November, Ifllfi. 



371 



f^-^-^q 



American l^ee JournaJj 



comb honey production. He was also 

 very successful with cellar wintering. 



The president in 1888, was Martin 

 Emigh, of Holbrook. Mr. Emigh is a 

 quiet man of sterling qualities, and for 

 a number of years after occupying the 

 president's chair he acted as treasurer 

 of the association. We have not seen 

 anything of him lately at beekeepers' 

 meetings, but hear that he has become 

 prominent in local telephone circles in 

 his own district. 



Another outstanding character in 

 Ontario beekeeping and agricultural 

 life in the early days was Mr. Wm. F. 

 Clarke, former editor of the American 

 Bee Journal, who was president of the 

 Beekeepers' Association in 1889. He 

 was the first lecturer in beekeeping at 

 the Ontario Agricultural College, and 

 the writer frequently hears amusing 

 stories of his experiences with the stu- 

 dents. It seems that he was not always 

 able to hold their attention, and to 

 quiet them would promise to recite 

 some of his verses at the end of the 

 lecture if they would be good. These 

 would be quotations from a little vol- 

 ume of verses which he published in 

 1886, entitled "Bird's Eye View of Bee- 

 keeping." Readers of the American 

 Bee Journal will appreciate the follow- 

 ing extract: 



" Take a bee-paper, that you may find out 

 What other Apiculturists are about. 

 Unless you read the journalistic page. 

 You'll fall behind the progress of the age. 

 Journals abound, from the 'American ' 

 That five and twenty years ago began 

 Shedding the light of knowledge to and fro. 

 To the ' Canadian ' whicha year ago. 

 Boldly its banner to the breeze unfurled. 

 I'he first $1 weekly in the world." 



During the time that Mr. Clarke oc- 



has been attached. He acted as the 

 sole inspector in Ontario for nearly 20 

 years, and came to be well known for 

 his genial nature and ready Irish wit 

 from one end of the province to the 

 other. At every convention as long as 

 he lived, Mr. McEvoy was always on 

 hand to do his part in keeping things 

 going in the way of discussion, con- 

 troversy and fun. Aside from discus- 

 sions of bee-disease, I believe one of 

 his best ideas was one which usually 

 caused a laugh, not so much at the 

 idea as at the quaint way he had of 

 expressing it. He said that during the 

 spring the larvE must always be well 

 fed to keep them "fat." If the larvae 

 were not kept "fat," they would not 

 develop healthy bees. He was the first, 

 so far as I can learn, to publicly ad- 

 vance the idea that spring stimulative 

 feeding is not so much to stimulate the 

 queen, as to stimulate the nurse bees 

 to make them feed the larva: well, and 

 as he expressed it, "keep them fat." 

 The McEvoy apiaries are now managed 

 by his sons — most capable young men. 



During 1890 and 1891, Allen Pringle, 

 of Selby, was president, and in 1892 

 and 1893, Mr. F. A. Gemmell, of Strat- 

 ford, occupied the chair. Mr. Gem- 

 mell is best known on account of im- 

 provements he placed on the Hatch 

 wax-press, which came to be called the 

 Hatch-Gemmell press. 



In 1894, the president was Mr. A. 

 Pickett; in 1895, Mr. J. B. Hall, and in 

 1896, Mr. R. F. Holtermann. 



J. K. Darling, of Almonte, was presi- 

 dent in 1897. Aside from his success- 

 ful apiary, Mr. Darling was an exten- 

 sive farmer, specializing, in dairy cattle. 



FIG. 7 -AT ONE OF THE KROUSE YARDS AN OLD SHOW WAGON IS USED 

 AS AN EXIRACTING HOUSE 



cupied the chair, legislation for the 

 suppression of foulbrood was passed 

 by the Ontario legislature, and Mr. 

 Wm. McEvoy, was appointed Provin- 

 cial Inspector, under the direction of 

 the Beekeepers' Association While 

 not the first discoverer, Mr. McEvoy 

 was the first to bring promptly before 

 the beekeeping world the method of 

 treating foulbrood, to which his name 



I visited hia home last winter and was 

 very pleasantly entertained by Mrs. 

 Darling and her son and two daughters. 

 The president in 1898, was Mr. M. B. 

 Holmes, of Athens, who is still actively 

 engaged in beekeeping and in associa- 

 tion work. Being a director, Mr. 

 Holmes is always at the annual meet- 

 ing, and every year an apiary demon- 

 stration is held at his home, where the 



County Beekeepers' Association meets 

 to spend an enjoyable afternoon. Mr. 

 Holmes is peculiarly adapted to act as 

 host on such occasions, being endowed 

 with dry humor and a ready wit. He 

 is a successful beekeeper, having his 

 apiary in splendid condition, and is 

 much respected by the beekeepers of 

 his community. 



Mr. W. J. Brown, of Chard, was presi- 

 dent in 1899, and C. W. Post, of Tren- 

 ton, in 1900. Mr. Post was at one time 

 extensively engaged in migratory bee- 

 keeping, moving up the Trent river for 

 basswood and down in Prince Edward 

 county for buckwheat. 



Mr. John Newton, of Thamesford, a 

 pupil of the late J. B. Hall, was presi- 

 dent in 1901. Mr. Newton has been 

 director for his district for a number of 

 years, also secretary of the Oxford 

 County Beekeepers' Association, one 

 of the oldest county associations in 

 the province. He has a small bee sup- 

 ply business, specializing in comb foun- 

 dation, in connection with his apiary. 

 At the annual convention, Mr. Newton 

 can always be depended upon to help 

 in discussions and handle question 

 drawers. 



In 1902, Mr. J. D. Evans, of Islington, 

 was president. A successful beekeeper 

 and a genial friend, Mr. Evans his al- 

 ways been an out-spoken member of 

 the association, never afraid to express 

 his views even though they were radi- 

 cally opposed to the general opinion 

 of the meeting. One of his pet schemes, 

 has been that every beekeeper should 

 be taxed on a per colony basis; the 

 money thus collected being used for 

 the purpose of controlling bee diseases. 

 The idea has never been very favorably 

 received by the majority of the mem- 

 bers present, on the basis that we are 

 usually taxed sufficiently without ask- 

 ing for more. 



In 1903, Mr. W. A. Chrysler, of Chat- 

 ham, was president. Mr. Chrysler is a 

 sectional hive man and has for some 

 time conducted a successful bee-supply 

 business in connection with his api- 

 aries. His son Ernest is now in part- 

 nership with him, and holds the posi- 

 tion of director of the association for 

 his district. 



In 1904, Mr. J. W. Sparling, of Bow- 

 manville, was president. Mr. Sparling 

 was at one time an active exhibitor at 

 Toronto, and closely associated with 

 the organization. Of late years he has 

 not appeared so much at beekeepers' 

 meetings, and the last word I had from 

 him, he was spending the winter in 

 sunny California. 



Another of our successful beekeep- 

 ers, Mr. H. G. Sibbald. of Toronto, was 

 president for 1905 and 1906. Keeping 

 about 300 colonies in a rolling district 

 about 30 miles from Toronto, Mr. Sib- 

 bald has reported some very good 

 yields of clover honey. His returns 

 have been sufficient to warrant his 

 keeping up a home both in the city and 

 in the country, spending only the sum- 

 mer months at his country home where 

 his apiaries are located. He was one 

 of the earliest automobile enthusiasts 

 of the association, reporting some years 

 ago the fact that we now know to be 

 true, that a motor car would enable 

 one to run an extra apiary sufficient to 

 pay running expenses of the car and 

 give the pleasure of motoring besides. 

 [To be continued). 



