THECUBAREVIEW 23 



found in great quantities during January and February. Tliis flower yields a fine 

 truly yellow honey, which is greatly appreciated in our market. Related to this 

 plant is found practically throughout Cuba, but more especially in the more fertile 

 lands, the "romerillo chico" or white romerillo, producing small daisy-like flowers 

 with a yellow center, which yield a greater or less quantity of honey, the quantity 

 depending largely upon the moisture content of the soil. This shrub also is excellent 

 as pasture for stock which eat it readily. 



In addition to the above, the "coralillo bianco," a vine producing large, beautiful 

 festoons of grayish white blossoms, is found throughout the Island, and furnishes a 

 source of considerable honey. Also the "coralillo rosado," cultivated quite largely 

 in many of our gardens and found in some localities in a wild state, blooming, as 

 (Joes also the bianco, throughout the year, is greatly appreciated by the bees and is 

 the source of quite a little of their sweet product. 



As we have indicated, the plants mentioned above are the sources of our main 

 honey supply. This especially applies to the first three mentioned, but in addition 

 to these there are a vast number of plants and trees which, blossoming during a 

 period of no general or heavy flow, add to the honey production of the Island to a 

 very considerable extent and aid in carrying the bees over from the period of one 

 general flow to that of the next. Also there are local sources of a very rapid and 

 desirable flow. For instance, the writer's experience in Camagiiey Province where 

 his apiary was located at the foot of a forest extending for leagues shows how 

 desirable it is that the honey producer in locating his apiaries examine closely into 

 local conditions. Among the trees in this forest there was a variety called "juba," 

 growing to great size and making up quite a considerable percentage of the number 

 of trees in the forest. These trees in late winter and early spring put forth count- 

 less myriads of small white blossoms, so many in fact, that when they began to fall 

 the ground beneath them was covered with a soft carpet as often occurs in our 

 apple orchards of the North, and these l)lossoms proved to be a source of a Avonder- 

 ful flow of honey, so that during this period the bees in this locality were working to 

 their utmost. The honey was light amber in color, fine in body and of an exquisite 

 flavor. The blossoms were followed about two months later by a small red fruit 

 about the size of ^. inedium sized olive that was greatly appreciated as food by 

 the thousands of large white-headed wood pigeons, which made their appearance 

 for nesting purposes in these forests about June, evidently attracted by the great 

 abundance of this fruit and by, at that time, the isolation and vast extent of these 

 forests. 



As other instances of local growth affecting the production of a greater or less 

 quantity of honey can be mentioned the large coffee groves found in eastern Pinar 

 del Rio, the district around Trinidad, Santa Clara Province, and in the mountains 

 and hills of Oriente Province, as a certain quantity, not great, but still apprecial)le, 

 of honey is obtained during the blossoming period of these groves. The same can 

 be said with regard to the cacao plantations found in eastern Cuba, although the 

 smallness of area of these makes them relatively unimportant. In certain districts 

 of Cuba also the comparatively large areas now planted to citrus fruits offer to the 

 producer of special grades of honey advantageous situations in which to place his 

 hives. Just as in Florida the production of orange blossom honey is becoming more 

 and more a factor, so also certain locations in Cuba, as for instance Ceballos, Cama- 

 giiey Province, Victoria de las Tunas in Oriente Province, and the Grey Bros.' grove 

 near Rancho Boyeros, Havana Province, offer themselves where, at the period of 

 blossoming, apiaries could be established to take advantage of the honeys always 

 .produced by these fragrant blossoms. 



Cuba's fruit trees usually blossom beginning in December and continuing pretty 

 regularly throughout the spring into April and May. Almost all of these furnish the 

 bees with fields from which to obtain their product. The aguacate or alligator pear, 



