American l^ee Journal 



tions in connection with the foul brood 

 inspection work. The writer gave 

 such demonstrations while inspecting 

 during the years 1902, 1903 and 1909. 

 The plan, therefore, is not a new one 

 on this side of the line, and whether 

 the caution had been taken by Mr. 

 Pettit to copyright the plan or not, it 

 would not have interfered with the plan 



already put in operation by the writer 

 nearly 10 years ago. It is hoped that 

 this plan of educating bee-keepers 

 about foul brood and other diseases of 

 bees, and the manner of treating them, 

 will be more largely adopted and car- 

 ried out, as it is one of the most prac- 

 tical means by which great good can be 

 accomplished. 



much, the cement stands are not to be 

 considered, as their great weight makes 

 them undesirable. 



Conducted by J. L. Bver. Mt. Jov, Ontario. 



North Carolina a Promising Bee-Country 



A short time ago I mentioned the 

 fact that my father was spending the 

 winter months in North Carolina. A 

 few days ago he returned home, and 

 brought with him, among other things, 

 two samples of honey from a friend in 

 Buncombe county — a Mr. Horton. if I 

 remember the name correctly. The 

 samples were from the poplar and 

 sourwood. The first named was not 

 fancied very much by the members of 

 the family in general, although, for my- 

 self, I could eat it all right. Dark in 

 color, and rather strong in flavor, yet 

 it is not as prominent in either of these 

 characteristics as buckwheat honey, 

 and for any one who likes the buck- 

 wheat article, no doubt the poplar 

 would find equal favor. As to the 

 sourwood honey, it is a nice article, but 

 we may be pardoned for thinking it 

 >io/ quite as good as our clover and 

 basswood. 



By the way, my father thinks there is 

 a great future for the honey industry 

 in the county named, and he was sur- 

 prised, with all the favorable things 

 present to encourage bee-keeping, that 

 the industry is not more developed 

 than is the case. He painted such a 

 glowing picture of the section that the 

 writer felt that it would be a good 

 place to go to ; but when my better 

 half heard him say that there were 

 quite a lot of snakes in that country — 

 well, that settled all my chances of 

 migrating, unless I should decide to go 

 without her, and, of course, such a 

 thing is out of the question, for if left 

 to my own devices I would surely be 

 getting into all sorts of trouble. 



Prospects Through Canada 



In the Mav issue of the American 

 Bee Journal' I stated that the little 

 clover we had left last fall had win- 

 tered well. I had not reckoned with 

 the latter part of April yet to come 

 after the time I was writing, and at this 

 date there is a different story to tell. 

 With hard freezing by night and thaw- 

 ing by day, our alsike was badly in- 

 jured—much of it killed outright. This 

 is speaking of only York county, as I 

 have not had reports from other sec- 

 tions. A trip a few weeks ago up 

 through the northern part of Simcoe 

 showed the clover to be all right there, 

 so no doubt in many places the pros- 

 pects are good for a crop. As to win- 



tering, reports are meager and con 

 flicting, but losses are not heavy in 

 general, and where bees wintered well 

 they are very strong at date of writing 

 (May 13th), considering the late, back- 

 ward spring we have had. 



The first 10 days of May were ideal 

 bee-weather, but today the change has 

 been to very cold weather for this time 

 of the year, and with the rapid exten- 

 sion of the brood-nests during the past 

 two weeks, no doubt brood will be 

 chilled, especially in unprotected hives. 

 Yellow willows and hard maple are in 

 bloom, while dandelions are just open- 

 ing. Naturally bee-keepers will be 

 looking for a return to warm weather 

 with interest, when such an abundance 

 of spring bloom is awaiting the bees, 

 and they will be very glad if the pres- 

 ent cold snap does not develop a frost 

 before the warm change comes again. 



Cement for Hive-Stands 



G. A. Deadman tells in the Canadian 

 Bee Journal how he made a number of 

 cement stands for his bee-hives. Aside 

 from the growing scarcity and conse- 

 quent high price of lumber, Mr. Dead- 

 man says that the cement stands are 

 better than those of lumber, because of 

 less dampness to aflfect the bottom- 

 boards, and, again, hives will not freeze 

 down to the cement — this latter advan- 

 tage applying of course only to cellar 

 wintering. Wooden forms are made 

 to hold the cement, and as to the cost 

 and labor, I quote from his article : 

 " Thirty bags of Canadian cement com- 

 bined with nearly 2 loads of sand (3 

 cubic yards) made 300 blocks. Two 

 men can easily make 15 blocks per 

 hour, exclusive of emptying and re- 

 filling the molds, which is hard to esti- 

 mate, but which does not take long. 

 The cement at 40 cents per bag, and the 

 sand at $1..jO per load, would be 5 cents 

 per block for the material, or 5 cents 

 per hive. To this must be added the 

 price of the labor." 



The durability of these cement blocks 

 will appeal to all who have bees 

 are never moved about, and I have 

 often wished for something that was 

 always in its place, that would not 

 topple over or get " lop-sided," that 

 would not rot — but why enumerate 

 further, when all who have had experi- 

 ence with bees know of the trouble in 

 keeping good foundation for the hives ? 

 However, if one is moving bees very 



Another Inspector in Canada Diet 



When writing the obituary notices 

 of three departed friends last month, 

 little did I think that at that time an- 

 other inspector of apiaries had just 

 died. Col. J. B. Checkley, inspector for 

 three of the eastern counties, while in 

 the best of health apparently, suddenly 

 was stricken and in a short time 

 passed away. I had never met Mr. 

 Checkley, but my apiary in the east 

 was situated only 5 miles from his 

 home, and while out there I heard of 

 him quite often. Universally respected 

 by all who knew him, his death will be 

 a great loss to the whole community; 

 to the family in particular his unex- 

 pected demise will be a source of great 

 sadness indeed. As to who will be 

 called to fill the offices of the two de- 

 ceased inspectors I have notyet learned, 

 but one thing is getting to be more in 

 evidence all the time, in the future it 

 will be more and more difficult each 

 year to get qualified men to take up 

 this work, as men so qualified choose 

 rather to be in apiary work themselves 

 than to go on inspection work, which 

 is not at all a bed of roses. 



Value of Conventions and Demonstrations 



May is the month in Ontario when 

 conventions and demonstrations in api- 

 aries are in order, and at present a 

 number of them are being announced. 

 These meetings are of very great edu- 

 cational value to all attending, and 

 aside from that, to me at least, it seems 

 that the social side of these meetings is 

 just as important as the educational. 

 Often some will be disappointed be- 

 cause " direct results " of these meet- 

 ings are not more in evidence, forget- 

 ting that great benefits are received by 

 individuals that are not apparent to any 

 one but the one receiving them. 



By all means encourage these meet- 

 ings, even if you are not of the " be- 

 ginner" class, and have an idea that 

 you can learn nothing by attending. 

 Chances are that you will be mistaken 

 in your views, and even if such is not 

 the case, you may be the means of help- 

 ing some one else. Who will not ad- 

 mit after all is said and done that more 

 satisfaction comes from giving than 

 from always expecting things to come 

 your way? 



Tribute to Mr. York 



With mingled feelings the writer 

 learned of the change in the manage- 

 ment of the American Bee Journal. 

 First I noticed who the purchaser of 

 the Journal was, and it gave me a 

 source of pleasure to know that it had 

 fallen into such able hands. Then as I 

 reflected over the relations of the re- 

 tiring editor with myself for a number 

 of years past, I could not help feel 

 sorry that in a certain sense our rela- 

 tions would not be quite so close in 

 the future as in the past. During my 

 years at bee-keeping, and especially 

 since the time when I started to scrib- 



