January 



American ^ec Joumsil) 



work. What do you think of the project. 



and how can I succeed at your end of the 



line ? I will thank you for any information. 



Cook Co.. 111. E. H. Bkuner. 



It appears to me as if the project 

 might be carried out, and with consid- 

 erable success. At this end of the line 

 you would have to run exclusively for 

 extracted honey, and leave no doubt- 

 ful colonies in the apiaries, and you 

 would have to keep close record of the 

 queens and risk no old ones with colo- 

 nies. Plenty of storing room could be 

 added at the time of your departure, 

 and ready-built combs would be best 

 with perhaps a little comb foundation 



to draw out in some of the frames 

 scattered among the ready-built combs. 

 It would be all right to run one and ex- 

 tract the season's crop of honey, and 

 market same on your return the first of 

 October each season. Then during 

 winter you could get the necessary 

 supplies ready for next season's crop, 

 and in February and March get the 

 bees ready for the flow which comes 

 on in most locations the first of April, 

 and in some locations the main honey- 

 flow comes on about the first of March. 

 So you would have time to leave the 

 bees in the best shape for the season, 

 and right in the main honey-flow. 



Seriously speaking, I do not see how 

 any man keeping bees can do without 

 at least one up-to-date bee-paper, and 

 when he relishes the one, more than 

 likely he will increase from one to two 

 or three. Of course, there is a great 

 lot of "chaflf" in the papers, and the 

 writer certainly furnishes his own 

 share of this material, yet when all is 

 said and done, no question but that the 

 papers devoted to bee-keeping are do- 

 ing a good work in helping the busi- 

 ness along. 



And then, we must not forget the 

 social side of the question. One of 

 the things that makes life worth living, 

 is the large number of real friends that 

 have been formed through the agency 

 of these same papers, and while this is 

 a personal experience, no question but 

 that hundreds of others would give the 

 same testimony. 



Conducted by J. L. Byer. Mt. Joy. Ontario. 



Erratic Weather Conditions 



October weather in September, Sep- 

 tember weather in October, continued 

 by a reversal of like nature for Novem- 

 ber and December, seems to be the 

 closing scenes for 1911 — a year that has 

 been erratic in so far as weather con- 

 ditions are concerned ever since last 

 March. 



We had an early "freeze up " here in 

 Ontario, with the result that quite a 

 few farmers did not get in their turnip 

 crop. .A.bout Dec. 4th, the weather 

 turned warm, snow disappeared, and 

 plowing has been general for 10 days 

 since that date. How will this affect 

 the wintering of the bees ? While in 

 ■case of cellar-wintering it has been 

 necessary to open windows at night, 

 yet no particular harm is being caused 

 by the warm spell, as so early in the 

 season it is not as serious a question 

 as it is later on in February or March. 

 As to the bees wintering outside, the 

 change has been for the good, as in our 

 locality they had no good cleansing 

 flight late in November. 



.\t present all the colonies have had 

 a flight inside the past 10 days, so with 

 normal conditions from now on, good 

 wintering is reasonably assured. Last 

 fall our bees had no flight from some 

 time in October until the following 

 March, and yet they wintered fairly 

 -well. Naturally with much better con- 

 ditions this fall, we are hoping for the 

 best results in wintering this season 



again. 



< • » 



Freight-Rate on Granulated Honey 



Just a few days before our recent 

 convention in Toronto, an extensive 

 honey-dea'er in British Columbia wrote 

 me asking that I bring the matter of 

 freight-rates on granulated extracted 

 honey before the meeting, and see if 

 they would not take steps to have the 

 •question presented to the Railway Com- 

 mission of Canada. In writing me he 

 stated that in his opinion granulated 

 honey in barrels or crated tins was 

 just about as safe to handle as cord- 

 7i.'ood, in so far as loss to the railways 

 is concerned, and he thought that a 



separate classification should be made 

 for the granulated article. 



The idea seems reasonable, and I 

 have been wondering if any of the rail- 

 ways in the United States recognize a 

 difference between liquid and granu- 

 lated honey. Perhaps some of the 

 Western shippers, or Eastern buyers 

 of carload or smaller lots, can give me 

 light on this question. As it is at 

 present, the excessive freight-rates on 

 honey to the Western Provinces of 

 Canada work out as a real hardship to 

 both producer and consumer, and as 

 my friend in British Columbia says, if 

 the freight-rate was not so high, they 

 in the West could handle much more 

 Eastern honey than is possible under 

 present conditions. While the rate on 

 carload lots is hiff/i, the charges on 

 small lots are almost prohibitive when 

 it comes to shipping as far west as 

 British Columbia, and northern and 

 western Alberta. The matter is cer- 

 tainly one well worth looking after, 

 and even if we could get no relief, any 

 exertion put forth is not likely to do us 

 any harm. 



The Value of Bee-Papers 



In response to your invitation, Mr. 

 Editor, this scribbler begs to say that 

 he, for one, values the bee-papers very 

 much indeed. If told to say just why — 

 well, that would require some thought, 

 and could not be answered to the best 

 advantage in only a few words. But 

 the fact remains that ever since I be- 

 came interested in bees the bee-papers 

 have had a peculiar attraction to me, 

 and the different issues of the different 

 papers are always expected with keen 

 interest; and if the mail happens to 

 come in just before dinner, like as not 

 the paper will go to the table with me, 

 and if not on my chair until after the 

 meal is concluded, quite likely hasty 

 glances through the pages will be in- 

 dulged in while the meal is in prog- 

 ress. Of course, such a travesty on 

 table manners would not be allowable 

 if we had comf-any, but just in our own 

 family circle, Mrs. Byer indeed has 

 quite a task to keep me walking cir- 

 cumspectly. 



Bee-Keeping and Fishing 



Judging by the responses received 

 about the item of mine in a recent issue 

 in regard to my failing in being af- 

 flicted with the " fishing habit," I judge 

 that other bee-keepers are inoculated 

 with the same germ also. Our friend 

 in Iowa writes me that for the past 

 year all his " fishing " has been done 

 with the "silver " hook, as with them 

 all the streams are dry from the effects 

 of the great drouth. As he adds that 

 the drouth is still unbroken, I surmise 

 that prospects will not be good for the 

 bees next year, and in that respect I 

 can sympathize with him. While in 

 our country the rains have fallen abun- 

 dantly, yet we will have little clover for 

 next year. Oh, well, our streams are 

 not dried up anyway, so if we have no 

 honey to bother with, we will have all 

 the niore time to " go fishing !" 



Mustard Honey-^AIfalfa Honey 



Arthur C. Miller says, on page 367, 

 that mustard honey is " bitterer than 

 quinine; it ruins any honey it is mixed 

 with." If by " mustard " he means char- 

 lock or wild mustard as we have it here 

 in Ontario— a weed that grows very 

 plentifully in grain on some farms — 

 some bee-keepers, including myself, 

 who live in localities where this plant 

 is plentiful, will wonder if the picture 

 is not overdrawn. 



Of course, "locality" may make a 

 difference, and mustard honey in Rhode 

 Island may be different from mustard 

 honey here in Ontario. Be that as it 

 may, while the honey from that source 

 is rather sharp to the taste, and if eaten 

 plentifully will leave a slight burning in 

 the throat, yet when it goes with our 

 clover honey, as it usually does, it cer- 

 tainly does not spoil the honey for 

 table use. 



Concerning the " blending " of honey 

 that Mr. Miller is so enthusiastic 

 about, while it may be all right for his 

 locality and others, justaround Toronto 

 a fellow would have to be pretty care- 

 ful what he was doing. Certainly in 

 that market "color" counts, and when 

 a honey is of good color and good 

 body, it is pretty sure to be a real good 

 article. Of course, our white honey is 

 practically all white and alsike clover, 

 and basswood. 



