N'ovember, 1912. 



American V^e Journal 



less a personage than our present Edi- 

 tor of the "Old Reliable." I still re- 

 member that the persons on the right 

 are Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Holekamp, of 

 St. Louis, but ilo not recall the per- 

 son's name, walking on the left side of 

 our Editor. Just behind this group 

 may be seen Jas. A. Stone, Secretary 

 of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, and behind him that old vet- 

 eran, Dr. Bohrer. 



We like old reminders, as pictures of 

 such a nature are. It brings back to 

 our memories the nice time that we en- 

 joyed while the "tender-feet" northern 

 bee-keepers were with us in this south- 

 ern clime. It is a pity that it is not 

 possible to have large gatherings of 

 bee-keepers of the United States, and 

 the whole country, meet at least once 

 a year to exchange greetings and dis- 

 cuss the more earnest and important 

 matters pertaining to the grand pursuit 

 that we are embarked in. There seems 

 to be more of a clamor for all that 

 means business, business that means 

 more money, more money that makes 

 us more forgetful about the real pleas- 



ures of life that we might enjoy. Is it 

 not true that we have lost sight of 

 those good old-time bee-keepers' meet- 

 ings which gave much interest and 

 great anticipation ? Now we have 

 business associations that take care of 

 our real business interests, with their 

 meetings crowded for time, every 

 minute of which is too valuable to al- 

 low pleasure to be mixed up with it. 



Such are the tides of Time, and we 

 must keep up with them, of course. 

 But, nevertheless, there remains that 

 feeling in some of us, a kind of hun- 

 gering desire to attend some more of 

 those old-time bee-keepers' conven- 

 tions. That they had the effect of 

 bringing the bee-keepers closer to- 

 gether in a friendly spirit cannot be 

 denied. And that the present tendency 

 of involving everything in a business 

 way has its efifect toward bringing 

 about a change in the sociability of the 

 bee-keepers of the country seems to 

 be a fact. But this is in strict con- 

 formity with the old saying, " Business 

 before pleasure." 



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



Different Conditions at Similarly Situated 

 Yards 



In October American Bee Journal, 

 mention was made of my intended visit 

 to the east apiary, some 200 miles from 

 my home. I left home, as per arrange- 

 ments, Sept. !l, arriving there in the 

 evening of the same day. At our 

 home apiaries, owing to so much wet 

 weather, little honey had been stored, 

 and what little had come in was put up 

 in the supers, as the brood-nests were 

 full of brood at the time of the buck- 

 wheat flow. Almost continuous rains 

 all through the last half of August pre- 

 vented honey being gathered during 

 most of the buckwheat bloom. 



This, of course, meant light brood- 

 nests the first of September, with lots 

 of feeding to do for winter, I ex- 

 pected a like condition at the east yard, 

 as the weather had been similar there 

 to what we had at home. For some 

 reason still unexplainable to me, con- 

 ditions were altogether different, for 

 while there was no great amount in the 

 supers, the brood-nests were jammed 

 with honey. At home all our hives 

 have the combs running the orthodox 

 way — facing the entrance, while at the 

 east yard in question the combs run 

 crosswise. The hives are of about the 

 same capacity at both places, but 

 whether the different style of frames 

 has anything to do with the matter I 

 can merely conjecture. 



No feeding had to be done, and I 

 was let out of a lot of work and spared 

 the e.xpense of a sugar bill. In keep- 

 ing bees so far from home, a person 

 dares take no half way measures in 

 the feeding question, and I am as sure 

 that all have enough as it is possible to 



be sure in a question of this kind. I 

 left the apiary Sept. 14, and do not ex- 

 pect to see the bees again until some 

 time next May. Of course, I have a 

 trusty man who lives in the neighbor- 

 hood, and who will carry the bees into 

 the caves in November and take them 

 out again in the spring. 



Stingless Bees are the Latest 



"The stingless bee is the next product of a 

 man's ingenuity. Mr. Burrows, an apiarist, 

 of the town of Lougliton. in Kssex, after two 

 yearsof experiments, hasobtained a species 

 of bee which can be handled by a child in 

 perfect safety. He mated the Cyprian 

 drones and the Italian queens, the result 

 being the production of harmless insects 

 which, however, are splendid workers. It 

 is claimed that they are less liable to dis- 

 ease than the ordinary honey-gatherer. 



"It appears that the new product has a 

 sting, but it is useless as a weapon of offence. 

 Yet they die when thev lose 'n."~Miul ,iihI 

 /•'./n/>irf. 



This item has been going the rounds 

 of the Ontario press lately, the large 

 city dailies first publishing it, and the 

 smaller local papers copying it gener- 

 ally throughout the country. That it 

 has been read with interest by many is 

 evident from the comments and ques- 

 tions I have heard about the matter, 

 and some have taken the trouble to cut 

 out clippings and mail them to me. It 

 is as reliable as many other bee-yarns 

 that imaginative reporters serve up to 

 their readers as choice copy — generally 

 these items contain about 5 percent 

 truth and the balance fiction or imagi- 

 nation. While I get the British Bee 

 Journal regularly, I have seen no stir 

 about these harmless (?) bees, and 

 when we analyze the breeding referred 

 to in the clipping, one would hardly 

 expect very quiet stock. On the con- 



trary, I would guess the Cyprian drones 

 crossed with Italian queens would give 

 bees that would sting quickly and 

 often. At least that is the way it 

 works out with Carniolans and blacks. 

 I always find that a black queen mated 

 to a Carniolan drone gives bees that 

 inherit the quiet traits of the father, 

 while black drones mated with Car- 

 niolan queens produce very cross, irrit- 

 able bees. In the case under discus- 

 sion, the bees have stings, but they 

 are " useless for defense." Who is next . 

 in line to tell the most improbalde bee- 

 story? 



[The same clipping from the Cleve- 

 land News was received from J. C. 

 Mosgrove, who comments as fol- 

 lows : — Editor ] 



" I have seen a great many Italian queens 

 mated to Cyprian drones, and they were a 

 long way from being stingless: in fact, 1 

 never saw anything more vicious unless it 

 was pure Cyprians." 



Japanese Progress 



A look at that cover illustration of 

 the October American Bee Journal, 

 showing the Japanese bee-keepers in 

 convention assembled, impresses one 

 with the fact that this wonderful little 

 country is making rapid strides in 

 other matters as well as in military 

 affairs. A few days ago I received a 

 copy of the Japanese Bee Journal, and 

 although I could not read any of the 

 contents, I marveled at the wonderful 

 hieroglyphics that have to go into type 

 to print a paper in the Japanese lan- 

 guage. Certainly any nation that can 

 acquire an education with such difficult 

 letters, or rather characters, to master, 

 is in itself proof of the ability of the 

 people of the Orient. With our modern 

 mail facilities, to sav nothing of teleg- 

 raphy, etc., the world is not so large 

 after all. A short time ago I received, 

 inside of a week, one letter from Fin- 

 land, one from Austria, one from Japan, 

 and one from New Zealand — all arriv- 

 ing in good condition. "Truly, we are 

 living in a wonderful age." 



The Ontario Convention 



The following is a rough draft of the 

 program of the Ontario convention, 

 which will be held in Toronto Nov. 13, 

 14 and 15. Mr. Pettit has sent the same 

 to me, intimating that there may be 

 some changes made yet, but the gen- 

 eral outline will show the trend of 

 things apiculturally as they are today 

 in Ontario. A hearty invitation is ex- 

 tended, for all who can, to meet with 

 us and have a pleasant and profitable 

 time. To those who have never visited 

 Toronto, the " Queen City " of Canada, 

 the trip would be " worth while," even 

 if the convention were not being held 

 as an added attraction. 



While 1 have no information as yet, as 

 to the railway rates, I presume that, as 

 in past years, there will be a single fare 

 from all points in Ontario. Hotel ac- 

 commodation is good, and can easily 

 be arranged for on arrival. The writer, 

 in common with a host of others, is 

 looking forward with pleasure to again 

 meeting many old friends, and also to 

 making the acquaintance of many who 

 have never attended the convention. 



