they multiplied in the hollows of the old trees, that there was soon sufficient wax for the annual consumption. In 1777, fourteen years from their introduction, 715,000 lbs. weight of wax were exported from the Havannah, of a quality equal to the wax of Venice. Including the contraband, Cuba exported in 1803, 42,670 arobas of wax, equal to more than 1900 tons. The price was then from twenty to twenty-one piastres per aroba; but the average price in time of peace is only fifteen piastres, or £3, 2s. 6d. sterling. A small part of this wax is produced by the wild bees of the genus Trigones, which occupy the trunks of the Cedrela odorata; but the principal part is the produce of the common honey-bee,[1] originally imported from the old world to America—extended to the Southern States, and finally transferred to Cuba by the settlers from Florida.[2]
In Jamaica, bees are cultivated to some extent,
- ↑ Edinburgh Encyclop. article Cuba.
- ↑ M. Feburier states, in a note, that M. Michaux, a French botanist, had been informed by the natives of Florida, that bees formerly abounded in that province; but that in one year they had almost all emigrated to Cuba, which is distant twenty-five leagues. Upon this, M. Feburier remarks:—"As that island is covered with orange and lemon trees, the fragrance of the blossoms must have been wafted to Florida, and have attracted the bees; a strong evidence of the acuteness of their sense of smell." We should say, that their strength of wing must have equalled their sense of smell. But the truth is, M. Michaux had been misinformed; for it is a well known fact, that, as we have already stated, when the British obtained possession of Florida, at the peace in 1763, many of the settlers removed to Cuba, and carried their bees along with them.
