250 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



With the exception of the pineapple, most 

 of the new and strang-e Cuban fruits are too 

 swpet for me. I did not see much of Mr. 

 Howe's apiaries, but he was exceedingly 

 kind in going- about with me to visit other 

 bee-keepers whom I could not well have 

 found without his assistance. Mr. Glenn 

 Moe, one of the leading and most successful 

 bee- men, has his home in Candelaria. He 

 has three apiaries, comprising nearly or 

 quite IflOO colonies. 



During the summer some kind of shade is 

 needed, as most bee-keepers agree. Mr. 

 Moe has secured this in one apiary, by 

 planting- bananas. These g-row up in one 

 season, and require but little care, but thcN' 

 give shade in the coldest months, when 

 shade is not needed. I presume this does 

 not matter very much unless one wants to 

 build up weak colonies in the winter time. 

 To do this, no doubt a clear exposure to the 

 sun would be better, say in December and 

 January, Mr. Moe has also some fine look- 

 ing pineapples in one of his apiaries. 

 Leaky barrels are a great trouble, and 

 sometimes a h'lg e.vpefise, in Cuba; but I 

 believe the barrel-makers are getting- the 

 trade now so they can stop most of it. The 

 material is shipped here from the North, 

 and the barrels are set up here by Cuban 

 coopers. Mr. Moe and his boj's were hav- 

 ing some trouble with barrels at one of his 

 places when I was there. They do not 

 seem to think it necessary to g© to the ex- 

 pense of using- paraffine, as described in the 

 ABC. If the hoops are heav}' enough to 

 bear very heavy driving when the barrels 

 are hot and dry, before filling, and then 

 heavy driving a/^er the honey is in, they 

 seldom leak much. No matter how well the 

 barrel is seasoned before filling, the honey 

 will take out moisture from the wood so the 

 hoops can be driven considerably after fill- 

 ing. 



Mr. Moe wanted to " show " me some of 

 his nice queens before I went away. I re- 

 plied I cared more for what a queen could 

 do than what she looked like. He answer- 

 ed: 



"That is it, exactly, Mr. Root," and 

 then he showed me a hive three stories high, 

 and not only boiling over with bees, but with . 

 brood in all three stories; and then he told 

 me they had gathered something- like 30 

 gallons of hone}' (if I am correct), and were 

 still at it. I think he has decided to rear 

 queens from such colonies, without regard 

 to looks of either queen or bees. I believe 

 Dr. Miller has been doing somewhat the 

 same. Now, if we can have all this, and 

 at the same time get ge^itle bees, what do 

 we care for color? Mr. Wardell tells me 

 that, notwithstanding all that has been 

 written on this subject, the average custom- 

 er will make a fuss if he pays for an ex- 

 tra queen, and she isn't large and yellow 

 all over. If these people would come down 

 here and try to raise honey for two cents a 

 pound, they might decide dift'erently after 

 a while. 



Mr. Powers, who has charge of the Cogg- 



shall apiaries between Mr. Moe and Mr.- 

 Howe, has only got started in Cuba, but he 

 is getting things in very good shape. 



Mr. Young, two miles and a half from 

 Taco-Taco (Rambler's home), has only 

 commenced; but he is quite enthusiastic, 

 and has all his arrangements in very good 

 shape. He purchased 25 nuclei in October, 

 and built them up so as to take 1300 lbs. of 

 hone.y from them before Jan. 1. He has ta- 

 ken considerable since, but I do not know 

 how much. 



I shall speak of Rambler's apiary further 

 on, and also of the bees near Matanzas and 

 some others. 



I came pretty near passing bj' friend 

 Hochstein, because, at the time I was near- 

 est his place, the unusual rains in January 

 had made it next to impossible to get from 

 the calzada to his place, nine miles off to- 

 ward the mountains. The worst part of it 

 is, that no one could ever find his way 

 amid the many branching footpaths, or, as 

 we would call them in California, " trails," 

 without a guide. After quite a spell with- 

 out rain, along in February, Mr. Howe 

 said we could get over there, and ver}' kind- 

 ly offered to go with me. I left my good 

 friends the Frazers at Guana jay about da}'- 

 light, and made the nine miles to Mr. 

 Howe's in about at hour. Then we rode 

 about two miles on the calzada ; and two 

 miles more across the lots over a pretty 

 rough foad brought us to Punta Brava, Mr. 

 H. 's nearest railroad station. 



There are several things to be encounter- 

 ed in getting to the foot of a mountain in 

 Cuba or any other land. One is that an 

 optical illusion persuades j'ou that, just a 

 little ahead, you will get to where it is 

 downhill. But the " downhill " never comes. 

 It looks down, but your wheel seems stub- 

 born and contrarj'. When you turn around 

 and try riding the other way, however, the 

 wheel is all right, and goes very easilj'. 

 Another thing is. that where there are few 

 residents, gates or bars are used to keep in 

 the stock. An open road would require a 

 fenced road on both sides. To avoid this, 

 gates or bars must be opened or let down 

 whenever you cross on to another man's 

 premises. When friend Hochstein hauls 

 his hone}' to the station he has to go through 

 seven different gates or bars. When I 

 reached his place I was pretty tired; but 

 the sight of his good wife and bright and 

 enterprising family made me soon forg-et it. 

 Friend H. has not only toward 500 colo- 

 nies of bees (in one spot) all or nearly all 

 in two-story hives, but he has turkeys, 

 chickens, guinea fowls, ducks, pigs, and 

 cattle. The poultry is nearly all in charge 

 of a bright young lady they call Miss Em- 

 ma. She has now about 200 \oung turkeys 

 (40 old ones), and about as many chickens, 

 besides other fowls. These all have to be 

 driven into their respective coops and shut 

 up every night, or they will be lost. To- 

 ward night it was my pleasure to see how 

 it was done. Some of them had to be caught 

 and carried back repeatedly. The chick- 



