374 



November, 1913. 



American Hee Jonrnal 



paid this same price for the honey they 

 are offering. 



SHOULD SELL TO LARGE DEALERS. 



All small producers, all those who 

 are not in a position to sell large quan- 

 tities of honey direct to the retail 

 trade at the prevailing price, should 

 sell their honey to the large buyers 

 who ARE in position to sell it 

 properly. I know of a great many 

 beekeepers who seem to be anxious 

 to sell direct to retailers, and thus 

 work up a market of their own. This 

 is all right and good provided certain 

 rules regarding the proper price, etc., 

 are not overlooked. But most of these 

 beekeepers sell at exactly the same 

 price that is being paid by the large 

 buyers who sell again, and thus they 

 come in direct competition. Also many 

 such beekeepers sell what honey they 

 can at this low price, then try to sell 

 the rest to the large dealers. They are 

 nearly always dissatisfied at the price 

 offered. 



EDUCATION IS NECESS.\RV. 



A great deal of good would come of 

 properly educating the beekeepers 

 to market their honey. There are 

 many excellent beekeepers who know 

 how to manage their bees to make big 

 crops of honey, but who do not know 

 how to dispose of the crop after it is 

 harvested. Many beekeepers are not 



"cut out" for selling profitably what 

 they are able to produce. They ought to 

 sell to the large buyers who sell again 

 rather than try their own hands at sell- 

 ing direct and run the risk of making 

 a botch of it, not only to their own 

 detriment, but to that of all the bee- 

 keepers of the section. It is an easy 

 matter to bring down the price of the 

 market by carelessly selling honey at 

 too low a price. 



beekeepers' institutes. 



I know of no better way to reach 

 beekeepers, especially those beekeep- 

 ers located on our farms and " in the 

 neck of the woods," than by holding 

 institutes in every community where 

 several beekeepers are located. "Farm- 

 ers' institutes" are held everywhere in 

 the country. They are very popular 

 and do much good. Beekeepers' insti- 

 tutes could be made just as profitable, 

 and would mean much for the better- 

 ment of beekeeping. The advantage 

 of such institutes is that they can be 

 held wherever a small number of bee- 

 keepers can be brought together. After 

 being organized, frequent meetings 

 should be held, especially during those 

 seasons of the year when the discus- 

 sions will do the most good. Good 

 programs and interesting speakers 

 make these valuable. 



most of those places prices are not as 

 good as they are here. Then, again, 

 in many of these " paradises " there is 

 more work, as warm weather makes it 

 a continual fight with moths, etc., 

 which bother little in the North. 



Conducted by J. L. Byer. Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



Drouth Affects Beekeeping 



At this date (Oct. 13) we are still 

 having a prolonged drouth in this part 

 of Ontario. Much winter wheat, sown 

 in September, is still dormant in the 

 ground, and fall plowing i": held back. 

 How much this drouth will affect bee- 

 keeping interests is hard to say. At 

 best there will be a light stand of 

 clover for next season, and such a con- 

 dition does not help it any. Any alsike 

 that weathered the extreme conditions 

 of midsummer, appears to be looking 

 fairly well, but, as intimated, alsike 

 fields in our locality for next season 

 are like hen's teeth, few and far be- 

 tween. 



< ■ » 



Sliall We Investigate? 



I read Prof. Bigelow's article, on 

 page 348, with much surprise. Indeed, 

 if the Processor was not so well known 

 as a writer, I would have passed his 

 ideas along without any comment, be- 

 lieving that the thoughts suggested 

 were from a beginner, and that the au- 

 thor would soon find out that it is a 

 rare thing for more than one queen to 

 issue with a prime su-arm. 



As to his question, " Tell me why 

 those drones go out with the cluster 

 if only the old mated queen leaves the 

 colony." I would ask him in turn to 

 tell me why everything in the hive that 

 is able to walk, let alone fly, will rush 



magic 



out in force while under the 

 spell of the "swarming fever." 



Sometimes in cases of supersedure 

 of the old queen, a young queen— per- 

 haps more than one— will come out 

 with the old one at swarming time. 

 Sometimes when strong colonies are 

 held back with bad weather after start- 

 ing queen cells, young queens will 

 emerge with the first swarm along with 

 the old queen. 



Prof. Bigelow says he will not be 

 convinced that he is wrong until we 

 prove by careful examination of every 

 cluster. He even wishes us to sift the 

 bees through queen-excluders to make 

 the matter positive that there is only 

 one queen. I only wish some 

 questions, not so clear to my 

 were as easily settled. 



other 

 mind. 



Nortli or Soutti- 



Sometimes, 



-Wtiicli ? 



in common with other 

 mortals, the writer thinks that there are 

 other countries more favored, climat- 

 ically, than his own. These views are, 

 of course, only "periodical," for at 

 nearly all times I would say and belifz'e 

 there is no better place on earth to live 

 than Ontario. Of late I have been 

 thinking along these lines more than 

 ever. Our country is as good as any 

 for beekeeping when all things are 

 considered. There may be places 

 where more surplus is produced, but in 



Too Much Rosiness 



In the Ontario Agricultural College 

 Review, a journal published by the stu- 

 dents of the Ontario Agricultural Col- 

 lege, there appears in the October num- 

 ber a splendidly written article by Miss 

 Scott, entitled^ " The Golden Honey 

 Bee." While I know the writer per- 

 sonally, and feel that she is writing 

 sincerely and correctly according to 

 her experience, yet I cannot help mak- 

 ing a mild protest. In my estimation, 

 her picture of beekeeping is altogether 

 too rosy, as it is apt to lead people to 

 go into the business as a "get rich 

 quick " proposition. One sentence 

 strikes me forcibly, " Why so much 

 need be said in favor of beekeeping in 

 order to ' boost ' it, is a mystery." I 

 may be pardoned for asking why so 

 much " boosting" is being done — who 

 is demanding it .' 



Is the "boosting" being done by 

 those already in the business r Is such 

 boosting in the interests of the honey- 

 producers in general. Miss Scott says: 

 "Taken from a financial standpoint it 

 is far ahead of — well, everything." 

 Pretty broad statement, and apt to mis- 

 lead some who have visions of becom- 

 ing millionaires. " In one season we 

 can buy our bees and outfit and make 

 enough from them to pay all expenses 

 and have twice as many bees with 

 which to begin the following year." 

 By "expenses," she means paying for 

 al'l bees, etc., as this is made very clear 

 in a sentence further on in the article. 

 I have no idea of questioning that Miss 

 Scott has been able to do this during 

 the past few years in a favored locality, 

 and with good crops three years or 

 more in succession, but is that esti- 

 mate a fair one, taking the country in 

 general? It certainly is not for our 

 section, nor for the greater part of 

 Ontario. In most years, if we made 

 the increase intimated, the surplus 

 would be easily cared for. If instead of 

 " one year " the term " some years " 

 were used, I might not object to the 

 claim, as this year the claims made 

 would be substantiated in many parts 

 of southern Ontario. But even this 

 year we have some 300 colonies 100 

 miles north which have barely paid ex- 

 penses. How would her rosy view 

 measure up with a crop of that kind ? 



I fear that some who do not know 

 me well, will think I am selfish, but I 

 assure you that lam an " easy mark," 

 as many can testify. I am always 

 ready to give encouragement to any 

 one when it comes to bee-keeping, but 

 I do obifc-t to things being painted too 

 rosy, for it will do no good to the in- 

 dustry. It will lead beginners to in- 

 vest only to be disappointed. 



A few days ago I received a private 

 letter from a good friend "over the 

 line." a beekeeper known all over the 

 country. I had never mentioned the 

 subject under discussion to him. What 

 he says is from the viewpoint of an 

 outsider, and therefore independent 



