THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 377 



and Canada. These colonizers bought the land cheap, in large 

 tracts and sales of same, in many cases, were made in the north, 

 without the buyer ever having seen Cuba. This accounts for some 

 of the failures to make good. Other failures are due to location 

 and land that was picked for colonization. This may sound like 

 lots of failures, and there have been many come here who have 

 never broken even, but in no single instance do I know where Cuba 

 should be held responsible for the failure. This explains why many- 

 bad reports about beekeeping in Cuba have come from settlers 

 who have picked poor locations for bees, and their reports, given 

 without reference to any particular location, give a general impres- 

 sion that is as unjust as it is untrue. 



Cuba has the land in quantities, as good as there is under 

 the sun and still cheap. Soil that is virgin and as rich and deep as 

 one could wish for. Likewise it would be hard to plan a market 

 with as many easy, and cheap avenues to all the world's markets. 

 The climate of Cuba simply can not be equalled, never too hot and 

 never to cold. The temperature will range on an average from 50 

 to 90 Fahrenheit. There is very little sickness, especially around 

 Holguin, which has gone down in history as the healthiest place 

 on the island. There are I believe no poisonous reptiles or insects 

 here. As yet there are but few flies and mosquitoes, so few that 

 the most of our houses have neither screen doors nor windows. 

 (Mine has no doors or windows of any kind, just the openings where 

 they should be.) There are however, my friends, places in Cuba 

 where you would find it most unhealthy and alive with insects and 

 other pests to annoy and torture you. The man who locates in 

 such places in my belief has no more kick coming than the one who 

 plants a grove on Sabana land (Sabana land is level and without 

 much growth of timber or drainage and is very poor shallow soil, 

 this was sold for fruit groves, in some cases, because of its being 

 cleared and ready for the plow, which it was pointed out was a 

 great saving in both time and labor.) One can live in Cuba better 

 and for much less than it would cost in the United States, I mean, 

 by better, that the native kind and way of preparing the foods is 

 better for you than our northern style. Too much meat is not 

 good. Vegetables are cheap, likewise fruit of many kinds and 

 varieties, both cultivated and wild, some of which are always in 

 season. If one must live and eat like he has done at home in the 



north, he had better stay there. Likewise, if he cannot change 

 the whole island to his way of thinking and doing. There is just 

 one thing wrong with Cuba and that is, it's too easy to make a liv- 



