PORTO RICO PROGRESS. 60 
Bees in Porto Rico. 
Por W. V/ Tower, Entomdlogo de la Estacién Experimental de Puerto Rico. 
R. Filippi was probably the first’ per- 
son to import bees to Porto Rico. 
SMG He brought the bees to Mayagiiez 
and put them on an estate called 
“Juanita,” in Las Marias district. 
These hives were destroyed during the 
hurricane of 1899, but I am told by the people 
living in the Las Marias district that they 
often find colonies of wild bees in caves and 
hollow trees that show some of the Italian 
markings. Probably these swarms originated 
from those which escaped during the hurri- 
cane. 
Previous to 1908 there were a few bee- 
keepers on the Island. Some used modern 
hives, while others kept their bees in boxes 
and barrels. Since that time there has been 
a noted interest shown in bee-keeping. Dur- 
ing the past two years the Mayagiiez Station 
has supplied about 50 different parties with 
bees, and a very large percentage of the bee- 
keepers are increasing their stock, with the 
idea of establishing commercial apiaries. 
Since taking up this work I have always 
been on the lookout for bee-plants, and it 
seems to me that Porto Rico is well supplied 
with honey-plants, and I doubt if there are 
many localities where bees would not pay. 
There are certain districts on the Islani 
which I consider especially fine pasturage— 
they are the foot-hills in range of the coffee 
districts. In Mayagiiez, for example, the 
coffee plantations come down within a mile 
of the sea. Thus an apiary located near the 
outer edge of the coffee belt would have two 
different floras to work upon, i. e., the fiowers 
of the pastures, such as small trees, shrubs 
and ground flowers, also the coffee and its 
shade. Coffee shade produces more honey 
than does the coffee itself. There are a great 
number of shade trees used in coffee which 
produce nectar. In the lowlands guama is 
used almost entirely, while in the interior, 
+ 
A UIZAS fué Mr. Filippi la primera 
persona que introdujo abejas en 
ee Puerto Rico. Las trajo 4 Mayagitez 
4 una finca llamada “Juanita” en el distrito 
de las Marias. 
Estas colmenas quedaron destruidas du- 
rante el huracdn de 1899; pero me aseguran 
algunos vecinos de las Marias que 4 menudo 
encuentran colonias le abejas silvestres en 
cuevas y huecos de Arboles ofrecien lo carac- 
teres indicadores de su origen italiano. Pro- 
bablemente estos enjambres proceden de los 
que se escaparon durante el huracan. 
Antes del afio 1908 eran pocas las perso- 
nas que se dedicaban en esta Isla 4 la crian- 
za de abejas. Algunas usaban colmenas mo- 
dernas, otras tenian sus abejas en cajas y ba- 
rriles. A partir de esa época ha ido aumen- 
tando el interés en la crianza de abejas. Du- 
rante los dos afios que acaban de transcurrir, 
la estacién de Mayagitez ha enviado abejas 4 
unas cincuenta personas, y un regular tanto 
por ciento de apicultores estén aumentando 
sus existencias con la idea de establecer 
apiarios comerciales. 
Desde que me encargué de esta obra, he 
estado siempre en busca de plantas apropia- 
das para abejas, y soy de opiniédn que Puerto 
Rico tiene gran cantidad de plantas melife- 
ras, y dudo que exista una localidad en donde 
las abejas no resulten un buen negocio, Con- 
sidero ciertos distritos de la isla como espe- 
cialmente recomendables por su abundania 
de plantas apropiadas; tales son las faldas 
de los cerros, en los sitios destinados al cul- 
tivo del café. Por ejemplo, en Mayagiiez 
los plantios de café van en linea descendiente 
hasta una milla de distancia del mar. Asi 
pues, un apiario colocado cerca del extremo 
exterior de la zona cafetera, podria gozar de 
los beneficios de dos floras, 4 saber las flores 
de la zona de los pastos, como las de los ar- 
_bolillos, arbustos y flores de las matas que 
H 
