110 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



as I have described. Out under the eaves 

 he had several boxes of stingless bees. 

 These boxes are 8 inches square and 20 

 long-, made of ,''3 -inch boards. The honey 

 and pollen are stored in cells, or, rather, 

 bottles of wax, set upright with the top 

 open. These cells are large enough, some 

 of them, to hold, say, one or two tablespoon- 

 fuls of beautiful honey. They are about 

 the shape and size^of a pullet's egg, small 

 end up. When filled they are sealed over. 

 The brood-comb is a separate affair; and 

 as the bees are smaller than common ones, 

 the cells are smaller, and the comb is /!07-i- 

 zontal. Mr. G. was kind enough to make 

 us a present of a hive; and while I write, 

 (out of doors) they are carrying in the hon- 

 ey and pollen at a big rate, close \>y my 

 head. We have just opened their hive and 

 sampled their honey; but they made no ob- 

 jection of any sort. They keep the entrance 

 to their box contracted by propolis so only 

 one bee can get in or out at a time; and 

 woe betide the insect of any sort that pre- 

 sumes to come near the sentinel that always 

 guards this doorway day and night. Should 

 a robber Italian presume to come near, a 

 dozen dart for him with lightning rapidity 

 and fury. Although they can not sting, 

 1hey have very powerful jaws to bite. Now, 

 then, you who would like to keep bees, and 

 raise j'our own honey, but fear the stings, 

 here is jour chance. Of course, you will 

 have to come to Cuba, for I do not think 

 Ihev w-iU stand even Florida's cold weath- 

 er. ' How much honey can they gather? 

 Mrs. G. vaid they would give perhaps two 

 qujirts of honey per colony per season. 



Mr. Gutierrez has also the common black 

 lues, i.bout 25 hives; but they are mostly in 

 horizontal hollow palm logs open at each 

 end. Many of the hives are full of honey, 

 and beautiful white combs are hanging out 

 covered with bees and glistening with new 

 honey. I touched the beautiful comb with 

 my finger, and, remembering I knew 

 "white" in Spanish I said "bianco," 

 and the children who were showing me 

 around were delighted to find I wasn't al- 

 together deaf and dumb. If one wanted 

 < nly honey for his own table, I don't know 

 but that a couple of colonies in hollow logs, 

 in Cuba, might fill the bill pretty well. 

 When the bees are building comb out in the 

 open air it certainly looks very pretty. 

 Some of the hives were just a palm husk 

 (such as I told you about) rolled up, and 

 one hive was just a sheet-iron cylinder. It 

 seemed to make no difference to the bees. 



El Nuevo Testamento de Nuestro Senor y Salvador 

 Jes-u Cristo. 



Dear friends, I am very, very happy to- 

 night. I did not expect to be happy, and I 

 have not been happy, to tell the truth, even 

 in this land of perpetual summer, and so 

 this wave of peace and joy is a surprise to 

 me— yes, one of my " happy surprises." 



I told you some time ago that I felt God 

 wanted me in Cuba; and when I saw the 

 thousands who were growing up in igno- 



rance and darkness I thought I could see 

 why God wanted me ' in Cuba. The chil- 

 dren seemed glad to see me, and, for that 

 matter, the parents also have seemed glad 

 to see me; but what can I do, not knowing 

 their language, and, as my friends accuse 

 me, being too old to learn? Then I inquir- 

 ed if there were not books and papers for 

 the children and parents, such as we have 

 in such great abundance all over America. 

 But I was told there were none ; and on 

 looking about in the homes I have found 

 none. The children sometimes fiy to sing, 

 but not one of them has ever heard a Gos- 

 pel Hymn, and I fear they have never heard 

 of the gospel at all. I asked about mission- 

 aries to Cuba, but was told Cuba had none 

 and didn't ivant any. People told me if I 

 encouraged an acquaintance with the chil- 

 dren they would be all over us all the time, 

 and steal every thing. I remonstrated, and 

 was laughed at for my faith, as my dear 

 old mother was laughed at years ago for 

 her faith in humanity. Perhaps I should 

 explain that there was a little ground for 

 fearing the children. When these little 

 friends had learned to smile, and to shake 

 hands with me, although they could not 

 talk, they naturally came about our apiary, 

 and the little slates Mr. Wardell uses were 

 very attractive in their eyes, and I fear 

 some of them were thoughtlessly taken. 

 Now, the value of a slate is a trifle com- 

 pared to losing our record in rearing- high- 

 priced queens. We could not explain the 

 harm thej^ did, for we could not talk to 

 them. I finally, however, took a little slate 

 to the schoolteachers and asked them to ex- 

 plain to all the pupils the trouble it must 

 make if they even picked up a slate, and I 

 think there has been no meddling since. Of 

 course, I made inquiries of every one I met 

 in regard to what had been and was being 

 done to teach the children, but got little en- 

 couragement. All seemed to decide they 

 were "no good;" "education would make 

 them more tricky and dishonest." etc/ A 

 learned man, and a prominent physician, 

 in Havana, a man who uses neither coffee, 

 tea, tobacco, nor stimulants, a man of means 

 and of high position, said in substance: 



"Mr. Root, if YOU should go on as you 

 propose, for about four generations, you 

 might get a child here and there who would 

 tell the truth, and then j'ou might make 

 Christians of souie of them." 



I groaned in spirit while I tried to ex- 

 plain to him that our way was to labor first 

 to bring them to " Jesu Cristo," and then 

 telling the truth would take care of it- 

 self. 



Mr. Hilbert (the strawberry and chicken 

 man of Michigan), when he landed here 

 was much inclined to be severe on the Cu- 

 bans; and, dear friends, I presume I could 

 fill our journal with complaints of them; 

 but God forbid that I should waste my time 

 in dwelling on or telling of the sins of any 

 people. We are all responsible, more or 

 less, for all that is wrong. Well, Mr. Hil- 

 bert and the rest laughed at my faith; but 



