864 



Can Honey with a Coal-oil Flavor be Safely- 

 Fed to Bees? 



Have you had the experience of feeding bees 

 " coal-oil flavor " extracted honey, or has the matter 

 ever been called to your attention as to whether or 

 not it is harmful to the bees? In a carload of hon- 

 ey that we recently unloaded there were over 20 

 cans that taste and smell of coal oil, oil-cans having 

 apparently been used without being freed from 

 traces of oil. If not harmful to the bees, we can 

 uee it for fecdinc; purposes after boiling, to make 

 «ure that there is no foul brood as a result, in which 

 eyent we wish to settle with the shipper in full, as 

 he is a good customer of ours. 



Ogden, Utah, Sept. 29. ■ F. W. Redfield. 



[We have never had any experience in feeding 

 bep.s honey having " coal-oil flavor." Something 

 would depend on the amount of coal oil in the hon- 

 ey. If it merely smells of the fluid and tastes of it 

 slightly we would not think it would do any harm, 

 especially if you boiled it to sterilize it from any 

 possible infection. V.Tiile, of course, the kerosene 

 flavor would ruin it for human consumption we see 

 no reason why it could not be used for the bees. 



If any of our readers have had any experience 

 we hope they will send it to Gleanings. 



Incidentally this shows the folly of using second- 

 hand kerosene oil-cans that have not been thorough- 

 ly cleaned and aired. They are always dangerous 

 to use. — Ed.] 



A Swarm from a Colony Packed for Winter! 



The weather here has been very unsettled. Ex- 

 pecting an early fall, I fed most of my colonies and 

 packed them for winter. 



In tlie last ten days conditions have changed so 

 materially that I. received from one of my colonies, 

 which had been packed for winter, a prime swarm. 

 This has never occurred before in my experience of 

 twenty-five years with bees. White clover at this 

 time is still blooming, but I do not think tliat there 

 'fi much nectar secured. 



It would gladden the heart of any becman to see, 

 a« far as the eye can reach, our solid sea of gold — 

 the Spanish needle. Bees are working on it from 

 ©arly morning until the blossoms close at sundown. 



Our colonies that have been put away for winter 

 wore very weak in stores, and I fed them. This 

 expense I could have saved if I had known the 

 weather would change .so favorably. The thermom- 

 eter has been between 70 and 80 every day. 



Strafford, Mo., Sept. 8. T. Schaeff. 



Kootenay Beekeepers' Meet 



TIio first annual meeting of the Kootenay Bee- 

 keepers' Association was held at the City Hall, Nel- 

 son, on Friday, Sept. 24, the last day of the Nelson 

 Fruit Fair, at which there was a representative at- 

 tendance of members from Nelson and the surround- 

 ing districts. The report is as follows: 



The Association, organized in September, 19 H, 

 is tho fir«t beekeepers' association to be formed in 

 British Columbia. Seventy-eight members have been 

 enrolled. Unfortunately the past season has not 

 been a eood one for honey production in this section 

 of the Province. Exceptionally fine and warm 

 weather prevailed during March and April, when 

 the bees went ahead and promised well ; but the 

 three following months — Maj', June, and July, were 

 excessively wet and cold. Consequently the clover 

 (in which we mainly depend for our surplus honey 

 crop yielded but very little nectar. 



The honey that has been taken is much darker in 

 color than usual. In many instances colonies were 

 actually Btarving; in June, and would have suc- 

 cumbed had they not been fed with sugar syrup. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



The honey-label adopted by the association for the 

 use of the members, to promote uniformity in put- 

 ting up honey for sale, has met with general ap- 

 proval, and 3825 have been sold to date. 



The balance sheet, showing an excess of assets 

 over liabilities of $43.35, was approved. 



The following officers were elected for the year 

 ending September 30, 1916: 



Hon. President, W. E. Scott, Deputy Minister of 

 jNgriculture, Victoria; President, Major-General Lord 

 Aylmer, Queens Bay; vice-presidents, G. E. Par 

 ham, superintendent Dominion Experimental Farm, 

 luvermere; G. Fleming, Nelson. Executive com 

 mittee, J. J. Campbell, Willow Point; Mrs. Casler, 

 Nelson; J. Hyslop, Nelson; C. G. Johnson, Nelson 

 W. H. Rixen, Kelson ; W. J. Mohr, Nelson ; J 

 Blinco, Creston ; B. Lockwood, Fruitvale ; E. Al 

 pagh, Kaslo; R. E. Plewman, Rossland; J. H. Vest 

 rup. Nakusp; H. W. Collins, Grand Forks; H. G 

 Slater, Westley; T. S. Gill, Cranbrook; G. F. At 

 tree. Queens Bay; James Johnstone, Nelson; W 

 Roniain, Nelson; A. E. Watts, Wattsburg; Hon 

 secretary-treasurer, W. J. Sheppard, Nelson, Hon 

 auditor, T. M. Rixen, Nelson. 



Great Storm in Jamaica 



We had a terrific storm in this country on August 

 12 and 13. It began on Thursday evening of ihe 

 12th, and lasted until noon of the 13th. It has 

 done much harm to the honey crop in this part of 

 fhc countJ-y. We were expecting a good crop of 

 honey from the soapwood-trees. The storm flogged 

 tlieir blossoms off and destroyed some of the bees. 

 The banana plantations are all destroyed. This 

 plant is one of our staple crops, yielding honey all 

 the year round. The bees are in quite a delicate 

 position. About half of the field bees were lost in 

 the storm, and about one-fifth of young hives were 

 destroyed in two of my apiaries along the banks 

 of the river. We hope that a change will take place 

 in this locality that the bees may get some honey. 

 J. U. V. McCORMACK. 



Stonyville Gayle, Jamaica, .A^ug. 25. 



We use a carpenter's scraper to scrape honey- 

 sections. This is a piece of steel 2x3 inches, with 

 jjerfectly square edges. When it gets dull you can 

 put it in a vise and sharpen with a flat file. We 

 like it better than a knife. 



V^aterloo. N. Y. Mes. J. W. Bacon. 



AN OLD BOOK, OR MARCUS AURELIUS AND 

 THE BEES 



BY OKACE ALLEN 



BYom the quiet heart of an ancient book 



Some old, old thoughts reached out to me; 

 They gripped like grave eyes with a level look. 



While I wandered out to my cherry tree. 

 And there in the shadow-flecked, white-wallcd hives. 



At peace with the darkness, athrill with the sun, 

 A myriad bees were living their lives 



And winning the peace the old book won. 



" Chooxc ever the best, my Sacred Soul! 



He true to the highest self within! 

 Be one with the whole, the large, wise whole! 



Ah, the poise that a calm content may loin! " 

 Through the swing of a thousand years and more 



These thoughts have throbbed at the old book's 

 heart, 

 And the same mood comes with the murmur and soar 



Of the brave bees doing their humble part. 



