November, 191 1. 



American Vee Journal 



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



Rare October Weather— Late Brood- 

 Rearing 



"What so rare as a day in June?" 

 With considerable emphasis could the 

 quotation be used at the present, by 

 simply substituting the word " Octo- 

 ber " for "June." The latter halt of 

 September was cold and dreary, and 

 not at all weather that the bee-keeper 

 likes during the time that the bees are 

 being fed up for winter, yet in our own 

 case that work was all done by the first 

 of October. During the past 10 days 

 the weather has been simply ideal, and 

 if we had known how things were 

 going to turn out of course feeding 

 would have been delayed for a week 

 or so. 



The rains of the latter end of Sep- 

 tember, followed by the present warm 

 weather, caused an unusual amount of 

 dandelion to come in bloom for this 

 time of year, and we have the unusual 

 experience of seeing the bees carrying 

 in pollen from this source in the mid- 

 dle of October. When feeding was 

 started, about Sept. 20, very little brood 

 was in evidence in any of the hives, 

 many colonies having none at all. 

 Since the fresh pollen has come in, I 

 find that most of the colonies are doing 

 quite a lot of brood-rearing, and I am 

 not at all sure that this factor will be 

 of any benefit so far as it affects the 

 wintering of the bees. 



October 11th I received a few queens, 

 and in hunting out a couple of old 

 queens, my attention was called to the 

 amount of brood-rearing going on. 

 My curiosity caused' me to look into a 

 number of colonies, and in every case 

 there was brood in about 3 combs, the 

 circles averaging about 4 inches in 

 diameter. The colonies are very heavy 

 in stores, else no doubt there would be 

 still more brood. In a few cases I no- 

 ticed fresh pollen in one comb to the 

 extent of about 4 inches or so in 

 diameter. 



To my mind there is no question but 

 what this fresh pollen coming in so 

 late in the season, is responsible for 

 the late brood-rearing going on, and I 

 shall watch with interest as to what 

 the effect on wintering will be. In all 

 the hives examined, eggs were being 

 laid freely, and that means that quite 

 likely a number of young bees will go 

 into winter quarters without having 

 had a winter flight. Those going into 

 the cellar will thus have young bees in 

 the hives that have never had a flight, 

 and can not possibly have one for at 

 least 4 months or more. 



The Ontario Convention, Nov. 15-17 



The annual convention of the Onta- 

 rio Uee-Keepers' Association will be 

 held in Toronto Nov. 1.5, l(j, and 17, 

 1011. Judging from what I have learned, 

 the proposed program of the conven- 

 tion promises to be a record-breaker 



in many respects. Among the features 

 that look attractive, is an address by 

 Inspector Charles Stewart, of New 

 York State, one of the veterans in the 

 foul-brood work, and a man known as 

 a hustler by all who have come in con- 

 tact with him. E. B. Tyrrell, Secretary 

 of the National Association and Editor 

 of the Bee-Keepers' Review, will also 

 be there and talk along the line of co- 

 operation so far as the principle can 

 be applied to the benefit of bee-keepers 

 in general. Dr. E. F. Phillips, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, is billed for two ad- 

 dresses, each of which will be illus- 

 trated by lantern views, if I am correct. 

 Many well-known bee-keepers on this 

 side of the line will be in attendance, and 

 in addition to the few mentioned from 

 the other side, of course we look for a 

 great many others to be present, too. 



There will be single fares on the 

 railways from all points in Ontario, as 

 the Horticultural Show will be in prog- 

 ress at the time of the convention. 



The writer is certainly looking for- 

 ward with pleasure towards having a 

 profitable time, both from a business 

 standpoint as well as the social side, 

 and I have no doubt but that many 

 others are feeling much the same. On 

 behalf of the Ontario Association I feel 

 that I am but voicing their sentiments 

 when I extend a hearty invitation to as 

 many of our neighbors " over the line " 

 as can possibly do so, to come and 

 have a good time with us, and at the 

 same time see that Canada produces 

 other things besides icicles. A visit to 

 the Horticultural Show, which I have 

 mentioned, will go a long way towards 

 proving the latter claim. 



Amount of Sugar as Substitute for Winter 

 Honey-Shortage 



On page 293, considerable space is 

 devoted to discussing how much sugar 

 should be given to make up a stated 

 deficiency in natural stores in a colony 

 of bees. The summing up of the dis- 

 cussion is about as follows: Give five- 

 sevenths of a pound of sugar to every 

 pound of shortage, no matter what the 

 strength of the syrup. 



A few years ago I was pretty much 

 in line with that view, and I remember 

 distinctly of having a spirited argu- 

 ment with Mr. John Newton, of Thames- 

 ford, Ont., when he contended that it 

 took a full pound of sugar to equal a 

 pound of honey so far as providing 

 winter stores for bees was concerned. 

 Mr. Sibbald, at the time, sided with me, 

 when I contended that the estimate 

 was too high, as at that time I thought 

 that about the proportion given in the 

 item I am referring to, was about right. 



While I don't know whether Mr. Sib- 

 bald has changed his views on the mat- 

 ter (luring recent years, I certainly 

 have changed mine, as, after careful ex- 

 perimenting and watching results in a 



number of years, I am now of the opin- 

 ion that the claim made by Mr. New- 

 ton was correct. At any rate, when I 

 find a colony that is 10 pounds short of 

 what I want it to be, that colony gets 

 lb pounds of syrup made on a basis of 

 2 pounds of sugar to one of water. By 

 comparing colonies thus prepared with 

 others that had enough natural stores, 

 I find that it works out about equal. 

 No question but that for a short time 

 after feeding tlie colony given the 15 

 pounds of syrup will outweigh the one 

 that had enough natural stores, but in 

 the month of April the difference will 

 not be apparent. 



Stimulating the Queen in Early Spring 



I have read with much interest what 

 Wesley Foster says, on page 269, about 

 the matter of stimulating the queen to 

 lay in the early spring, by spreading 

 brood and uncapping honey. I sup- 

 pose he knows what he is talking about 

 for his "locality;" but, my! I wouldn't 

 want to play that game with my bees 

 here in Ontario. He admits that much 

 brood is chilled even in his locality by 

 the methods he employs, yet thinks 

 that he is the gainer in the end. 



After considerable study and experi- 

 ence, I have come to the conclusion 

 that, nine times out of ten, the queen 

 will lay all the eggs the bees can take 

 care of in the early spring, and that 

 any so-called stimulating at that time 

 is apt to act like a boomerang. Please 

 understand that I am speaking of On- 

 tario, and not of Colorado. At the 

 same time it would take a good deal of 

 courage on my part to get me started 

 to play the game even if I moved to 

 Colorado. 



Imperfections of Bee-Keepers 



On page :W2, Mr. Wilder bewails his 

 imperfection as a bee-keeper, and, to 

 tell the truth, I am a bit out of patience 

 with him for talking like that. The 

 fcrfett man, be he a bee-keeper or fol- 

 lower of any other business, is a vara 

 (iTis indeed, and if such a man existed 

 and was azvare of his perfection, he 

 would at once be spoiled by getting a 

 "big head." 



If the writer of these notes were to 

 begin to think of his imperfections, the 

 chances are that he would go out of 

 bee-keeping or any other business he 

 might be engaged in; but knowing the 

 frailties of human nature he keeps 

 plugging away, making blunders in- 

 numerable, almost every day of his 

 life. 



It is generally understood that a bee- 

 keeper is, as a matter of course, a good 

 mechanic as well, but in my case I 

 have a positive dislike towards han- 

 dling tools, and scarcely ever try to 

 make anything in the line of hives, 

 frames, etc., that go in line with an 

 apiary. Some time ago a certain writer 

 in the American Bee Journal said that 

 unless a man was handy in the line 

 suggested, he should not engage in 

 bee-keeping, and, incidentally, insin- 

 uated that he had no business to be in 

 that particiilar calling. Without tak- 

 ing time to look up tlie item, I remem- 

 ber having replied in substance that it 

 was none of liis business how other 



