466 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



here rould have been avoided in ahnost every case 

 by liberal feeding; but sugar wa.s rather high, and 

 we thought we would risk them. 



There are many colonies which wintered in the 

 ordinary eight-frame dovetailed hive with no packing 

 whatever. In many cases these unpacked colonies 

 seem to have wintered better than those heavily 

 packed on all sides and top. It is beginning to 

 bother us to know whether to pack or not. In one of 

 our outyards we had a colony in an old-fashioned 

 chaflf hive. This hive got badly wrecked by stock 

 after our last visit. It contained no chaff, and the 

 sun could shine in on the bees when we found 

 them. The bees were flying from all four sides at 

 the top of the hive, but the combs were nice and 

 dry, and the bees themselves in the best of condition. 



Bellevue, O., April 20. H. G. QuiRiN. 



[We have observed a somewhat similar state of 

 affairs in and near Medina. We find this, however, 

 that the main cause of bad wintering is uniting up 

 nuclei in the fall, pulling out pounds of bees from 

 the colonies during the season, taking queens away 

 from them, and otherwise disturbing the normal 

 trend of the colony. In fact, general queen-rearing 

 operations, the filling of orders for bees and queens, 

 so demoralizes an apiary that it is in very poor con- 

 dition to go into winter quarters. While these 

 nuclei can be united they do not seem to get together 

 in such a way that they will winter well nor come 

 out in the spring in good condition. On the other 

 hand, colonies whose brood-nests have not been tam- 

 pered with, and which have been left through the 

 entire season, and only the upper story or super tak- 

 en off with honey, seem to winter well whether in 

 double-walled or single-walled hives. But we notice 

 this: Tliat the same colonies in double-walled hives 

 are a great deal stronger than those in single-walled 

 hives. In one apiary where we found a large num- 

 ber of colonies had wintered in eight-frame single- 

 walled hives they came out in very good condition. 

 — En.l 



Apiary Demonstrations in Ontario in 1915 



Arrangements are well advanced for the apiary 

 demonstrations to be conducted throughout the prov- 

 ince of Ontario this coming summer. The increased 

 attendance of this last year indicates the gi'eat inter- 

 est that is being taken in this line of work. In all, 

 fifty-five demonstrations, with an average attendance 

 of thirty-four, were conducted this past season. 

 The whole apiary and the beekeeper's equipment is 

 placed at the demonstrator's disposal, giving him 

 excellent opportunities to illustrate with the actual 

 objects many of his remarks. 



The demonstrator has complete charge of the 

 meeting. Usually he starts by a short talk on foul 

 brood, then proceeds to the apiary and examines sev- 

 eral colonies. If the disease is found, a colony is 

 treated. Suggestions are offered on many minor 

 details that present themselves as the hives are being 

 opened. Special attention will be paid to wintering. 

 Models of the four-hive wintering-case will be sup- 

 plied the demonstrator. These will form a new fac- 

 tor of the meetings. 



Final arrangements are yet to be made; but ample 

 notice, both by post card and newspaper announce- 

 ments, will be given later. G. F. K. 



Beet and Cane Sugar Give Equally Good 

 Results 



As I stated some time ago, my bees were fed 

 heavily last fall on sugar — some altogether on cane 

 sugar, some allogelher on beet sugar, and some half 

 on cane and half on beet sugar. 



I have not had time yet to make an individual 

 inspection ; but from casual observation there ap 

 pears to be no noticeable difference due to the dif- 

 ferent food. Out of 180 colonies after 144 davs in 



the cellar, up to date only three are short and these 

 proved to be queenless. 



The hives all came out clean except one, and are 

 in good condition. This one had no beet sugar. 

 Three-fourths of them were heavy enough to winter 

 again when they were taken from the cellar April 7. 

 Tlie first week was pretty cool, with freezing nights ; 

 but since then the weather has been ideal, and the 

 bees have done well on soft maple, elm, plum, and 

 dandelions, which are beginning to bloom now. 



The clover wintered perfectly, but is in need of 

 rain, as it is getting very dry. 



Union Center, Wis. Elias Fox. 



Granulated Sugar Successful as Bee Food 



In reply to one of Dr. C. C. Miller's Straws, page 

 219, I believe the Germans are wrong in holding 

 that sugar is deficient as a bee-food, and we are 

 right. Many years ago I used to get lat« swarms of 

 black bees that were to have been brimstoned, and 

 by uniting two or three of them make a strong colo- 

 ny, putting them on empty combs that contained 

 very little pollen. I waited long enough for them to 

 have but one queen. I killed that queen and gave 

 them an Italian. At the same time I fed them up on 

 good thick gi-anulated-sugar syrup, as I had no hon- 

 ey for them. Then I packed them snugly with chaff. 

 They would winter well, and would rear very little 

 brood until they began to gather pollen from the 

 swamp willows. Then they would rear brood rapid- 

 ly, and be ready for upper stories as early as other 

 colonies that were wintered on honey. They never 

 showed any signs of disease or spring dwindling. 



Humberstone, Ont. Ila K. Michener. 



Climate of Lower British Columbia 



Beekeeping is only in its infancy in British Co- 

 lumbia as yet, but seems to have a promising career 

 before it. I might mention that we are in the Eraser 

 Valley, on the south side, about half way between 

 the Eraser and the international boundary, and about 

 thirty-two miles southeast of Vancouver. We have 

 had no snow this past winter, and very little rain. 

 Two cold snaps, each lasting a couple of weeks, 

 one in December and one in January, brought frosty 

 nights with about 16 degrees of frost and brilliant 

 sunny days. The rest of the winter has been very 

 mild and springlike. 



Everything is coming forward rapidly now. There 

 is practically only one month in the year when there 

 is no bloom in the gardens, as there are always 

 some late roses in bloom at Christmas. In February 

 the spring bulbs begin to bloom. The bees around 

 here are wintered out of doors in single-walled hives. 

 There is an immense amount of fireweed growing 

 at the edge of the bush about a mile south of us, 

 and the garden raspberries do remarkably well here, 

 growing to a height of ten feet and more in a sea- 

 son. It is so with clover and other blooms. There 

 should be a fair amount of pasturage for bees here. 



Langley Prairie, B. C. H. G. Davi.s. 



When is a Colony Strong? 



The first thing to do in treating European foul 

 brood by requeening or caging the queen is to make 

 the colony strong. All seem to agree on this. Now 

 the very important question arises, "What is a strong 

 colony?" That is, what strength is necessary for 

 success, and below what success cannot be expected ? 

 Ideas as to a strong colony differ widely. This 

 word "strong" in this connection is exceedingly 

 vague. I believe it would be helpful to have all who 

 have had suc('ess with this method of treating Euro- 

 pean foul brood give some way of measuring a colo- 

 ny so all may know what is meant by " strong." 

 Will authorities please tell us? 



New Egypt, N. .7. E. G. Carr. 



