li'EBRUARY 1, 1915 



97 



NOTE: 



CANADA 



J. L. Byer, Markliam, Ontario 

 The weather is quite thore Avas an opening melted around the 



Jan. 8 

 mild, but not warm enough for th 

 bees to fly. Here's hoping we shall 

 get warmer weather before it is 

 colder again. Anyway, the " Jan- 

 uary thaw " hoped for in my last 

 Notes has arrived; but in view of 

 Ilio fact that the "oldest inhabitant" says 

 lie has seen hundreds of Januarys without 

 once missing a thaw, how could we expect 

 anything else in January, 1915 ? 

 • « » 



Last season a number of queens received 

 in one mail sliowed signs and " smells " of 

 dysentery in the mailing-cages. At the time, 

 I wondered if bees too young had been 

 jilaced with the queen for attendants; but 

 .'^ince reading the editorial, page 4, Jan. 1, 

 have we reason to believe that boiled honey 

 was responsible? It is an important ques- 

 tion, and one in which commercial queen- 

 rearers will be particularly interested, espe- 

 cially' in cases where long-distance shipment 

 is necessary. • » ♦ 



Quite often we hear it said that, north of 

 a certain latitude, outdoor wintering is not 

 safe, whereas other factors enter into this 

 problem that have to be taken into consider- 

 ation as much as latitude or weather, which, 

 after all, are what are usually considered in 

 a question of this kind. Hei'e in York Co., 

 Ontario, the vrinter weather is not nearly 

 as severe as it is in the northern part of 

 Simcoe Co., one hundred miles north, where 

 we have a large apiary. In both cases we 

 winter outdoors; and, strange as it may 

 seem on the mere assertion of the fact, the 

 bees up there are warmer in a forty-below 

 snap than they are liere at 10 below zero or 

 thereabouts. The reason ? Simply because, 

 as a rule, we have a light snowfall here in 

 York Co.. and the hives are generally ex- 

 posed to all the cold wintry blasts during 

 most of the winter season. Up north the 

 snowfall is heavy, and generally comes early 

 in winter — in fact, it is a rare thing that 

 there is much frost in the ground in that 

 section, while here it will penetrate (wo and 

 three feet. At this date there is practically 

 no snow in York Co. At the north yard the 

 whole apiary has been about cotnpletely 

 covered for two weeks or more. If (here is 

 danger that (his snow may have a bad effect 

 we have yet to observe it. Two years ago I 

 went up there on New Year's day and found 

 all (he winter cases about out of sight — 

 many of (hem totally covered over. I dug 

 down in front of a few, and in each case 



entrances, varying from the size of my hat 

 lo a space as large as a half-bushel. I de- 

 cided tliey were all riglit, and found out in 

 the spring that such was the case, as the 

 bees wintered tinely and were very strong- 

 early in the season. But after the bees have 

 had a cleansing flight in early March or 

 thereabouts, then it is a dangerous practice 

 to leave snow all over hives, because after 

 strong colonies have had a flight, and are 

 breeding heavily, there is pretty sure to be 

 trouble if they are left covered over very 

 long in early spring weather. 



\100R0US ITALIAN BLOOD IMMUNE TO EURO- 

 PEAN FOUL BROOD. 



Dr. Miller wonders if I really mean what 

 is implied in the quotation he takes from a 

 recent item of mine in Gleanings, page 

 836, Nov. 1. " Universal requeening with 

 good Italian stock seems to be the only 

 remedy for it." European foul brood is the 

 subject under discussion. Frankly, doctor, 

 that is Avhat I mean; and after wading 

 through all the government literature we 

 have on the subject, taking into considera- 

 tion the advice of our friends in charge of 

 the department of apiculture, and in various 

 other ways, summing up the e^adence of 

 those fighting the plague at first hand, that 

 is the only thing that seems worth doing. 

 True, there are different methods and sea- 

 sons of doing this requeening; but the 

 evidence seems to point strongly to the fact 

 that where apiaries are all pure Italian 

 stock of a good strain, the disease makes 

 little headway to need curing. Needless to 

 tell the doctor tliat what I do not know 

 about European foul brood would fill vol- 

 umes of Gleanings, while what I do know 

 might be condensed into a short paragraph. 

 One thing that I do knoAV is that I dread to 

 see (he disease make an appearance in my 

 a)iiaries (none (here yet that I know of), 

 while on the other hand I have little fear 

 of our old enemy American foul brood. 

 Possibly it is a case of familiarity breeding 

 contempt; but the fact is (hat the old-time 

 foul brood is easily diagnosed when once 

 known by a beekeeper; and while destruc- 

 tive if let go, yet we know the course of the 

 disease, how to treat it, etc., while on the 

 other hand this new enemy is very erratic 

 in many ways, and I am tempted to think 

 that even our experts have a lot yet to learn 

 about its various phases as to methods of 

 infection, etc. 



