178 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



just a victim of circumstances, merely doing 

 that which has been decreed by fate. 



It happened tliis way : One Sunday morn- 

 ing, about the first of June, I encountered a 

 small after-swarm of bees in the act of set- 

 tling on the branch of a pepper-tree in 

 front of the house that constitutes my dom- 

 icil. Under such circumstances what could 

 I do but hive the swarm? It would certainly 

 not be right to leave a swarm of bees hang- 

 ing on the branch of a tree, above the side- 

 walk of one of the principal streets of the 

 city. The hiving was easily done with the 

 aid of a borrowed clothes-pole, and on the 

 end of this pole was attached a small basket. 



Just think of it ! walking along the street 

 with my mind busy on matters that would 

 come up in the office on the morrow, and 

 then, ten minutes later, walking along the 

 same street with a swarm of bees i^i a bas- 

 ket ! The basket of bees was duly hung on 

 the clothes-line, while I proceeded to alter 

 into a hive a certain box which the grocer 

 had delivered with groceries the evening 

 before. 



The alterations of the box sufficient for 

 the time being took about ten minutes. The 

 bees were then dumped into the hive, and the 

 next moment I found myself the owner of a 

 colony of bees, and also the violator of a 

 certain city ordinance, and subject to a fine 

 or a jail sentence, or both. 



But before taking up with you my expe- 

 rience as an outlaw it might be well to lay 

 the foundation for my acts. But remember 

 I am telling you this biographical junk so 

 that you will be in the proper frame of 

 mind to understand and follow me through 

 my acts as a practical outlaw beekeeper, 

 working under an adverse city ordinance. 

 That is my honest reason. Of course, if you 

 in your own narrow-minded way think it 

 mere ego on my part — why, I will not quar- 

 rel with you — just let you retain your opin- 

 ion, and risk your calling up the chief of 

 police. 



To commence at the beginning, early en- 

 vironment forged the first link by reason of 

 my father being an apiarist on a city lot. 

 Stings were part of my early education. 

 Then the wanderlust claimed me, with the 

 result that one bright summer day, follow- 

 ing the termination of the American occu- 

 pancy of Cuba, I stepped ashore at Havana, 

 and there among that band of pioneer bee- 

 keepers who followed the army of interven- 

 tion I met the greatest of them all, the 

 " Rambler."* Rambler was one of nature's 

 aristocracy. He was a man who cared little 

 for money and less for dress. He always 



* J. H. Martin, whn was one of oiir most valued 

 correspondents about 15 years ago. — Ed. 



associated the idea of a new suit of clothing 

 with a ten-dollar bill. But as a man he stood 

 the acid test. He was one who saw through 

 every sham of life; smiled quietly at the 

 various subterfuges and artifices which he 

 encountered in others and ever remained as 

 a nugget of pure gold among the pebbles. 

 By reason of his rambles and observations, 

 coupled with an inventive turn of mind, the 

 result was that his brain had become a store- 

 house of those little matters generally spok- 

 en of as kinks. And while he had for years 

 freely given his ideas to the beekeeping 

 world through Gleanings, yet when he 

 breathed his last there in the lee of Principe 

 Hill, ai)iculture lost a thousand thoughts 

 that were on record only in Rambler's brain. 



Then there were the months I spent in 

 the locality of where was situated the first 

 apiary of bees in frame hives located on the 

 island. I wonder how many of those who 

 read this have been on the spot. How many, 

 like myself, have cut their names in the 

 trunk of that old royal palm-tree just above 

 the well ? For several years I led an ambu- 

 latory existence, to and from, over and 

 around, the island of Cuba, at that time the 

 greatest bee country in the world. 



So, now, having turned for your inspec- 

 tion the foregoing page of the past, I trust 

 that all those who are true apiarists at heart 

 will understand and forgive my acts as an 

 outlaw. 



In answer to those who raise the question 

 as to why I did not remove my colony of 

 bees outside the jurisdiction of the ordi- 

 nance, I will say that on one side of the city 

 is the ocean and on the other is the desert; 

 that the past season has been one when the 

 desert flora refused to yield honey, with the 

 result that, during all the time when I have 

 had my colony of bees, the apiarists outside 

 the city have had to joractice feeding in 

 order to keep their bees alive. Here in the 

 city, matters are different. There is an 

 abundance of peppei'-trees and eucalyptus 

 along the streets of the residence district, 

 and in the public parks are thousands of 

 eucalyptus of every variety besides thou- 

 sands of other trees and shrubs. So here 

 there is a continuous flow of honey, some- 

 what similar to the summer in western Cuba. 

 The result has been that my little swarm of 

 bees, without foundation, not even for start- 

 ers, has been able to build on an average 

 one frame each week. 



Perhaps the question may arise in the 

 minds of some as to the legality of the city 

 ordinance under which I am an outlaw. To 

 such I will state that it is my own personal 

 opinion that the ordinance is valid; that the 

 coui'ts would sustain it under what is known 



