December, 191 1. 



American T^ee Jonrnal J 



Keen of Brantford, and Secretary Tyr- 

 rell of Detroit. While there is no doubt 

 that the subject of co-operation is " in 

 the air," as one speaker expressed it, 

 yet the fact was made quite apparent 

 during the meetings, that the bee-keep- 

 ers of Ontario are not enough inter- 

 ested as yet in the subject to make co- 

 operation a success. The fact is, that 

 they can sell their honey too easily at 

 a good price at presentto be sufficiently 

 interested to take up the subject of 

 co-operation with enough enthusiasm 

 to carry the scheme to a successful 

 issue. 



During the three addresses referred 

 to, the fact was made plain that in all 

 cases where co-operation had proven a 

 success, the members of the society, 

 no matter what interest they repre- 

 sented, "had been driven to do some- 

 thing by the ruinous prices they were 

 receiving for their products." While 

 it may be poor logic to reason that 

 bee-keepers will have to "get in the 

 hole " before they try to get out, yet 

 the fact remains that bee-keepers are 

 much the same class of people as are 

 the representatives of other industries, 

 and I venture to predict that nothing 

 radical will be done along the lines of 

 co-operation until honey is harder 

 to sell, and the price is lower than 

 is the case today. At any rate, the 

 addresses we listened to were of a 

 highly educative nature, and whether 

 or not co-operation among the bee- 

 keepers of Ontario will be a reality in 

 the near future, the fact remains that 

 all who were privileged to be present 

 will have a better idea of what the 

 word means than was the case before 

 they attended the convention just over. 



Foul Brood and Its Treatment. 



Naturally the subject of foul brood 

 received due attention by those pres- 

 ent, and about two whole sessions were 

 taken up in discussion as to the best 

 ways and means of combatting the 

 plague. Reports were received from 

 the various inspectors of the Province, 

 and in addition the convention was 

 fortunate in having present with them 

 Mr. Charles Stewart, one of the inspec- 

 tors of Xew York State. Mr. Stewart, 

 in his address, dwelt mainly on the 

 treatment of European foul brood, and 

 showed that he had without a doubt 

 enough experience with this dis- 

 ease to be looked upon as an expert in 

 that line of work. He can talk at a 

 convention all right, and when it comes 

 to entertaining when the convention is 

 not in session — well, all who have met 

 him will know from experience that he 

 is able to carry out his part of the pro- 

 gram all right. 



Apiculture and the Government. 



Dr. Phillips, of Washington, D. C, 

 was on the program three different 

 times, and I believe when I say that if 

 he had been on twice as often as that, 

 none of us would have been tired, it 

 would be no exaggeration. He has 

 certainly "made good" in his chosen 

 work, and the bee-keepers of the United 

 States have reason to be thankful that 

 they have such an able representative. 

 In this respect it is worthy of note that 

 the industry is receiving greater at- 

 tention from year to year in both Can- 

 ada and the United States, and in our 



own case we have a hard-working and 

 faithful representative in Mr. Morley 

 Pettit, our Provincial Apiarist. 



"Pleasures of Bee-Keeping." 



Miss Ethel Robson gave a splendid 

 address on the subject, "The Pleasures 

 of Bee-Keeping." Miss Bobson can 

 always talk entertainingly, and in this 

 case she excelled herself to the delight 

 of all present, who heartly applauded 

 her at the close of the address. At a 

 later date I hope to give the address in 

 full to the readers of the American Bee 

 Journal. Merely to comment on what 

 was said, would be useless when I 

 have, as intimated, hopes of presenting 

 the full address at a later date. 



An Entertaining, Helpful Address. 



Another pleasing feature of the con- 

 vention was an address by C. C. James, 

 Deputy Minister of Agriculture for On- 

 tario. Mr. James has the name of be- 

 ing the hardest working official in the 

 Government, and that he does not do 

 it all merely for money, was shown 

 very plainly when he recently received 

 a much higher offer to go to another 

 country. He touched upon the meth- 

 ods of agriculture in vogue, and urged 

 strongly for a greater educational cam- 

 paign in all the lines of agriculture, 

 bee-keeping not excepted. Dwelling 

 upon the problems of the producer in 

 butting against the middlemen, etc., 

 he pointed out that he represented an- 

 othergreat class, namely, the consumer, 

 who was often held at the mercy of 

 dealers even to a greater extent than 

 the producer. Many lines of produce 

 could be delivered to the consumer 

 cheaper than at present, while at the 

 same time the producer would receive 

 as much or more than is the case now, 

 if only some better plans of bringing 

 the two classes together could be 

 brought about. 



Early in his address, the speaker 

 humorously referred to the fact, that 

 although he had not for years ad- 

 dressed the bee-keepers, yet if he had 

 been placed in the hall with no knowl- 

 edge of the nature of the gathering, he 

 could have soon told who were there, 

 by reason of the fact that his old friend, 

 " Foul Brood," was in evidence so 

 much, the same as ever. He asked 

 what we would do if foul brood was 

 ever eradicated, as appeared to be the 

 hope of all beekeepers, and he won- 

 dered how we could hold a convention 

 without having this popular theme for 

 discussion ! 



Business End of Bee-Keeping. 



While I have said that the conven- 

 tion was a success, yet the fact remains 

 that many thought that the business- 

 end of bee-keeping received a little too 

 much attention, and that things would 

 have been livelier if some of the old- 

 time discussions had been indulged in. 

 Personally, I have been agitating for 

 the elimination of all topics that bear 

 upon management, etc., yet I am bound 

 to admit that there is a possibility of 

 over-doing the matter, and I honestly 

 believe that with attention given to the 

 matters which the extensive bee-keeper 

 may regard as minor details, the at- 

 tendance at our conventions would 

 drop off instead of increase. 



Officers for the next year are as fol- 

 lows: President, Denis Nolan, of 

 Newton Robinson, Ont. ; 1st Vice- 

 President, J. L. Byer; 2d Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Miss Ethel Robson, of Ilderton, 

 Ont. ; and Sec-Treas., P. W. Hodgetts, 

 Parliament Buildings, Toronto. 



Treating Foul Brood 



I want to sanction most heartily what 

 Dr. Bohrer says on page 300, about cur- 

 ing foul brood, when he advises taking 

 diseased colonies away from the apiary 

 a mile or so before treating them. 

 Often I have come across cases where 

 a few diseased colonies, scattered 

 through a large apiary, had been shaken 

 on frames of comb foundation right on 

 the stands. As a result, many other 

 colonies would be infected by having 

 the loaded bees from the diseased col- 

 onies entering adjacent hives. 



By the way. Dr. Bohrer's article 

 smacks of experience, and I judge he 

 has been having a real experience with 

 foul brood. No one writing from a 

 theoretical standpoint alone could give 

 as pointed advice as does the article 

 referred to, and any one having to 

 contend with the disease can read all 

 he has said with profit. 



She's a Good "Bee-Smoker Woman" 



Of course it is understood by all 

 readers, that Editor York puts all the 

 headings to the different items in the 

 departments of the Bee Journal. In 

 this connection I might warn him that 

 he has gotten into serious trouble by 

 calling a certain Canadian of the femi- 

 nine persuasion a "good smoker- 

 woman." What he is threatened with 

 would not do for me to tell, for fear I 

 might become the scapegoat, but as a 

 matter of fairness, I could not resist 

 telling him his danger, as "forewarned 

 is forearmed," according to the old 

 saying. 



The one whose wrath has been 

 aroused can not even bear the smell of 

 tobacco-smoke, and to think of the 

 awful possibility of a careless reader 

 glancing at the heading in question 

 and picturing her in the house with a 

 clay pipe in her mouth — well, it is no 

 wonder she can not do the subject jus- 

 tice when I remind her occasionally of 

 being a "smoker-woman." — [Thank 

 you, Mr. Byer, for that warning. Of 

 course, we should have written it 

 " j5cf-Smoker Woman." We take it 

 all back, and will promise to stay away 

 from Canada until — well, the next time 

 we can go over there. We wish to say, 

 however, that we have a most cordial 

 and wholesome respect for Mrs. Byer. 

 Any woman that can uncap 30,000 

 pounds of honey in one season, and 

 bring up a large and lovely family (in- 

 cluding Mr. Byer) — well, she is simply 

 all right, and we take off our hat to 

 her, every time. Now, when all the 

 " smoke " has cleared away, it will be 

 found that there exists the most pleas- 

 ant feelings of reciprocity among the 

 Byer family on that side, and ye editor 

 on this side, even if such reciprocity 

 has not come to a vote as a certain 

 other reciprocity did, and was defeated. 

 — Editor.] 



