484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



not know the exact percentages I could 

 point out which sample had a very small 

 amcunt, which a large, and which a medium 

 amount, by the degree of "twang" I could 

 feel in the mouth just after having tasted it. 

 Another simple method, although I do not 

 think it is reliable, is to pour a little alcohol 

 in a supected sample of adulterated honey. 

 If, on stirring, it shows a pale cloudy white, 

 there is probably glucose present. If it 

 does not show this appearance it is not nec- 

 essarily proof that the honey is pure, so the 

 test works only one way. But even that 

 one way, in connection with the taste test, 

 might ^i^put one on his guard when buying 

 honey. I will admit that there are some 

 very highly refined glucoses that have no 

 brassy twang; but they are high-priced, and 

 probably would not be used as adulterants. 

 -Ed.] 



grow one crop of tobacco. When the plants 

 are big enough to be transplanted they are 

 pulled and shipped on cars, mule-trains, anil 

 ox-carts, to where the tobacco is to be 

 grown. Those tobacco-seed beds are, by 

 the next season, covered by the vines of 

 the campanilla marada, which springs up 

 wherever the soil has been cultivated. 



The extracting scene is a common sight in a 

 honey-house in Western Cuba. One reason 

 for their working this way is the construction 

 of the honey-houses, which are low, with 

 flat roofs covered with tarred paper. Those 

 buildings at noonday under the tropical sun 

 are like ovens. 



It is also natural for a Cuban to work 

 without a shirt, no matter what kind of 

 work he is doing. When it gets a little 

 warm, off comes that garment. 



Coffee plantations are among the good lo- 



AN AMERICAN BEE-YARD IN HAVANA PROVINCE, WIPED OUT BY FOUL BROOD. 



CUBAN NOTES AND VIEWS. 

 The Best Places to Establish Apiaries. 



BY LESLIE BURR. 



If one believes what he generally hears 

 about Cuba (from the man who has land for 

 sale), it is one great garden, and every 

 square foot is of the richest land. But the 

 fact is, forty per cent of the land is worth- 

 less for agriculture. One of the parts of 

 the island in which bee-keepers are very 



Plentiful is the Vuelta-Abajo, Pinar del Rio 

 rov., which is the tobacco section of Cuba. 

 Here is also found the greatest amount of 

 the campanilla marada (the pink bellflower). 

 The cause of this is the tobacco business, as 

 tobacco seed is sown on virgin soil. Large 

 tracts of land on both the mountains and 

 the coast are cleared every year, just to 



cations of Cuba. Coffee blooms three or 

 four times during the season; and as it is 

 grown iri the mountainous parts of Cuba, 

 and nearly all mountainous regions of the 

 island are good bee locations, a yard situat- 

 ed on the edge of a coffee plantation is one 

 of the ideal locations. 



Foul brood is one of the things that thrive 

 in Cuba. It exists from one end of the 

 island to the other. The probable reason 

 for there being so much of it at present is 

 the light honey flow for the last two years. 



Casanova, Cuba. 



[The illustration of the white bellflower is 

 a remarkably good one. The large areas 

 of this vine afford a very pretty view, when 

 in full bloom, especially to a bee-keeper. It 

 is not unlike the morning-glory of the 

 North. -Ed.] 



