704 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



NOTE 



J. L. Byer, 



The white-honey harvest is over 

 in Ontai-io — at least in the ^-eat 

 majority of jDlaees. In some lo- 

 calities in the north, where willow- 

 herb grows, this may give a sur- 

 plns for a Aveek or ten days yet, 

 should weather dry up a bit; but 

 this plant bloomed earlier than usual this 

 year. Basswood did quite well in most 

 places, and here in York County it gave the 

 best spurt we have had from that source for 

 some years. As a result the province has a 

 fair crop of honey, and at our home yards 

 the results arc much better than anticipated 

 when writing my July 1st notes. At the 

 north yard we have a good crop of nice 

 quality. With fair weather from now on, 

 a buckwheat crop would round out things 

 nicely, and in addition put the bees in good 

 shape for winter. 



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To-day is Aug. 9 — normally harvest time 

 for the farmers, and a time when we expect 

 the strong smell of buckwheat in localities 

 vt'here this plant is groAvn. As a rule at 

 this season the query is whether we are apt 

 to have sufficient moisture to make the 

 buckwheat secrete nectar, and even the 

 farmer's often wish for rain to help the 

 crops not already mature. But what a 

 difference this year! Rain, rain, every day, 

 and regular downpours at that. Wheat that 

 is cut is growing in the sheaf, and other 

 grain crops are level with the ground, a 

 tangled twisted mass. 



Of course nothing is doing with the bee- 

 keepers either; but our loss is so insignifi- 

 cant compared to the farmers' that avc hes- 

 itate to complain. Rivers and creeks are 

 out of their banks as in spring flood, and 

 low fields are under water in many places. 

 In twenty-four hours Ave had one rainfall of 

 nearly four inches, Avhile on several other 

 occasions within a week an inch or more 

 Avas recorded. Of course the real bright 

 spot in all this wet time is the fact that 

 theie Avill be an abundance of clover next 

 season. One year Avith another the rule 

 holds good, that a real wet season is ahvay>^ 

 foUoAved by a good clover year. 



« » » 



In moving bees long distances, as in the 

 case mentioned on page 522 in regard to 

 those bees in Texas, it is hardly to l)e 

 avoided in ha\ing some colonies run slioit 

 of stores. But when colonies have so neni'- 

 ly starved as to have only a few cells of 



CANADA 



lioney, as a riote of warning to beginners 

 who may think that such a condition is 

 not deti'imental to a colony so long as it 

 is iiot actually allowed to perish, I might 

 say that, Avhen reduced to so low an amount 

 of stores, the brood will have sutfered a lot 

 before that. Before a colony actually 

 starves, the bees Avill suck nj) the juices of 

 unsealed larva?; and from obscr\ation a 

 few times when they had not quite reached 

 that last stage I feel sure much of the 

 younger brood is alloAved to perish by not 

 having food given it. 



* * * 



The quarantine on shipments of bees 

 from one state to another, proAdding that all 

 such shipments must have proper certifi- 

 cates of health before being alloAved to 

 enter a given territory, as mentioned in the 

 case of Nevada, page 608, Aug. 1, is a wise 

 provision, and is bound to be copied by 

 other states and provinces in the near fu- 

 ture. It not only protects the beekeepers, 

 but the man importing or shipping the bees 

 out of a country as Avell. Just at present 

 I haA'e received some redhot criticisms of 

 a well-known beekeeper in Ontario, who, it 

 is alleged, imported bees from one of the 

 states, and at the same time imported Euro- 

 pean foul brood into a territory supposed 

 to be free from this pest. I am not at- 

 tempting to judge the case in any Avay, as I 

 am not sufficiently in possession of the 

 facts of the transaction to make much com- 

 ment ; but the fact is indisputable that, had 

 this sliipment had an inspector's certificate 

 giA'ing a clean bill of health, there Avould 

 not be half the chance for harsh criticism. 

 Of course it Avould be quite in order for the 

 Province to quarantine auA' shipments for 

 a given period, even if the bees had been 

 inspected before shipment, especially if the 

 load cajue fi'om a locality known to have 

 brood diseases. 



* * * 



Mention is made on page 611, Aug. 1, 

 that environment and other factors have 

 much to do in determining how bees are apt 

 to be temi)ered Avhen working Avith them. 

 It certainly has, as I have had an illustra- 

 tion this year that proved it abundantly, 

 .it one place we had for the last few years 

 about forty colonies that -had a record for 

 being very cross— in fact, Ave often thought 

 tlicy wei'e really devilish. These bees stood 

 ill an open field, and Avhen Avorking Avitii 

 tiiem they Avould often follow us for twenty 



ContiniK'd on next page. 



