626 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



October 6, 



mild and pleasant flavor. It Is the equal of white clover honey 

 in color and body, and in flavor I would ranli it as next to that 

 best of all honeys. 



Other plants and trees furnish some honey, but the royal 

 palm is of the most value, I thinlc ; not because it gives any 

 surplus honey, but because it yields every day in the year, 

 and seems to be the only sourceof honey from May to Septem- 

 ber. Many colonies, unless fed, will starve to death during 

 the summer, and many more would but for this tree. 



Large apiaries have been the rule in Cuba, all movable- 

 comb apiaries I icnow of having 300 to 600 colonies in one 

 locality. I think this is a mistalie, but I had no chance to 

 learn whether smaller apiaries would be better. 



I think it will readily be seen from what I have written 

 that the main points one needs to look well to, when deciding 

 on a location in those islands, are: 



1st. A locality with plenty of aguinaldo and royal palms. 



2nd. Nearness to a port from which honey can be shipt 

 to a market. 



3rd. Very close proximity to a railroad or a good ma- 

 cadamized road leading to a port. 



While there are other desirable conditions that should be 

 secured in a location if possible, these three I have given are 

 the most important. 



My personal experience was in the country a few miles 

 west of Havana, but, as well as I can learn, conditions are 

 very similar in the other parts of Cuba, and also in Porto Rico. 



I have not attempted to go into details of bee-keeping in 

 Cuba, as it would be useless to attempt it in a paper like this. 

 Many of the details it would be well for any one who expects 

 to go there to know, can be found in an article commencing 

 on page 539 of Gleanings for 1889. O. 0. Poppleton. 



H. Lathrop (Wis.) — Mr. Poppleton says nothing about 

 foul brood, of which I understand there is a great deal in 

 Cuba. 



F. Danzenbaker (D. C.) — A great drawback to bee-keep- 

 ing in Cuba, to one not accustomed to a residence there, is tlie 

 large number of mosquitoes, they being so numerous at times 

 as to literally cover the sides of houses. 



Dr. C. C. Miller (111.) spoke of the duties on honey and the 

 price of It, and thought if the duty was removed entirely, 

 altho much more honey would be sent to the United States, it 

 would pot make more than half a cent a pound in the price of 

 our honey, but thought it not likely that the duty would be 

 removed. 



E. Whitcomb (Nebr.) thought it would not take much 

 patriotism to receive what honey might be sent from Cuba, 

 and doubted if it would affect the price of our honey at all. 

 Climate has much to do with the flavor of honey ; a warm 

 climate producing that of inferior quality, and a colder climate 

 producing honey of a much better flavor. 



L. D. Stllson (Nebr.) — A soldier with the army in Cuba 

 recently told me that we had no reason to fear Cuban honey, 

 for it is much inferior to that produced in this country. 



E. R. Root (Ohio) — I like the flavor of alfalfa honey ; 

 Southern honey has a strong flavor which is liked by some. 



Mr. Stllson thought that perhaps the strong flavor of South- 

 ern honey comes from honey-dew. 



A. I. Root (Ohio) — I have sampled honey, and did not find 

 it insipid, but stroug. Some Cuban honey I like. Some 

 Southern honey has a peculiar flavor that I like. Most locali- 

 ties yield both good and poor honey. 



Mr. Danzenbaker — Children like strong-flavored honey, 

 but older people usually like the light colored honeys the best. 

 I have sold a great deal of honey in Washington that came 

 from North Carolina and Virginia, and It was as white and 

 good as any honey. 



Joshua Terry (Utah) — We don't find alfalfa honey insipid 

 as some seem to think it is. We think it is good, and prefer 

 it to any other kind of honey. 



J. S. Scott (Utah) — My chief experience with bees has 

 been in Utah, where there is an abundance of alfalfa. We 

 do not think the honey is either insipid or strong. Sweet 

 clover blooms at the same time that many other honey-plants 

 bloom, so we don't get any distinctive sweet clover honey. I 

 like the sweet clover flavor, and all in our region prefer it to 

 alfalfa. 



Dr. A. B. Mason (Ohio) — Last season I had about 1,500 

 pounds of extracted sweet clover honey. It was not extracted 

 until the comb? were well sealed. It weighed only llj-a 

 pounds to the gallon, and I didn't call it first-class honey altho 

 it was even whiter than white clover honey. Having a few 

 hundred pounds of it left over to this season, and being can- 

 died, I melted It in a sun wax-extractor. Its flavor was much 

 improved by the process, and the weight was increast to 12 

 pounds to the gallon. I used to think with Mr. Muth, that 



extracted honey could be ripened in cans so as to be of as good 

 quality as if ripened on the hive, but I quit that belief some 

 time ago, but with this season's experience I am led to believe 

 that it can be ripened, and its flavor improved by giving it a 

 good heating in a solar extractor. 



Dr. H. L. Miller (Nebr.) — I have on hand now perhaps 

 1,500 pounds of extracted sweet clover honey. It was green 

 when extracted. I thought it was ready for extracting, but it 

 was green, and I would not ofler it to my customers. I have 

 put the most of that through the sun wax-extractor this sum- 

 mer, and it is nice. I know it is sweet clover honey, for I 

 could smell it through the side of the hive, as you can bass- 

 wood honey. It has a peculiar, disagreeable smell. I think 

 Mr. Root is probably right when he says it was not ripe. I 

 put it through the sun wax-extractor, as I say, and it weighs 

 about 12J2 pounds to the gallon; it would weigh only about 

 llj^ pounds to the gallon before. 



HONEY SAMPLES AND QCESTI0N8. 



Mr. Stllson — If it is the wish of this convention I think it 

 would be advisable to have samples of the various kinds of 

 honey placed on our table for discussion. I do not think it 

 would be a very ereat trouble to get it. Some of us are con- 

 nected with the Exposition here, and we can get samples of 

 everything. 



Dr. C. C. Miller — I move that it be exprest as the wish of 

 this convention that we have samples of as many kinds of 

 honey as possible placed upon our table for examination and 

 discussion. 



The motion was seconded and carried, and Mr. Stllson 

 was appointed by the President as a committee of one to 

 secure such samples. 



Dr. Mason — In regard to the work of the convention on 

 questions, I move that a committee be appointed to whom all 

 questions shall be referred, and that they select some one per- 

 son to answer each question. 



The motion was carried, and the committee appoined 

 later on consisted of Dr. Mason, Ernest R. Root and Harry 

 Lathrop. 



DISCUSSION ON HONEY CONTINUED. 



A. I. Root — When I was In Salt Lake City I tasted sam- 

 ples of sweet clover honey, and I think I publisht in my re- 

 port that it was equal in looks and flavor to any honey in the 

 world. If they have some of that sweet clover comb honey 

 here to-day I predict that the majority will agree with me 

 that it is equal to any honey. The taste and smell will decide 

 whether It Is sweet clover honey or not. The taste is very 

 much like chewing the dried plant, or chewing the seeds, and 

 when taken out Is apt to be so rank as to be offensive. Bass- 

 wood and sweet clover honey is disagreeable when it is taken 

 out, but after it has been thoroughly ripened most people 

 think it very good. It Is the same with sweet clover as with 

 almost any other kind of honey. Well ripened honey, both 

 sweet clover and alfalfa, I should say was equal to any white 

 clover honey. 



Dr. Mason — I have taken but little comb honey this year. 

 One of our boys Is a splendid judge of honey — eats it at every 

 meal. I took some sweet clover honey this year, but it is mixt 

 with honey-dew and looks dark, and when I offered him some 

 in sections he didn't want It, but I told him to taste It. He 

 did so, and then said I could give him all of that I had a mind 

 to. It was just discolored with honey-dew. It was thoroughly 

 ripened and really rich. 



Mr. Danzenbaker — In the city of Washington, where I 

 sell honey, I have a chance to notice the tastes of different 

 people from different parts of the country. A person will 

 come from the State of New York and ask If I have any 

 buckwheat honey ; if from Virginia, he wants blue thistle ; if 

 from Ohio, white clover. It seems they like the kind of 

 honey they had when they were children at home, as the Ger- 

 man likes his sauer-kraut and his beer. I have been up to 

 New York and found that they could sell buckwheat honey to 

 a good many people. Where we live buckwheat doesn't pro- 

 duce any honey. I have kept bees a good many years, and I 

 could not say that 1 ever saw any buckwheat honey that they 

 put into the sections. Other things bloom at the same time 

 and yield honey, but the buckwheat produces no honey. We 

 could smell it sometimes outside the hives, but we could not 

 find it inside. I don't like it at all, but New York people all 

 relish it. I think sometimes it is a good thing that the people 

 have a relish for the thing that grows where they live, and 

 where they are brought up. This matter of taste for a par- 

 ticular honey depends a great deal upon whether they had it 

 from childhood or not. 



Mr. Cameron — I offered some honey to a person last fall, 

 and he couldn't eat it ; said It made him sick. That has sug- 

 gested to me a question : Is it the honey that makes people 



