Deokmbbe, 1921 GLEANINGS IN B*EE CULTURE 771 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



as it is. Today we took a truck-load of 

 shavings to the apiary not yet entirely 

 packed — a drive of nine miles — and when we 

 got there we found a deep cut in the road 

 where we go in to the place, all filled up 

 with snow — too much snow in fact to shovel 

 out in time to attend to work and get 

 home before dark. So another road had to 

 be made across a field after opening up two 

 fences. Fortunately teams were working 

 near the place and I was able to get the 

 driver of one of them to hitch on the front 

 of our truck aud give us a haul of about 40 

 rods up to the apiary. But working in snow 

 packing the bees is not to my taste, aud I 

 say, ' ' never again. ' ' Wet feet, cold hands, 

 and other unpleasant features accompany the 

 work under such conditions, not to mention 

 anything about the bees which would be 

 better left alone without the disturbance 

 that is caused, no matter how careful we 

 are in taking off covers of winter eases and 

 putting in packing. 



The demand for honey still surpasses any- 

 thing we ever had in this part of the coun- 

 try before. Two stores that each bought 

 from us a carload of honey, which was deliv- 

 ered in September, have already asked us 

 for more honey like the previous order, and 

 we were, of course, unable to supply them. 

 No doubt they will be able to get honey all 

 right, but I simply mention this to show 

 what heavy sales the retail stores have 

 made, not to mention the honey sold direct 

 to consumers by the beekeepers. Bees that 

 are to be wintered inside here in Ontario, as 

 I have already intimated, are covered up 

 with snow at the date of writing. We will 

 have only 65 colonies in the cellar this win- 

 ter; so, with only 5% of our bees inside, 

 naturally we will be more concerned as to 

 conditions which affect outside wintered 

 bees this season. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Ont. 



In Porto Rico. To understand the var- 

 led conditions existing 

 in Porto Rico, it is necessary to have a birds- 

 eye view of the entire island, which is a 

 part of the chain of islands which reach out 

 in a southeasterly direction from Florida, 

 known as the West Indies Islands. It is 

 only about 100 miles long and 30 miles wide. 

 Most of the coast line is flat. This flat land 

 varies from a quarter of a mile to about a 

 mile in width. All the remainder is com- 

 posed of high hills, one of which reaches an 

 altitude of over 4,000 feet above sea level. 

 These hills roughly divide the island into a 

 north and south watershed. The north side 

 receives an average rainfall of from 70 to 

 100 inches annually, while the south side 

 seldom receives one-third of tliis amount. 



The small island has, therefore, many dif- 

 ferent aspects — wet and diy, plains, high- 



lands, and deep vallej^s. Within a distance 

 of less than five miles one can frequently 

 find lush verdant vegetation and ground 

 that is sunburnt until all vegetation seems 

 dead — trees without leaves, and grass and 

 small shrubs burnt dry and brown. When 

 sufiicient rain falls to renew life, then it 

 comes jumping with incredible swiftness. A 

 week later all is green, with trees in leaf 

 and flowers budding. With these varied 

 conditions from month to month, and year 

 to year (as there is no sure rainy season), 

 it can readily be seen that at a given time 

 what will apply to the north coast will not 

 apply to the south coast and what will ap- 

 ply to the hill country will apply to neither. 

 In this respect there is a similarity between 

 California and Porto Rico, despite the enor- 

 mous difference in amount of territory. 



With these varied growing conditions, the 

 blossoming period is not alike all over the 

 island at a given time. It would be correct 

 to say there is a constant bloom of nectar- 

 yielding trees on the island. When this 

 localized bloom is over, another part of the 

 island takes up the work, and so it goes 

 from month to month. 



Owing to the hilly contour of the ground, 

 it frequently happens that two apiaries may 

 be within a mile of each other, and yet the 

 bees from the two yards in their flight will 

 not lap over the same territory. This con- 

 dition is caused by the high-wooded hills, 

 and no doubt the trade winds play their 

 part in limiting the flight. The bees work 

 up aud down the valley in which they are 

 located and range near the summit of the 

 hills, but seldom go over the top. 



When Porto Rico was taken from Spain 

 in 1908, there were practically no honeybees 

 or beekeepers to be found. About 1909 the 

 Mayaguez Experimental Station, supported 

 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in- 

 troduced the Italian bees and the modern 

 10-frame hive. Five years later there were 

 several thousand colonies of bees on the 

 island in modern hives, most of these being 

 owned and operated by the native Porto 

 Ricans. During the latter part of the 

 World War, the honey produced was sold 

 for as high as $2.00 per gallon. These high 

 prices so stimulated the sale and increase of 

 bees that today many parts of the island 

 contain so many colonies that no honey is 

 being stored and quite a few apiaries are at 

 tlie point of starvation much of the time. 

 These conditions give little promise of large 

 yields or prosperous beekeeping. It is to be 

 hoped in the future there will be an equaliza- 

 tion of bees to the possible honey produc- 

 tion. This will allow a maximum production 

 of honey, but will probably cut down the 

 number of colonies by a third. 



Aibonito, Porto Rico. Penn G. Snyder. 



