February, igio. 



American Vee Journal 



brood all nearly of tlie same atre. Such a 

 condition is not possible in combs that are 

 Dartly filled with honey when the queen 

 commences to lay in them. 



Kew rjeople realize how a eood. strong col- 

 ony of bees will boom ahead under the 

 stimulus of regular feeding in the spring. 

 and at this time sugar syrup regularly fed is 

 of ten times the value of capped honey to 

 thebees.-F. P. Adams, in the Cuiaduiii Bee 

 Journal. 



Mr. Adams is one of our most suc- 

 cessful bee-keepers, and also a queen- 

 breeder on a large scale, hence any- 

 thing from his pen is always worth our 

 serious consideration, 



What he says in the foregoing is, I 

 believe, entirely correct in so far as the 

 handling of pure Italians is concerned, 

 but when Carniolans and their crosses 

 are taken into consideration a lot of 

 modification is necessary, of some of 

 the statements made. 



With me, the major part of my bees 

 have Carniolan blood, and although 

 the past few years have seen the large 

 hives literally jammed with stores, yet 

 so far the full combs have not bothered 

 me any in the spring. Mr. Adams says : 



" Bees yvill not use up sealed stores for 

 brood-rearing to any e.xtent. and the pres- 

 ence of this surplus honey in the hives is no 

 indication of prosperity. It is rather the 

 reverse." 



Quite possibly so with the Italians, 

 biit pretty sure to be just the reverse 

 with Carniolans. The past 3 springs 

 have been classed as unfavorable for 

 brood-rearing, judging from many re- 

 ports to that effect, but in my own 

 yards my experience has been that just 

 siach springs are the very best for Car- 

 niolans. Granted a big hive with abun- 

 dance of stores early in the spring, 

 even if the bees get only an occasional 

 flight during weeks of bad weather, the 

 result will be, every time, that all these 

 sealed combs will be converted into 

 bees, and the colonies will be boiling 

 over with bees by fruit-bloom. 



Before me I have a letter, sent me in 

 the spring of 1908 from Mr. McEvoy, 

 in reply to one I had sent him earlier, 

 in which I stated that my bees were so 

 heavy in stores after wintering that I 

 did not know what to do to get rid of 

 all the buckwheat in the hives before 

 the clover flow came on, as I expected 

 to be so busy as not to have time to 

 follow out the known plans to carry out 

 this purpose. Mr. McEvoy kindly' sent 

 me instructions as to how to proceed — 

 methods that, in his judgment, would 

 be the best, and I had decided to go by 

 his advice in the matter, to the best of 

 my ability. 



Just a few days after this the weather 

 turned cool and wet, and continued so 

 almost continuously for weeks. Noth- 

 ing was done at all, as it was rare that 

 conditions were that a hive could be 

 opened, and during this time many 

 were heard to complain of starving 

 bees. Of course, I did not fear that, 

 anyway, and when at last the weather 

 did clear, what was my surprise to find 

 practically all of the stores used up and 

 the hives boiling over with young bees. 

 The result was that nearly all my bees 

 had to be supered during fruit-bloom, 

 and from the many adverse reports re- 

 ceived that spring I am convinced that 

 the Carniolan blood was responsible 

 for the good results — certainly it was 

 no credit to me, as I did nothing but 

 smile over the fact that the bees were 



so well supplied during all the bad 

 weather. 



Malign the Carniolan bees as much 

 as you will, yet the most prejudiced 

 Italian worshipper will have to admit, 

 on trial, that for good wintering and 

 for brood-rearing in the spring, under 

 adverse conditions, the Italians are 

 simply "not in it." 



Let me add that I have no queens for 

 sale, lest I be misjudged in my motives 

 in thus writing. 



men have failed to discover their value 

 — if value they have. I do not attempt 

 to solve the difference of opinion, and 

 as the matter of " locality " does not 

 seem to enter into this proposition, I 

 will leave the subject for each one's in- 

 dividual solution. 



Bait-Combs in Supers 



Not being a comb-honey producer it 

 seems like presumption on my part to 

 make any comments on what others 

 write on that subject. However, after 

 glancing over the article of Mr. Doo- 

 little's, on page 405 (1909), and noticing 

 there, as I have often before in his 

 writings, the great amount of impor- 

 tance he attaches to having bait-combs 

 in comb-honey supers, I could not help 

 but reflect how the great majority of 

 our extensive comb-honey producers 

 here in Ontario absolutely want none 

 of these baits, and, in some cases, at 

 least, they claim they are a decided 

 detriment. That these same men " pro- 

 duce the goods " no one will deny who 

 has a chance to see their product, and 

 in the matter of quantity — well, it is just 

 a chance if they will take second place 

 in that matter, either. I happen to 

 know that a number on the "other 

 side" have no use for the baits, either, 

 and indeed a couple of New Yorkers 

 come to my mind who have expressed 

 themselves on the matter very forcibly. 



Mr. Dooltttle certainly must have 

 found the baits profitable else he would 

 not advocate them so persistently; 

 and, on the other hand, it seems a won- 

 der that the many other comb-honey 



Chunk Noney in the North 



Louis Scholl may advocate the pro- 

 duction of bulk or chunk honey as 

 much as he likes, and for all tha't he 

 says seems to make it clear beyond a 

 doubt that the thing is and will be a 

 success in the South, yet I feel confi- 

 dent that not much trade will ever be 

 done in honey in that form here in the 

 North. Why? Simply because of the 

 matter of granulation, if for nothing 

 else. Granulated extracted honey is 

 one thing, but granulated extracted 

 honey and comb honey mixed is a dif- 

 ferent proposition. When the pur- 

 chaser tried to liquefy a mixture of 

 this kind, he would wonder what he had 

 discovered when the resulant product 

 would be revealed, and quite likely one 

 application would be sufficient for the 

 customer. 



We Ontario bee-keepers feel glad to 

 know that at last extracted honey here 

 has gained such an honorable status 

 that there will be no trouble for years 

 to come in disposing of all we pro- 

 duce, at a good figure. As to comb 

 honey in sections, the price is so high 

 that the producers can well afford to 

 cultivate the market for the style in 

 vogue, and it is doubtful if a comb- 

 honey producer could be found at 

 present who would seriously entertain 

 the thought of producing chunk honey 

 as a substitute. This being the case, 

 we will be glad to leave to our South- 

 ern friends the monopoly of producing 

 the mixed article. 



Conducted by EMMA M. WILSON. Maicuto. 1,1. 



Golden Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. 

 Anderson 



It is a pleasure to have the oppor- 

 tunity of presenting to the sisters Mr. 

 and Mrs. J. L. Anderson, who have 

 lately celebrated their golden wedding. 

 Perhaps the sisters will remember Mr. 

 Anderson as the man who recom- 

 mended that each sister should have a 

 hive-lifter similar to one he gave an 

 illustration of. 



Of the iiO or more who witnessed the 

 marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson 50 

 years ago, only one person now sur- 

 vives. 



Mr. Anderson was born in E. Berk- 

 shire, Vt, April 12, 1836, and in 1856 

 came to the vicinity of Marengo, III. 

 Mrs. Anderson was born June 12, 1831, 



near Buffalo, N. Y., and in 1845. with 

 her parents and nine sisters and broth- 

 ers, came to the locality where she has 

 lived ever since, being the onlv one 

 now living of the early settlers' who 

 came to that vicinity. 



In an account of the golden wedding, 

 in the Harvard Herald, occurs the fol- 

 lowing : 



Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are well known in 

 the community about Harvard, their home, 

 having been at Lawrence for more than so 

 years. Their acts of charity and good-will 

 have made them popular with old and 



