1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



479 



Notes from Canada 



By r>. F. IIOLTERMANX 



125 CARLOADS OF HONEY ANNUALLY. 



I must confess I feel curious to see the in- 

 voices for such a large purchase of honey by 

 one concern, page 404, July 1. 



FKOSTED ALFALFA. 



Wesley Foster reports frosted alfalfa in 

 Colorado in the middle of May. We had 

 the same here when other clovers did not 

 appear to be damaged. 



LAY'ING WORKERS. 



Endorsing the statement of Dr. C. C. Mil- 

 ler, page 404, Holy Land and Cyprian bees, 

 I believe, generally develop laying workers 

 much sooner than Italian, Carniolan, and 

 black bees; yet laying workers ivill develop 

 among the three last-named varieties. 



COLONIES STRONG TOO EARLY. 



So Dr. Miller, on page 404, suggests that 

 Doolittle and Holtermann should "settle 

 the question whether a colony can be too 

 strong May 1." Well, if I should be spared 

 that long I am willing to prepare an article 

 for Gleanings defending my views, and let 

 friend Doolittle do the same; and as Dr. Mil- 

 ler appears to be "on the fence," let him 

 umpire the debate. 



DOES THE QUEEN DESTROY QUEEN-CELLS? 



Many times I have heard the statement 

 made that the queen destroys cells which 

 might produce rival queens. My youngest 

 son, Glenelg, lately stocked an observatory 

 hive with a comb of brood, bees, and several 

 queen-cells. After the first cell hatched, 

 the bees, not the queen, tore a hole in the 

 side of the cell. I must confess that all I 

 know about it is hearsay. 



SOUR HONEY. 



Supposing sour honey came in contact 

 with well-ripened honey, could the germs of 

 fermentation effectually act on thick well- 

 ripened honey, or would the honey first have 

 to become thin before it would ferment'^ Of 

 course, I want to make it impossible for the 

 honey to absorb moisture from the atmos- 

 phere until it becomes thin. Now, do not 

 let some one answer this question by telling 

 me it is unwise to run the risk. 



ITALIANS SWARM MORE THAN BLACKS. 



Under this heading, W. C. MoUett, page 

 286, May 1, has an article. There may be 

 some peculiarity of locality which makes 

 this the case with Mr. Mollett; but my ex- 

 perience, provided room is given to the bees 

 when they need it. would incline me to be- 



lieve the Italian bees are less inclined to 

 swarm than the blacks. In the term 

 " blacks " in this case I would include the 

 Carniolan bees. 



THE SEASON. 



Reports from various sources indicate that 

 in Canada generally the bees have not been 

 in the best condition to take advantage of 

 the opportunity for nectar-gathering; and 

 unless the flow is prolonged by recent rains 

 the yield per colony will not be as great as 

 last year. jNIy best colonies have so far not 

 done as well "as last year, and the a\^rage 

 yield per colony is not likely to be as great. 

 I believe that my bees were in as good con- 

 dition as last year; but the flow has not been 

 quite as good. 



ATMOSPHERE AND NECTAE SECRETION. 



Mrs. H. G. Acklin, page 405, appears to 

 doubt that atmospheric conditions have 

 any thing to do with a good or poor honey 

 crop in California. I can not speak for Cal- 

 ifornia; but in Canada, to which so many 

 of our United States neighbors are now com- 

 ing, the atmosphere may spoil the best joros- 

 pects otherwise for a good honey crop. On 

 Sunday, .July o, the atmosphere was muggy, 

 and the bees worked with a will; then some- 

 where there was a clearing storm, and, 

 though we had no rain, on Monday morn- 

 ing all was quiet among the bees, the atmos- 

 pheric conditions having changed. Before 

 the middle of the week we had high tem- 

 perature and a moist atmosphere, and nec- 

 tar secretion and gathering was again the 

 order of the day. 



■^ 



THE SPREAD OF FOUL BROOD. 



"If Mr. Woodley be correct in blaming 

 the present generation — and his words seem 

 to imply that — for the wholesale spreading 

 of bee diseases, then by all means let us in 

 this country stop and hand down the indus- 

 try to our sons and daughters free from this 

 reproach cast upon the present generation 

 by Mr. Woodley." So says the British Bee 

 Journal, page iS9. In my estimation there 

 is no doubt that modern methods of bee- 

 keeping tend to the spread of foul brood. 

 Frequent manipulations of the brood-cham- 

 ber, robbing, due to the exposure of brood 

 and extracting-combs, the honey-extractor, 

 the taking of brood and combs from one 

 stock and giving them to another, and the 

 length of time combs are now kept when 

 compared with the "brimstone" method of 

 getting honey, all these tend to the increase 

 of foul brood. Again, our present facilities 

 for transportation of honey and bees tend 

 to the spread of this disease, just as it has 

 tended to the spread of weeds, insect pests, 

 fungi, and parasites. In my estimation 

 there is a system of bee-keeping suitable for 

 an expert who devotes his whole time to the 

 business which it is unwise to graft on to a 

 person who has neither the time nor experi- 

 ence to develop with success. 



