January, 1915. 



American Hee Jonrnal 



new counties have been taken into the 

 diseased area this year. It is only a 

 matter of time untilthe whole province 

 is covered. Nothing but careful re- 

 queening with vigorous stock and ad- 

 vanced methods of management will 

 save any apiary in Ontario from ulti- 

 mate destruction. By our publications, 

 demonstrations and inspectors, prac- 

 tically every beekeeper of Ontario has 

 been repeatedly warned, yet compara- 

 tively few have taken heed, or will heed 

 until the enemy is upon them, and they 

 have suffered heavy loss. In the in- 

 fected areas the business has been re- 

 duced to the very few who have taken 

 advice and are building up their api- 

 aries again to a paying basis. These 

 few are proving the truth of what has 

 been said and their evidence is of great 

 value in the educational campaign still 

 being waged i i advance of the disease. 



No doubt one reason for the indiffer- 

 ence to warnings in the European foul 

 brood counties is the fact that pre- 

 viously no bee-disease had been known 

 there. It is only this year that the 

 American and European foul brood 

 territory begins to overlap — in Victoria 

 county. From now on we can expect 

 an increasing number of cases of the 

 two diseases in one and the same col- 

 ony. This will no doubt make it nec- 

 essary to treat all such colonies by re- 

 queening for European foul brood, and 

 by shaking for the American variety 

 of disease. 



Fifty-five apiary demonstrations were 

 held in all parts of Ontario, with a 

 total attendance of 1861 persons. In 

 1912, the average attendance was 25, in 

 1913 it was 32, an 1 this year 34, show- 

 ing an increased interest from year to 

 year. 



This report would not be complete 

 without mention being made of the 

 public spiritedness and the hospitality 

 of several who have given their assist- 

 ance. Fifty-five beekeepers have at 

 considerable inconvenience allowed 

 their apiaries to be used for demonstra- 

 tions. In many cases their wives and 

 other ladies of the neighborhood have 

 provided refreshments for the demon- 

 strators and for the beekeepers in at- 

 tendance. Hundreds of other beekeep- 

 ers have given a hearty welcome and 

 cordial hospitality to the inspectors on 

 their rounds. All this is very much 

 appreciated both by the inspectors and 

 by the department, and goes a long 

 way towards smoothing the path of the 

 public servant which is not always 

 lined with roses. 



Guelph, Ont. 



in terms of food, clothing and shelter, 

 and you will find there the same domi- 

 nant note that is sounding today all 

 over Christendom. Then get at the 

 story of the labor unions of the Greek 

 and Roman Empires, when you will 

 discover not merely a note but a pro- 

 nounced roar. You will comprehend 

 why the Christian movement spread so 

 rapidly over the civilized world, and 

 why it was the one religion hated by 

 the Roman authorities, whose proudest 

 boast was that all faiths looked alike 

 to them. 



Once again the cry is with us, the 

 welfare of the worker. The employers 

 demand a better training for him, that 

 he may be more efficient, and so earn 

 more profits. The worker himself is 

 anxious for higher skill that he may 

 earn better wages. In that classical 

 land of the origin and development of 

 our modern industrial system. Great 

 Britain, the worker has expressed in 

 plain and simplelangu::ge that he must 

 receive a decent and certain living in 

 exchange for his services, or he will 

 not work. 



Even in British Columbia, young in 

 years and sparse in population, we feel 

 the rising of the new tide and arc 

 hastening to move on the crest of the 

 wave. Our resources are agriculture, 

 timber, mining and fisheries. The first 

 is receiving the greatest educational 

 attention just at present because we 

 have so many on the soil that were 

 trained to other occupations, and do 

 need to be guided into proper methods. 

 The teaching of apiculture is a new 

 departure, and originally was under- 

 taken as a side line, the idea being to 

 safeguard the interests of the fruit 

 men who naturally had to depend upon 

 the bee for the certain pollination of 

 the fruit blossoms. The chief of the 

 Department of Agriculture appreciated 

 fully how wide reaching are the effects 

 of an outbreak of foulbrood, and de- 

 cided that an ounce of protection was 

 worth many pounds of cure. His ac- 

 tion was happily timed, for in re- 

 sponse to a preliminary circular sent 

 out to the 100 beekeepers whose names 

 had been secured by the writer, a sus- 

 picious case was reported, which, on 

 investigation, proved to be foulbrood. 



The Life of a Bee Inspector, 

 Teaching Apiculture- 

 Does it Pay? 



BY F. DUNU.-\S TODD. 



THERE is a new gospel abroad in 

 the world today, it is old, and thus 

 ever new, and the sound of its 

 advance has become ever louder in 

 the past few years. It is the gospel of 

 the welfare of the worker. Ever hear 

 of it before ? If not, read the first four 

 books of the New Testament, thinking 

 not of spiritual matters as you are 

 generally supposed to do, but thinking 



imported from Ontario a few months 

 before. It was wiped out before the 

 infection had spread. 



The province has not the power to 

 prohibit the importation of bees into 

 its bounds, but it puts into quarantine 

 for nine months at the point of entry 

 all bees that arrive in combs or in reg- 

 ular hives. Since the passing of the 

 Foulbrood Act no settler has cared to 

 chance his bees being left on the 

 boundary line of the province, possi- 

 bly on a mountain peak a few thousand 

 feet above sea level, and the foulbrood 

 inspectors are just as well satisfied. 

 There are bees in plenty in the settled 

 parts of British Columbia; in fact, the 

 woods are literally full of them, so any 

 bee hunter can have all the sport he 

 wints within a mile or two of most 

 towns, for nearly every dead cedar 

 holds a colony. 



Much of our river bottom land has 

 been divided into five and ten acre 

 lots on which intensive farming is be- 

 ing developed. Beekeeping has been 

 attempted as a side line by many, but 

 not profitably for the simple reason 

 that the beekeepers were ignorant of 

 the rudiments of the art. I find many 

 of them own a standard book on bee- 

 keeping, but these are so all-inclusive 

 that they tangle almost every one into 

 a hopeless mess. Again and again I 

 have had to ask the better half of the 

 family to hide the book for a couple of 

 years to prevent the enthusiast experi- 

 menting with every trick inside its 

 covers, all at once. I find it far better 

 to teach the average man at first just 

 what is indispensable, and not one jot 

 more. Once he gets a crop and gets 

 confidenc e in himself it is surprising 

 how rapidly he advances. 



Can a bee instructor earn his salt in 

 salt, otherwise can he earn his money 

 in honey ? If he cannot his existence 

 is not justified in these highly utili- 

 tarian days. Let us see. When I en- 

 ter a bee yard for the first time my first 

 task is to learn its efficiency. Pulling 

 out my note book I want to know how 

 many hives were on the stand in April 

 of the previous year, and what amount 

 of honey was taken ot'f the hives at the 

 end of the season. Once I am through 

 with a district I make up a statistical 



CHINESE HIVE— (To view properli'. hold about one foot above level of eyes.) 



