September, 1913. 



p#^^^ 



305 



American Hee Jonrnalj 



fact that in my experience, the old 

 time "foul brood" was very much 

 alike in all localities and its spread- 

 ing all depended on whether there 

 was robbing or mixing up of brood 

 combs. Friend Crane replied that it 

 was European foul brood he had in 

 mind, and while this item is not to 

 criticise friend Crane in anyway — 

 for we all make mistakes — yet it 

 shows how easily it is to cause a lot 

 of misunderstanding by reason of a 

 name being used that is not at all ap- 

 plicable in describing a disease; 

 when the name is so nearly like an- 

 other well known disease and yet 

 widely different. "Black Brood" even 

 if not the best name for this new pest, 

 is much better than the name now 

 used, and if our laws are not framed 

 to cover diseases except when classi- 

 fied as "foul brood," the sooner they 

 are amended, the better for all con- 

 cerned. 



Crop Conditions and Prospects 



The crop of clover honey in On- 

 tario will this year be above the av- 

 erage both in yield and in quality. 

 While very little honey has been 

 harvested in the eastern counties and 

 but a slight yield as a rule in north- 

 ern counties, the southwestern part of 

 the Province has yielded so gener- 

 ously as to bring the yield above the 

 average. The counties of Norfolk, 

 Middlesex, Wentworth and Peel have 

 given the heaviest yields. In our 

 own county of York, the best yield in 

 many years has been obtained. Prices 

 are ruling about the same as last 

 year, and as crops of grain are good 

 in western provinces this year, there 

 should be no trouble in disposing of 

 all honey at a fair figure. Prospects 

 for buckwheat were never better a 

 few weeks ago, but at this date (Aug. 

 13) those prospects have nearly dis- 

 appeared. For weeks we have had 

 scarcely a drop of rain and all vege- 

 tation is drying. This year was a 

 great clover year all over the pro- 

 vince even in sections where it did 

 not yield honey, but the next season 

 bids fair to be the other extreme. 

 Alsike is the main source of honey 

 here, and at present, next year's acre- 

 age looks the smallest that we have 

 had for many seasons. Basswood was 

 a failure almost all over the province, 

 as late frosts killed the buds in some 

 sections while in others caterpillars 

 stripped all the foliage from the 

 trees. 1 



this for some time and never a bee 

 touched the cow, 'till one evening 

 about ij o'clock in the hight of the 

 clover season, for some reason the 

 bees attacked her and stung her 

 badly. No one saw the start of the 

 fracas, and nothing was known of 

 the trouble 'till the cow in despera- 

 tion broke loose her fastenings and 

 came near the house. She was stung 

 so badly that a veterinarian was 

 called. She recovered after a few 

 days. Nothing so remarkable in a cow 

 getting stung, but the strange thing 

 was that the black spots had five or 

 six stings to one in the white spots. 

 I think I heard our friend A. C. M. 

 ask how much difference there wae. 

 While I cannot give a definite answer, 

 still the difference was so great that 

 all noticed the fact. The spots were 

 all over the body of the cow, and yet 

 the black spots were peppered full of 

 stings w^hile the white areas had but 

 few. I do not attempt to explain the 

 reason, but I have to believe what I 



see. 



*-•-* 



Direct Introduction of Qunens 



This evening I introduced some 

 queens, and by way of experimenting 



Bees Stinging Black Objects 



Periodically, the old discussion 

 comes up as to whether bees sting 

 black objects more than light colored 

 ones. My own observations lead me 

 to believe that the black is objection- 

 able. An experience a short time 

 ago strengthens my opinion. The 

 minister of our church has about 25 

 colonies of bees near his barn. A 

 few weeks ago he had his black and 

 white spotted cow tethered about 40 

 feet from the bees. He has practiced 



tried three on the direct plan as ad- 

 vised by A. C. Miller. I am not yet 

 going to criticise the plan one way 

 or another, but 1 do want to tell of a 

 "fool trick ' I did. I had let two go 

 in all right, and was at the third 

 hive with the cage in my hand, with 

 finger over the end where the wire- 

 cloth had been removed for letting 

 the queen run into the hive. I placed 

 the end of the cage in the hive en- 

 trance but her majesty was slow in 

 leaving, so I started to open the cage 

 on the side. In some mysterious way, 

 that queen got out of the cage so 

 quickly that I never once saw her 

 and I have not the slightest idea 

 where she went. Perhaps she is off 

 to one of the southern states where 

 she came from, but more likely, she 

 is a corpse in front of one of the 

 hives in the yard. What did I do 

 about it? Really words failed to give 

 satisfaction, I simply murmured "fool 



trick No. ." I have introduced 



queens in many ways, and this is the 

 first time one has ever been lost in 

 that way. So please notice friend A. 

 C. Miller, that I lost at least one-third 

 of the queens on my first attempt at 

 vour method. 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



Conducted by J. J. Wilder. Cordele. Ga. 



Some Great Opportunities 



The writer is just back from his 

 vacation, which he did not spend in 

 the usual w^ay, visiting progressive 

 bee-keepers. Instead I explored the 

 southeast portion of Georgia as a bee 

 and honey country. This is perhaps 

 the darkest spot in Dixie beedom. I 

 have always been interested in this 

 section as a bee country, for I believe 

 it contained great opportunities for 

 our industry. I was not at all disap- 

 pointed. I had hurriedly passed 

 through some of this section once or 

 twice before and had received some 

 very good reports from small bee- 

 keepers scattered about. 



In a conversation some years ago 

 with Mr. T. W. Livingston, a well 

 known bee-keeper at Leslie, Ga., he 

 remarked that Mr. Harper of Talla- 

 hassee. Florida, who perhaps is best 

 informed as to our honey flora, wrote 

 him that he found in certain sections 

 more honey plants and a greater va- 

 riety of them than anywhere else in 

 the south. After personal investiga- 

 tion I can substantiate this statement. 

 I know of no greater opportunities 

 anywhere, nor a better section to re- 

 fer to bee-keepers. It is almost a 

 web of railroads and borders on the 

 Atlantic Ocean with four good ports; 

 Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, 

 and Fernandina and Jacksonville, 

 Florida. Thus the northern market 



can be easily reached by boats as well 

 as by rail. The climate is very mild 

 and general health as good as can be 

 expected in any undeveloped coun- 

 try. There are many small progres- 

 sive towns with schools and churches. 

 The honey produced in this section 

 is all light in color and of excellent 

 quality. The sources of surplus hon- 

 ey are ti-ti and huckleberry, gallberry, 

 saw and cabbage palmetto, tupelo 

 gum and white holly. Besides these 

 well known honey-plants, there is a 

 much longer list of minor ones yield- 

 ing pollen the entire season. The 

 first honey-plants yielding a sur- 

 plus are ti-ti and huckleberry, which 

 begin blooming about February 1; 

 and the last one to bloom is cabbage 

 palmetto, whicli goes out of bloom 

 about the middle of July. These 

 honey plants give about five months 

 steady honey flow with but few in- 

 termissions. Any wide-awake hust- 

 ling bee-keeper with a few hundred 

 colonies of bees in several apiaries 

 should harvest a good crop of honey 

 during this time. The sluggard with 

 only a handful of bees and high ex- 

 pectations would fall short. 



There is one drawback to bee- 

 keepers there and that is that winters 

 are short and mild. There is consid- 

 erable intervening time between the 

 last honey flow in the summer and 

 the first one in the spring. Much 

 stores would be consumed and a close 



