1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



By R. F. Holtermann. 



queens from eggs. 

 Page 490, Gleavings, I believe you are 

 right, Dr. Miller. When a colony has a queen 

 the bees rear queens for swarming or for 

 superseding from the egg. 



SOUND REASONING. 



F. P. Adams, at the recent Ontario conven- 

 tion, stated that artificial swarm control and 

 artificial stimulation should go hand in hand 

 with queen-rearing. He asked where queens 

 would come from when swarming stopped. 

 I share the view expressed by Mr. Gill, in 

 the Bee-keepers' Review, page 373, "extensive 

 bee-keepers can't afford to rear many 

 queens," for I have largely bought them. 

 <^ 



ROBBER-TRAPS. 



Mr. D. M. Macdonald, in the British Bee 

 Journal, page 388, in commenting on these 

 eoatrivances, pities the poor innocent bees 

 tkat get trapped with the marauders. In 

 commenting on this, D. G. Taylor, page 397, 

 states, "I think the sj^mpathy is entirely 

 wasted, as the bees which enter a robber- 

 trap, which generally takes the form of a 

 hive, are bees that have the tendency to be- 

 come robbers." No doubt the bees "have 

 the tendency to become robbers" — all bees 

 have that tendency, and therefore such a trap 

 is a folly which I have never heard of in 

 Canada or the United States. The fault lies 

 with the bee-keeper. Trap him. [See edi- 

 torials.] 



A NEW SITUATION IN CANADA. 



At Welland there is a smelter for reducing 

 silver ore from cobalt. In that section the 

 bees have been almost wiped out. Some 

 have lost all; others less. An average report 

 is 6 left out of 45. Some attribute it to the 

 smelter, others to large hornets which have 

 been seen fighting bees at the entrance of 

 the hive. Here is a problem for the govern- 

 ment apiarist. The president of the Ontario 

 Bee-keepers' Association, at the recent con- 

 vention, stated several times that the govern- 

 ment had given all that the association asked 

 for. Does our faith fall short of what we 

 might get? Let us ask for first-class equip- 

 ment at the Ontario Agricultural College, and 

 we shall likely get it. 



BEES FERTILIZE BUCKWHEAT BLOSSOMS. 



During my visit to the Ontario Government 

 Jordan Harbour Fruit Station I noticed a 

 patch of buckwheat, partly enclosed to bar 

 access by the bees and other insects. I at 

 once judged that another long-hoped-for 

 wish that the Ontario Government would 

 carry on investigations in the fertilization of 

 blossoms by bees was beginning to take 

 shape. No doubt the station's first report 

 will be to the Minister of Agriculture, the 

 Hon. J. S. Duff; yet that did not prevent me 

 from adjusting my eye to a small opening 



available, and finding that the uncovered 

 buckwheat had at least one third more buck- 

 wheat seeds than the covered. The horti- 

 cultural official at my side, in response to 

 my quick verdict, confirmed my opinion. 



SHALL BEES BE SUBJECTED TO QUARANTINE 



IN ENGLAND? 



In the British Bee Journal, page 433, Mr. 

 Reed, at the British Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion conversazione, stated that foul brood 

 "was so prevalent in Northern Italy that 

 bee-keepers took no notice of it." Then fol- 

 lows a discussion as to the advisability of 

 stopping the importation of queens from this 

 country, subjecting the bees to quarantine. 

 As Mr. Reed states that, with foul brood in 

 the hive, the bees were able to put up with 

 it (the disease) and live and produce honey, 

 I should say if this be true by all means get 

 these bees; but I fancy there is a mistake 

 somewhere. Mr. Reed also states, on the 

 same page, "The United States Board of 

 Agriculture were most careful in their regu- 

 lations to prevent the chance of conveying 

 disease into that country." If there are such 

 regulations, will the editor of Gleanings 

 kindly let us know what they are? I know 

 of none. There is sometimes a difficulty in 

 getting reliable information, especially from 

 a distance. [See editorials.] 



The Isle of Wight bee disease appears to 

 have practically wiped out bee-keeping on 

 that island. 



THE PLACE FOR EMPTY SUPERS. 



On page 490 Dr. Miller says that, when he 



fmts empty section-supers under a partly 

 illed one in a waning flow, the bees keep 

 on with the super above and leave the empty 

 super untouched. Yes, they may even com- 

 plete a partially filled section and not touch 

 the neighboring one. This is particularly 

 true when separators are used. Whether it 

 be a comb-honey super or an extracting-su- 

 per with foundation that is put between the 

 l3 rood- chamber and the super already in use, 

 I find that, with a moderate honey-flow, the 

 tendency is to take no more honey through 

 this emptv super than necessary, and, there- 

 fore, to crowd more honey into the brood- 

 chamber at the expense of room for brood- 

 rearing. Now, wnen I add extracting- su- 

 pers, and can spare the time, I take some of 

 the nearly filled frames from the super al- 

 ready on the hive, put in their place empty 

 combs, and place the new super on top with 

 the combs which have been in use in the 

 place formerly occupied with empties. I al- 

 so take care to put the empties in the top 

 story above the empties in the lower. This 

 establishes an old or already accepted con- 

 nection between the upper and lower story, 

 and it makes less of a break in the interior 

 of the hive; and I prefer it very much to 

 leaving all new comb in one super, either 

 next to the brood-chamber or on top. Where 

 more than the number of supers mentioned 

 above are in use I seek to place the frames 

 nearest full in the top super or supers. 



