American ^Bec Journal) 



December, 1913 



tion, which would probably give them 

 entire satisfaction. 



I have a cousin in Paris, who is ex- 

 actly of my age, and with him we visited 

 some of the monuments, but it would 

 tire the reader to tell him about the 

 beautiful things in Paris. He can read 

 descriptions of this kind in any travel 

 magazine or book. We prefer to take 

 him with us to the by-ways that the 

 average tourists does not seek. 



We must, however, give a word to 

 the National holiday of France, the 

 14th of July, the anniversary of the de- 

 struction of the Bastile, the political 

 prison and fortress whose downfall 



sounded the knell of royalty in France, 

 at the end of the 18th century. The 

 French are lovers of pleasure, and this 

 disposition showed clearly in the prep- 

 arations for the National holiday dur- 

 ing the two days that preceded it. 

 Flags were hoisted, rows of colored 

 electric bulbs were hung over the 

 monuments, and at night many streets 

 were closed to vehicle circulation to 

 permit of public dances right in the 

 middle of the streets. The increase of 

 visitors and of traffic was such that we 

 concluded not to remain, for we dislike 

 crowds. So we departed by rail on 

 the very morning of the 14th. 



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



Wintering Prospects in Ontario 



Bees, I believe, are going into win- 

 ter quarters in first-class condition. 

 Our own are exceptionally heavy in 

 the brood-nests, and our feeding bill 

 has been lighter than usual. Much of 

 this honey is from buckwheat, but as 

 it was gathered in a slow flow, in hot 

 dry weather, and well sealed, I have an 

 idea that it will be first rate for winter 

 stores. In no case have I taken any 

 from the brood-nests, even if colonies 

 were so heavy that I gave them no 

 sugar syrup at all. 



get along without clipping the queens, 

 for in at least nine times out of ten, if 

 the old clipped queen is caught in 

 front of the hive at swarming time, the 

 bees will come back again. 



Second-Hand Cans 



Mr. Diemer's experience with sec- 

 ond-hand 60-pound cans is typical of 

 what often occurs when these used 

 tins are put on the market again. And 

 the worst of the thing is that the buyer 

 of the honey stored in such tins is gen- 

 erally the loser — not the fellow who 

 sold the goods. As to the bees being 

 so plentiful in the honey as to make it 

 easy to tell the race kept by the bee- 

 keeper, that is quite a scheme, pretty 

 much on a par with the dairyman who 

 has enough hair in his butter so that 

 the color of the cows may be known 

 to the customer. 



How Much from Beekeeping? 



If I may be allowed to criticize Mr. 

 Wilder's advice to the men who asked 

 if they could make respectively $20,000, 

 $50,000, and $100,000 at beekeeping, I 

 would say that said advice is so un- 

 likely to come true that it should never 

 be given that way at all. I believe that 

 99 out of 100 who start out with that 

 idea of beekeeping, will be bitterly dis- 

 appointed in the end, and will more 

 than likely reproach the one who held 

 out such glittering prospects. 



By all means let us be conservative 

 in a matter of this kind, as that course 

 is better for those who are already in 

 the business, and for those thinking of 

 engaging in this line of work as well. 



Clipping Queens 



If there was anything in Prof. Bige- 

 low's contention that more than one 

 queen goes with a prime swarm, our 

 practice of queen clipping might as 

 well be abandoned at once, as control 

 at swarming time, when one is in the 

 apiary, and the assurance that a swarm 

 will go back if it does swarm while we 

 are absent, are the main reasons why 

 we clip queens. Needless to tell any 

 one, who has tried the plan, that our 

 expectations are seldom disappointed 

 in that line either, and in running large 

 out-apiaries it would be a problem to 



Orange and Sage Honey 



A short time ago I was favored with 

 some samples of honey from Califor- 

 nia, sent by Homer Mathewson, of 

 Binghamton, N. Y., a friend I had the 

 pleasure of meeting at Albany when 

 the National convention was held 

 there. 



The samples were from orange and 

 sage. The first named was delicious 

 in flavor, but not as heavy in body as 

 to be rated No. 1 in that respect. But 

 the flavor had a decided "morish" 

 taste, and I would give quite a bit for a 

 can of real orange honey for our own 

 use for a change. This latter qualifica- 

 tion is to assure you that for steady 

 use I still think there is nothing better 

 than our own clover honey. 



The sample from sage was very 

 heavy in body and light in color, but 

 the flavor was not appreciated very 

 much by any member of the family. 



All pronounced it as having an oily 

 flavor, and one made such a base slan- 

 der as to say that it had a semblance 

 of caslor oil. Now, see here, you sage 

 honey men, please notice that / did not 

 say that; so don't turn your ammuni- 

 tion in my direction. Laying all jok- 

 ing aside, I wonder if the honey was 

 not mixed with something besides sage, 

 and if such was the case, no doubt our 

 California friends would know the 

 source of this " oily " flavor. 



Address Before the Apiculture Club 



It was the writer's pleasure to talk to 

 the Apiculture Club at the Ontario 

 Agricultural College on the evening of 

 Nov. 10. The class is a large one, and 

 I judge that about 12.5 turned out and 

 listened patiently to a lot of " hot air." 

 I suspect that the splendid interest 

 manifested may have been caused by 

 the desire of a lot of boys, and some 



Little Alva Berkv, Age 4 Years. 



I am sending you a picture of my little son 

 taken with the bees. On a walk to a corn- 

 field 2 miles from my home. June 13 of this 

 year. I discovered this beautiful swarm 

 hanging on a limb bent nearly to the ground. 

 Having 25 colonies at home, and some empty 

 hives, they looked good to me. so I took my 

 pocketknife. trimmed the limbs and car- 

 ried them 2 miles home. I called a friend 

 in .\tchison. a distance of miles, to come 

 and take the pictures— the little fellow hold- 

 ing the swarm of bees is my son. He is 4 

 years old. and is not afraid of bees; yet he 

 has been stung several limes. 



I started with bees 3 years ago. and have 

 increased to 25 colonies, and want to reach 

 a hundred. I like to work with the bees 

 very much. Walter Berry. 



Rushville. Mo. 



"Buying Cheap Goods to Save Money is Liice Sioppifig the Clock to Save Time" 

 it Pays to Buy LEWIS BEEWARE — ilviays the Same — Always Standard 



Send for vVnnual Catalos which will tell 

 you who is your nearest Distributer, 

 fi. B. I.ewis Company. Watertown, AVIs. 



