August, 1912. 



American ^ae -Journal 



Mr. T, W. Livingston. Leslie, Ga. 



castles ' for a great bee-business. It 

 was just the thing, as my bees would 

 not swarm for me. I divided them to 

 my heart's content. It was a great les- 

 son, for the next spring I did not have 

 a live bee. 



" But, in the meantime, a few copies 

 of the National Agriculturist and Bee 

 Journal were sent me, and I discovered 

 good bee-literature, and soon read up 

 and began making substantial progress, 

 bought more be-^s, made a honey-ex- 



tractor, bought an Italian queen, and 

 soon was the most extensive bee- 

 keeper in that section. 



" In 1888 I moved South for my 

 health, and brought my bees with me. 

 Many times I was handicapped, for I 

 met new conditions and some perplex- 

 ing problems. Coming as they did at 

 this critical time of my life, I did not 

 make as great success as I might 

 otherwise have made. 



"The luimlier of my colonies has 



never exceeded 'SM) in a single season, 

 located in from 1 to :i apiaries. I use 

 the regular 10-frame Langstroth hives, 

 and run solely for extracted honey. .1 

 tried the production of comb honey in 

 I-pound sections, but found that the 

 production of extracted honey was far 

 more profitable. 



"I have a natural inclination or tal- 

 ent for mechanical work, and I have 

 made my own supplies with a small 

 hand-power machine. Looking back 

 over my work, however, and the un- 

 satisfactory result of using home-made 

 supplies, I would not advise this step. 

 I have never turned my efforts in any 

 direction save bee-keeping. It has 

 been my source of income, and I have 

 raised a family and educated my chil- 

 dren. As I look back down the long 

 chain of years of my bee-keeping life, 

 and compare the opportunities with 

 those in other lines, I do not think I 

 could have done better, taking my 

 small amount of capital in considera- 

 tion. 



"The two greatest mistakes I made 

 were the partial adoption of the divisi- 

 ble brood-chamber and the production 

 of section-honey. These might not 

 have been mistakes had I been in a dif- 

 ferent location. My bees have never 

 bten neglected except in cases of sick- 

 ness, and I have reared all my queens 

 except a few bought for the sake of 

 better stock. Back in my early bee- 

 keeping days, long before I had ever 

 seen a honey-extractor, I made a small 

 one which I used until I saw a Pea- 

 body honey-extractor with combs, can 

 and all revolving. Then I made one 

 which permitted only the baskets to 

 revolve. I used this until I made my 

 last model, illustrated in the American 

 Bee Journal of March, 1909, which I 

 think is a little ahead of anything yet 

 invented for this purpose." 



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



Northern Ontario as a Bee-Country 



A friend in New York State sends 

 me the following : 



Please answer the followine throuuli the 

 .•\merican Bee Journal : How is the country 

 100 miles north of Toronto. Ont.. for bee- 

 keepinu? Is the spring late and cold, or 

 does it come with a rush i" What have they 

 for bee-pasture, clover or basswood. or 

 both ? 



Does it cost more to winter bees in a mild 

 climate like that of North Carolina than in 

 Canada, where they are frozen up nine 

 months of the year? I read your article on 

 North Carolina, and am very mnch inter- 

 ested in that State. But honey from North 

 Carolina brings only 55 to 65 cents in New 

 York city, while honey from Maryland. 

 Pennsylvania or New York brings qo cents to 

 $1.35. In a warm climate like the Carolinas. 

 the people do not eat honey as in our cold, 

 northern States. Their prices run 12 ton 

 cents a pound for comb honey. 



As a general rule, the spring season 

 is about 10 days later than at Toronto, 

 but that makes little difference as the 



honey-plants last just as long as further 

 south, even if a little later in starting. 

 The spring differs very much in differ- 

 ent seasons, sometimes coming on 

 with steady warm weatlier, while at 

 other times it is quite cool all through 

 early May, and //;/.< year even into 

 June. But from reports received from 

 New York, as well as from other parts 

 of the United States, I surmise that the 

 cool weather was not confined to On- 

 tario, where we "are frozen up nine 

 months of the year." 



By the way, I warn you not to think 

 of coming to Ontario, if you have such 

 an opinion of the climate. The worst 

 I ever heard of before in relation to 

 our climatic conditions, was that we 

 have " six months of winter and six 

 months of cold weather," but "nine 

 months frozen" — well, that is "the 

 limit!" I wish you were here at pres- 

 ent; vou would come to the conclusion 



that we have at least zcarm weather 

 in July. 



As a matter of fact, while our climate 

 is severe in winter, yet northeastern 

 New York can beat us when it comes 

 to registering a low temperature in the 

 winter months. In the locality north 

 of Toronto referred to, we have bass- 

 wood and clover with some raspberry. 

 This combination can be had in many 

 parts of Ontario not so far north, and 

 300 miles north of Toronto is as fine a 

 bee-keeping territory as there is in 

 America. 



In my estimation, during the next 

 ten years, hundreds of colonies will be 

 located up there in the clover, willow- 

 herb, etc. If a bit younger and alone, 

 that is certainly the place I would 

 tackle, for I regard our northern coun- 

 try as the great honey-producing sec- 

 tion of the near future. 



As to North Carolina, I know noth- 

 ing about the country except what my 

 father has told me, and since he has 

 come back a few bee-keepers in that 

 State have written to me. In addition 

 to poplar, sourwood, and other honey- 

 bearing trees natural to that country 

 just where father spent the winter, they 

 have lots of basswood in the moun- 

 tains. 



While I suppose that in warm coun- 



