard except the bees, which 

 were purposely left till the last. A barge of 

 cattle was tugged away. This is a miserable 

 plan of discharging a cargo ; but steamers 

 here must anchor out in the channel, and un- 

 load by piecemeal. From the decks of the 

 steamer to the floor of the barge, which is no 

 more than two or three feet above water, is a 

 terrible descent for stock that have endured 

 so much hardship. At first it was only about 

 six feet, and the stock were driven down the 

 ill-made chutes, the weak ones rolling head 

 over heels, or any old way, and the steamer 

 gradually rising till it was 12 feet above the 



The evening fast drawing to a close, stopping 

 at a hotel I was soon seated at a table well 

 laden with Spanish " municiones de la boca." 

 The seasoning was rather strange to me ; but, 

 not having been too well fed on the boat, I 

 minaged to take care of a little. 



Rising early for the daylight train out to 

 this place (Bejucal) I soon found myself sur- 

 rounded by some pretty country, palms every- 

 where to be seen, giving an ancient charm to 

 every thing. 



Arriving here I was soon busy searching for 

 a desirable place for my bees. Going back a 

 mile from town on the graded road from Ha- 

 vana I found where I could get a small place 

 of shaded ground, an acre or less, for S^lOO a 

 year, which seemed rather high tome. Look- 

 ing around for two hours I found a tolerably 

 good place a quarter of a mile back from the 

 highway, where I could get a piece of pround 

 vdth some shade, 70 feet long by 30 wide, for 

 two ounces of Spanish gold per year. To ac- 

 complish this, or any thing else here, one has 

 to have an interpreter if unfamiliar with the 

 Spanish, as I was. Going back to the road I 

 waited for the carts with bees, which came a 

 little later. Directing them to the orchard I 

 soon had the hives placed in rows, but noted, 

 in handling them, that many seemed to be 

 terribly calm within. Later on, after opening 

 them up I saw that, out of the 200 colonies, I 

 had only 76 left. The empty combs were fill- 

 ed with web-worms before I could get the bees 

 straightened, and a great many were ruined. 

 They kept me busy for two days hiving them, 

 caging their queens, etc., as they did nothing 

 but swarm out and ball queens for that period 

 of time. After this they went to work, it be- 

 ing the 8th of October, and some early flow- 

 ers in bloom. On looking around over the 



