January, 1915, 



American Hee Journal 



statement for the deoartnient records 

 after this fashion : 



April. 1912 Crop. 1912 Average Beekeepers 

 colonies pounds ponnds 1913 



Delta .")0(i ltj,.')(lil :il 78 



This data gives us a starting point 

 for all future comparisons, while the 

 inspector's note book keeps tab on 

 the individuals. Many times in the 

 course of the season the note book is 

 pushed under the eyes of a doubting 

 Thomas to spur him into a little ac- 

 tivity. 



At the beginning of the season, be- 

 fore steady inspection work is started. 

 I spend a day in each locality to hold 

 a demonstration meeting chiefly to 

 nurse whatever enthusiasm has been 

 aroused. On the occasion of that 

 visitlleain as much as I can about 

 the preceding summer's crop, but in 

 the short time available it is utterly 

 impossible to get complete returns. 

 But I credit no apiary unless I get a 

 definite report, so the figures entered 

 for a district are decidedly under the 

 actual. Another point must be re- 

 membered, the nearer to the honey 

 flow the instruction was given the less 

 chance there is of any improvement 

 being evident in that season's crop. 



On referring to my note book I find 

 the districts 1 visited for the first time 

 in 1911 and 1912 increased their honey 

 production from 4500 pounds in the 

 year preceding my visit to 16,733 

 pounds in 1912, a gain of 12,233 pounds, 

 fairly attributable I think to my ef- 

 forts. To this amount should be added 

 the gain made in 1911, which amounted 

 to 4000 pounds, a total of 16,233 pounds. 

 The real gain is decidedly more, for 

 the apiaries not reporting are not cred- 

 ited with a single pound ; not even the 

 amount they secured before my work 

 began. The figures, therefore, are very 

 conservative. 



The beekeeper can sell to a whole- 

 saler in Vancouver his whole crop at 

 12j^ cents a pound, and the buyer will 

 furnish the cans. But ^ s a matter of 

 fact three-fourths of the crop was sold 

 locally at prices round about 30 cents 

 a pound. A very fair average would 

 f'erefore be 15 cents a pound, which 

 works out a $2434 gain. This sum 

 easily pays all my services cost the 

 Government in the two years. From 

 now on the capital invested through 

 the Department of Agriculture should 

 pay returns of more than 100 percent 

 annually to the farmer. It certainly 

 pays to look after the welfare of the 

 worker. 



A SYSTEM OF BEE INSTRUCTION. 



For over 40 years I have been en- 

 gaged in teaching either directly or 

 indirectly. The longer 1 teach the 

 more perplexing I find one problem, 

 to express myself in language that tlie 

 one being taught can fit into his men- 

 tal experiences. Once I can compre- 

 hend the other fellow's mental attitude 

 the task is easy. Let us take the farmer 

 with a few colonies of bees. Bees are 

 really a form of stock, but he usually 

 does not see it thatway. Cattle, sheep, 

 horses, pigs and chickens have to be 

 cared for every day, but since the bees 

 need only occasional attention they as 

 a rule get none. If every day they had 

 to be fed, watered, their quarters 

 cleaned and bedding given, there would 



be very few poor beekeepers. But un- 

 luckily for them the bees attend to the 

 sanitation of the hive, the food supply 

 and the carrying in of the water, hence 

 are supposed to need no care. 



During my first season I tried to in- 

 terest the farmers, and while I felt I 

 was making some impression I knew 

 I was not clinching as I would like. 

 My mental attitude did not harmonize 

 with theirs. In my second year I de- 

 veloped the idea that bees were just a 

 form of stock, and required to be cared 

 for like any other animals on the farm. 

 I felt I was getting near, but not next. 

 At the beginning of the third season a 

 happy idea struck me, and now I had 

 the farmer really interested. 



Bees are a form of stock, and as you 

 know, when you want something to 

 eat from stock you must stop the next 

 generation. If you eat the eggs, there 

 will be no chickens; if you want milk 

 you kill the calf; when you eat the cow 

 there can be no more young. That 

 argument they could follow, it fitted in 

 with their daily experience. Then 

 comes the clincher, to get honey you 

 must stop the swarm, which is the next 

 generation of bees. Now we are fairly 

 on the rails and the running is easy. 

 " But how can we prevent swarming ?" 

 I always thought swarms were good 

 things to have ; now I see why I get no 

 honey." Out of my pocket I pull my 

 model bee hives — please do not tell 

 everybody, but they are cigarette boxes 

 — and begin to do a little juggling with 

 them. Although the orthodox way in 

 schools, most teachers know that the 

 ear is not by any means the best way 

 of access to the brain; the eye is far 

 superior, better still to use both of 

 these senses. 



So I place a box on the table if we 

 happen to be in a room, or as gener- 

 ally happens, on a step of a porch, and 

 call that the hive on the winter stand. 

 Then I briefly tell the story of the 

 spring-building up season, or the rapid 

 increase in population, and especially 



how in the month of May a first-class 

 queen will keep about a dozen frames 

 full of brood. But there are only eight 

 frames in his hive, the queen rarely 

 lays in the outside frames, so when the 

 other six are all packed with brood, 

 what is going to happen ? In addition 

 I remind him of the need of fresh air. 

 There are probably a hundred thou- 

 sand living things in the hive all need- 

 ing fresh air every minute, and how all 

 the air that enters the hive must come 

 through the entrance. He is giving 

 considerable attention to the ventila- 

 tion of his barns, but neglects his 

 bees. Just think how they must suffer 

 when all the air they consume must 

 come through an aperture 3x^s inches. 



When the queen needs more room to 

 lay and cannot find empty cells in the 

 hive, what will the bees do ? Why, 

 probably swarm. When the bees are 

 sweltering on account of the heat and 

 poor ventilation, what is the most nat- 

 ural thing in the world to do ? Go 

 somewhere else of course. You do 

 not need to tell him, he answers every 

 time. Well, what should the beekeeper 

 do to keep the bees at home ? Give 

 them a. second story filled with brood 

 combs. So here I put the second box 

 on top of the first, and tell him this is 

 how his hives ought to look on the 

 first day of May. And if the bees need 

 more fresh air, and the need for it is 

 best shown by their hanging out at 

 night, just enlarge the entrance. If 

 no other way is possible tilt up the 

 front of the hive and slip bits of stick 

 about >'s-inch thick under the ends of 

 the front. Here I slip in bits of 

 matches under the bo'tom bo.x, 



Now we are all right until the honey 

 flow comes, with mighty little chance 

 of swarming. Clover blooms in the 

 lower Fraser valley about the end of 

 May, but the bees do not ordinarily 

 work on it until more than a month 

 later, so I am safe in fixing the longest 

 day, June 21, as the date on which to 

 put on the third storj to catch the sur- 



CONVENTION GROUP AT THE ILLINOIS MEETING AT SPRINGFIELD 



