1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



249 



NOTES OF TRAVtl, 



I BY A. I. ROOT . 



;;^^??^^ 



OUR OWN APIARY IN CUBA; THE GERMAN 

 WAX-PRESS, ETC. 



After we had been runuinji: the solar wax- 

 extractor several da3S with cappin<;-s there 

 was quite an accumulation of " slumg-um " 

 — so much, in fact, that it was a hindrziuce 

 to the melted wax j:;-etting- throug-h into the 

 wax-pans below. I spread out this slum- 

 g-um and let the sun work on it one day, 

 au'l it seemed so free from either wax or 

 honey I could hardly believe it of much 

 value. As I wanted to test the wax-press, 

 however, I decided to see how much wax I 

 could g-et out of it. Robbers are very bad 

 about the solar machine, even if it is opened 

 only a minute in the middle of the day. I 

 suppose it is because the hot air from the 

 melted hone}' and wax draws them by the 

 odor, just as the burnings wax does when we 

 are bee-huntingf. On this account we usu- 

 allj' ofien the machine either very early in 

 the morning- or after sundown, when the 

 bees have stopped flying-. Accordingly we 

 scraped out the slumg-um just at nig-ht, 

 while it was yet hot; and then to get the 

 wax-press at work quickly 'we filled the 

 lower part with boiling- water. Then we 

 set it over a little fire outdoors. The ma- 

 chine has so much heavy metal about it I 

 told the boj's I feared it would be bedtime 

 before it all g'-ot hot enough to press out every 

 bit of wax. To mj' pleasant surprise, how- 

 ever wax was coming- from the machine in 

 about 15 minutes, and it ran quite a stream 

 for more than an hour. As several presses 

 had been broken b\' turning- too hard on the 

 screw, I was very careful; and after we 

 had secured much more wax than I expect- 

 ed to get, I decided we had g-ot out all of 

 any account, and let the fire g:o down. 

 When we started, the wire-cloth basket was 

 neiirly full, and I presume this was rather 

 too much for one "dose," as I discovered 

 this morning- there was yellow wax all 

 throug'-h the remnant, and we are going- to 

 give it another " g-rind " to-night. I dis- 

 covered that, if }'ou turn down the screw all 

 j'ou think the machine will bear, in a few 

 more minutes of steaming- the screw will 

 turn down more quite easil}'. When you 

 h.'ive such a larjje dose in at once as we 

 did. it takes a g-ood deal of steaming- to 

 warm the mass clear through; and it is, 

 therefore, best to work only a small amount 

 at a time, as mentioned in the directions. I 

 was not onl}' surprised at the amount of 

 wax obtained, but also at the quality. It 

 seems to be almost as nice as that fiom the 

 solar extractor. The steam extractor spoils 

 anv hone}' that may be in the comb or cap- 

 pings, as the condensed steam dilutes it so 

 it would be of no use, unless to make vin- 

 eg-ar; but the solar extractor separates the 

 honey from the wax, and makes the honey 

 thicker; but v^here it runs down on the black 



iron bottom, the honey is of but little value 

 unless for feeding- bees. The taste is not 

 bad, yet few people would care to put such 

 dark honey on the table. It might do very 

 well for honey cakes or " honey ginger- 

 bread.''^ 



CUBAN APIARIES AND THE MEN WHO RUN 

 THEM. 



The apiaries west of Havana are either 

 close to the calzada, or pretty near to it, for 

 convenience of getting- to and from Havana, 

 and also to save expense in moving the hon- 

 e}'. I have been told there are better places 

 for bees than any that are now located, but 

 these points are so far from the railroads 

 and the hard stone government roads (cal- 

 zadas) that it would cost more than the hon- 

 ey is worth to get it to market. It has al- 

 ready been suggested that some one try 

 raising wax only, in these localities, and 

 Mr. de Beche has made some experiments 

 that lead him to think it may be made a 

 success. Has any one tried tearing off the 

 combs as fast as built (and before any hon- 

 ey is stored in them), and compelling the 

 bees to keep building more? Of course, 

 brood would have to have room so as to keep 

 up the population; but has any one suc- 

 ceeded in making bees work for wax only? 

 If there are times when they won't build 

 combs without feeding, feed back the hon- 

 ey that gets into the combs and has to be ex- 

 tracted. Wax is now worth here 35 cts., 

 spot cash, while honey scarcely nets the 

 bee-keeper who is away from the railroads 

 more than tivo cents a pound at the present 

 time. I know something about what it 

 costs to get the crop to market, for I rode on 

 an ox-cart, loaded with honey, five miles to 

 the station, and it took us two hours and a 

 half. This was during a dry time, when 

 the country roads were drj' and hard; but 

 during the rainy season, in some places it 

 would be just about impossible to get honey 

 or any thing else to the nearest station. 

 As a rule, however, the honey-flow is all 

 during the winter time, when no rains 

 come, and the ground is hard and firm. Mr. 

 Somerford's apiary is nearest Havana on 

 the west, and Mr. Harry Howe comes 

 next. He is described by Ernest while 

 • in York State as the " Lightning Opera- 

 tor." I did not see him at work with the 

 bees, for, to tell the truth, he, and / too for 

 that matter, were more taken up with his 

 six-months-old "girl baby" than with the 

 bees. Mr. H. has helped to cement the un- 

 ion between Cuba and America by taking 

 a Cuban lady for a wife. She is, however, 

 a native of the Canary Islands, and a very 

 bright little woman, although she does not 

 as yet speak much ?2nglish. The baby is 

 not only the prettiest I saw in Cuba, but 

 she has the sweetest name to me in all the 

 world. It is just "Susie." It is Mrs. 

 Root's name, and I have not seen her dear 

 old self since the day after Christmas. Mr. 

 Howe's home is in the ruins of an old stone 

 mansion, and there are the remains of won- 

 derful gardens of rare tropical fruits all 

 round it. 



