1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



297 



vised, and has recommended for years 

 past. It is very much cheaper than any 

 other extractor; It is light to handle, and 

 ever so much easier to carry around in a 

 wagon to out-apiaries; and I have kept say- 

 ing for 3'ears that one who is an expert 

 with that old Novice L. frame extractor 

 could get out more honey in proportion to 

 the help emploj-ed than with any of the big 

 ones. Mr. Somerford told me that he has 

 for some time wanted to express his ap- 

 proval of the improved Novice extractor re- 

 centlj' purchased. He says it works ever 

 so much easier than his. old one, and yet 

 the price was only S8.50. 



When I wrote up my visit of two days to 

 Giiines I did not mention two apiaries I 

 visited. One of them belongs to Mr. de 

 Beche. It is about half way between Ha- 

 vana and Giiines. I hooe my good friend 

 Mr. de Beche will excuse me if I say there 

 is not very much " stj'le " about this apia- 

 rj' that is managed by a young Cuban who 

 does not talk English. He does pretty 

 much all the work himself, and manages to 

 " round up " at the end of the year with a 

 very good profit indeed, on the credit side 

 of the books. Mr. de Beche told me that I 

 would find many things to criticise; but he 

 added that, so long as the apiary j'ielded 

 him good returns — a much better per cent 

 than some where high-priced Americans 

 kept every thing in "good order" — he 

 thought I ought to be a little bit easy in my 

 criticisms. B3' the way, it behooves all of 

 us northern people to go slow about finding 

 fault with the way people do things in oth- 

 er climates. This young Cuban, for in- 

 stance, will take out not only frames of hon- 

 ey, but filled sections from hives, and close 

 the hive up without putting any thing in its 

 place. At his next visit there are, of course, 

 pieces of beautiful snowy-white comb at- 

 tached to the cover right above where the 



section was left out. The boy tears off 

 these pieces of comb and throws them in a 

 heap in the honey-house, and he had a 

 pretty good-sized heap when I was there. 

 The owner replies, " What does this matter 

 when one gets a greater yield of wax than 

 from almost any other apiary, and 1 lb. of 

 wax is worth about 16 times as much as 1 

 lb. of honey?" " By their fruits ye shall 

 know them." 



Another thing, this boy, when he was in 

 a great hurry, did not bother to smoke the 

 bees out of the way or smoke them off when 

 he shut the cover down. The consequence 

 was, the bees began to sting before I got 

 through the gate leading to the 

 apiary; but on the other hand, 

 as before, he gets more honey 

 in proportion to the pay he re- 

 ceives than almost any other 

 apiarist. I wonder if he has 

 not run across the "Lightning 

 Operator," Harry Howe, and 

 got some hints,|that enable him 

 to get through with the work in 

 an apiary expeditiously. 



When near the town of 

 Giiines I visited another api- 

 ary, also managed by Cubans, 

 and, I believe, quite success- 

 fully. It belongs to Dr. Tor- 

 ibio del Viller, of Giiines. 

 My friend Senti took me to the 

 doctor's home and introduced 

 me. When the doctor arose 

 from his seat he said smilingly 

 in substance, "Why, my dear 

 Mr. Root, it affords me very 

 great pleasure to look into your 

 face and take you by the hand. 

 Not only do I owe to you all I 

 know about bee-keeping and all I have ac- 

 complished on that line, but, my dear sir, 

 I am actually indebted to you for the fact 

 that I know enough of the English lan- 

 guage to speak, read, and write it, at least 

 to some extent." 



The doctor then explained that, some 

 years ago, he became very much interested 

 in bees. Knowing no language but the 

 Spanish, he procured all the bee-books in 

 that tongue; but they were so very unsatis- 

 factory, and so much behind the times, as 

 he found out by seeing the work of a few 

 American bee-keepers who had just located 

 near there, that he bought the ABC book, 

 even though he could not read it. Of course, 

 he could look at the pictures, and with the 

 help of an interpreter he got hold of enough 

 to make him really thirsty for more; and 

 he actually learned English in order that 

 he might read the ABC book; and, of 

 course, he was delighted to find what a new 

 world was opened to him in the line of oth- 

 er literature when he could read English. 



Now, friends, if you are still interested 

 in what I have been telling j'ou about the 

 apiaries of Cuba' and their managers, it 

 will pay you to read again what Rambler 

 wrote last year. 



