April 28, l')04. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



309 



[ Convention Proceedings j 



Report of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Convention 

 Held in Trenton, Dec. 1, 2, and 3, 1903. 



BY MORLEY PETTIT. 



(Contiuued from pa^e 2'>4.) 



REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF APIARIES. 



During 1903 I visited beeyards in the counties of Huron, 

 Middlesex, Perth, Brant, Peel, York, Ontario, Siracoe, Nor- 

 folk, Haldimand, Victoria, Lanark, Leeds and Russell. I 

 inspected 96 apiaries, and found foul brood in 28 of them, 

 and dead brood of other kinds in many others, which had 

 been mistaken foul brood. Some of the dead brood was the 

 result of spraying- fruit-trees while in bloom, and in other 

 places I found it to be starved brood, and not foul brood at 

 all. I received orders to go to certain localities as soon as 

 possible, where some men claimed that they had located 

 several cases of foul brood. When I got there I found that 

 the big losses in bees were the result of starvation. After 

 that I received orders to go to other localities where several 

 apiaries were said to be very bad with foul brood, and when 

 I got there and examined every colony I found them com- 

 pletely cured, and not a trace of the disease left. 



No Province or State in the world was in as bad a con- 

 dition with foul brood as Ontario was when I was first made 

 apiary inspector of the Province, 13 years ago last spring. 

 It took time to get the people taught so that they could cure 

 all diseased apiaries by my methods of treatment from May 

 to October, and at the finish to have every colony in first- 

 class condition since that time. It is over 28 years since I 

 discovered how to cure any foul-broody apiary from May to 

 October. If I had been able to cure only during the honey 

 season I never would have accomplished much, or have 

 been of much use to the Province if I had not been able to 

 finish up the curing with my fall treatment, where the mis- 

 takes were made. 



I have driven over 90 percent of the disease out of the 

 Province since 1890, and if the bee-keepers had sent me in a 

 list of the diseased apiaries like they used to do, so as to 

 give me a chance to know where the disease was, and then 

 helped like they should have done, by this time I would 

 have had the disease all out, or nearly so. 



No man in Ontario knows the true condition of things 

 as well as I do, and I positively declare that Ontario has not 

 one-tenth of the diseased apiaries now that she had ten 

 years ago. The disease is now completely under control, 

 and all that any person has to do is to send in a list of the 

 diseased apiaries, and have them cured, and cured in the 

 most profitable way, at that. Wm. McEvoy. 



J. C. Morrison — Mr. McEvoy has done a great deal for 

 bee-keepers of Ontario, and personally I have been in the 

 past indebted to him for help in getting rid of the disease. 

 The McEvoy cure is Ihe cure, and McEvoy is the man for 

 inspector ; but when he tells us that foul brood is on the 

 decrease in Ontario, I think we are justified in criticising 

 the statement. He told us at Barrie, in 1902, that it was 

 stamped out except in the northern country. In the early 

 part of this year, in a letter to the press, he says that there 

 are a few diseased apiaries in the county of Norfolk, a few 

 in Simcoe, a few in Western Ontario, and some Down East. 

 Instead of only in the North, it is decreasing by spreading 

 east, west, and south. Foul brood on the decrease? So are 

 bee-keepers. Five years ago Mr. McEvoy cleaned the api- 

 ary of John Kidd ; this year foul brood cleaned him. Five 

 years ago he cleaned an apiary at Craighurst ; this year he 

 cleaned the same apiary by the firing method, and justly so. 

 This year, in our own county of Simcoe, we find it in Bee- 

 ton, Cookstown, Egbert, Alliston, Craighurst, and Jarrats 

 Corners. Look for a moment at the decrease as shown in 

 his reports. He visited in — 



1899 in 13 counties 126 apiaries of which 40 were foul. 



1900 '• 12 " 100 " " 30 



1901 " 12 " 77 " " 29 " 



1902 " 12 " 91 " '• 30 " 



1903 " 14 " 96 " " 28 " 



How long at this rate will it taVe to clein Ontario ! 



Mr. Holtermann stated that the report sent out by the 

 inspector during the past year was entirely incorrect. He 

 knew of the disease in north and south Norfolk ; it was very 

 bad there, many apiaries had robbed out. It was in Brant, 

 in Muskoka, Grey, York, Perth — something must be done. 

 The law required amendments, and it had not been upheld 

 by the officers of the Association. Bee-keepers did not 

 know any longer to whom to write. All was confusion. 

 Some were afraid to criticise McEvoy for fear of the harm 

 he could do them. No better man could be found for Mr. 

 McEvoy's position if he would act in an impartial, fair, and 

 thorough manner. 



The general feeling was that the duties of Foul Brood 

 Inspector of Ontario were too great for one man, even of 

 Mr. McEvoy's ability. The latter admitted that in some 

 things he had overstepped his authority. 



The following were appointed a committee to revise the 

 Foul Brood Act : Messrs. Wm. McEvoy, J. L. Byer, J. C. 

 Morrison, R. F. Holtermann and Jas. Armstrong. 



Messrs. McEvoy and Byer withdrew from the committee. 



ADDRESS HY I'ROH. C. C. JAMES. 



Prof. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, 

 delivered an address in the evening. He said he was very 

 pleased to be present at this convention of bee-men. It was 

 the wish of the Department to keep in close touch with all 

 that was being done by the various agricultural associa- 

 tions. He and Mr. Dryden had often remarked in looking 

 over the reports that the members of this Association ap- 

 peared to be living up to the business. The discussions 

 appeared to contain both the sting and the honey of the 

 bees. He was glad to see that the members, even in a 

 heated discussion, did not forget to act the gentleman. 



Your secretary, said Prof. James, has a letter from the 

 Minister of Agriculture, suggesting an exhibit similar to 

 the annual Guelph Live Stock Exhibition. This is the 

 greatest educational Fair held on the continent. We have 

 thought that a Fair might be inaugurated for fruit and 

 honey interests. We may have a Fruit Fair next year, 

 showing fruit and implements used in fruit-growing, etc. 

 Let the bee-keepers join in with it. It would be a fine 

 thing to have an exhibit of fruit, honey and flowers at 

 Toronto next year, and have the annual meeting there at 

 the same time as the fruit-growers meet. We would, of 

 course, need to start on a small scale. 



The Professor expressed regret that this body of men 

 came to Trenton so late in the year, when the natural beau- 

 ties of the place were obscured by winter The gateway to 

 one of the most beautiful spots in all Canada is Trenton. 

 It is historic ground. Years ago the French fur-traders 

 went up and down through the Trent valley. It is almost 

 120 years since the first settlers came in. Surveyors came 

 up from Ouebec to lay out the country for United Empire 

 Loyalists early in 1784 ; and 1784 to 1904 is 120 years. 



The agricultural development here is one of great prog- 

 ress and interest. It is a matter for regret that our school 

 text-books make no reference to this. Too much attention 

 is given to political development. Surveyors began at 

 Kingston, numbering the townships as they went. Un- 

 fortunately these numbers have been replaced by names in 

 later years. 



From 1784 to 1814, a period of 30 years, or one genera- 

 tion, methods of agriculture were very crude. They had to 

 cut down the trees to get at the land, and their principal 

 products were timber and ashes. These were exported to 

 the United States, the timber being floated down the 

 streams. 



From 1814 to 1844 they had cleared enough land to grow 

 grain for export. Then wheat was King. 



During the third generation —1844 to 1874— there was a 

 great movement to this country from England, Scotland and 

 Ireland. After the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars the 

 disbanded soldiers became the beginners of a great stream 

 of immigration. As these counties are the homes of the 

 best breeds of live stock, the immigrants brought with 

 them the nuclei of our choice herds of the present day. 



The fourth generation— 1874 to 1904— is noted for its 

 great development in the production of more finished arti- 

 cles, such as cheese, butter, eggs, fruit, honey. To produce 

 and market these profitably special organizations have 

 sprung up, so that we have live stock, dairy, poultry, fruity, 

 and honey interests, represented by special associations. 



The question naturally arises. What shall the next 

 generation bring forth ? This is no longer a grain-grow- 

 ing country. Ontario stockbreeders annually sweep the 

 boards at the Chicago Live Stock Show. How is it ? To 

 start with, we have a country eminently adapted to stock- 



