THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



331 



The tree itself is one of the most hand- 

 some products of nature. It also has a 

 a property not so common in beautiful 

 thinj^s, that of being one of the most use- 

 ful of trees. 



THE ROVAI. P.\LM OK CUB.\. 



It is used here for almost everything. 

 From its trunk they make the sides and 

 frames of the houses; while the leaves 

 furnish material for the roofs. In fact, 

 there are many houses here made entire- 

 ly of the palm, for they even use cords 

 made of the base of the leaves, in place 

 of nails, to fasten the parts together. 

 The wood is so hard that a nail can not 

 be driven into it. The thick stems of 

 the leaves make good fuel. The pig, too, 

 conies in for a share of the benefit; for he 

 is fed mainly upon the palm fruit. This 

 fruit is a berry about like a small cherry, 

 mostly pit, and is borne in great abun- 

 dance. The palm is a slow growing tree; 

 and is very long lived. In the picture 

 you ^^•ill see a cluster of ripe fruit and a 



great bunch of flowers. These are borne 

 at the base of the leaves; or, rather, 

 at the base of the long sheath by 

 which the leaves are fastened to the 

 trunk. It is from this sheath that very 

 stout ropes are made. The tree in the 

 foreground is only about fifty feet tall; 

 many are much higher. 



To get the leaves for thatches, and the 

 fruit to feed the stock, the Cubans climb 

 the tree and cut them ofT; using a rope 

 harness to get up by. 



The buds are in large, tough pods which 

 enclose a large bunch of flowers. These 

 buds open with a sharp cracking noise, 

 and drop oflF, exposing the spray of 

 flowers, which is three or four feet long 

 and has hundreds of small blossoms, al- 

 read}' in full bloom. The tree has no 

 regular time of flowering, but seems to 

 open at random. There are usually about 

 four different ages of fruit on the tree at 

 a time. 



The palm yields honey in the morning 

 only; but yields equally well all times of 

 the year. 



It is not usual to get any surplus from 

 palm; although, once in a while, a strong 

 colony will store a little. I have one or 

 two that are storing perhaps a pound a 

 day; but generally they get rather less 

 from this source than they need to keep 

 in good shape. Still, it is a very valuable 

 honey plant for it yields during the sum- 

 mer when there is no other honey. In 

 some few locations, where there are very 

 many palms, it may even give a small 

 amount of honey for the market; but the 

 honey is not very good. It is a light 

 amber, very thin, and has a strong flavor 

 which I do not like. There are many 

 places where there are not enough palms 

 to give any honey; in fact, good honey 

 locations are not much more plentiful 

 here than they are in the States. 



In regard to Taylor's remarks concern- 

 ing foul brood, I would refer him to 

 Stearnburg's Manual of Bacteriology, or 

 any other standard work, where he will 

 find that the thermal death point of near- 



