December, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



as honey bought on open market. The above 

 supply of honey, which can yet be had at 

 a reasonable price^ should be investigated by 

 bee-feeders before feeding raw sugar. 



College Station, Tex. H. B. Parks. 



* « * 



Tj. Ontario While weather reports 



continue to tell us each 

 day of the very early winter in western 

 Canada, and I presume the Northwestern 

 States as well, here in Ontario we are hav- 

 ing an unusually warm fall to date. Today 

 (Nov. 10) I noticed geraniums and other 

 garden flowers still blooming and showing 

 no signs of having been injured by the few 

 light frosts we hav'e had so far. Certainly 

 this is an unusual condition for us at this 

 season of the year. I also noticed, when 

 walking over a pasture field today, dozens 

 of dandelions in bloom. 



With mild weather and sufficient moisture 

 to promote growth, fall wheat and the 

 clovers in general have made a great growth 

 this fall — in fact, some wheat is reported 

 to be shooting for head, so rank has been the 

 growth. But clover looks very well indeed, 

 and the acreage in most of localities where 

 I have been lately seems to be normal. 



Sweet clover where grown for seed has 

 given some very heavy yields, and, as the 

 price is high, in many cases the yield for one 

 year has been double the normal selling 

 price of the land. A ten-acre field, two 

 miles from our home, yielded seed that sold 

 for $2,300.00 a few days ago. This is only 

 a sample of other returns. Needless to say, 

 hundreds of acres of sweet clover will be 

 sown next spring, as I personally know of 

 many farmers who have purchased from 5 

 to 20 bushels of seed for next spring's seed- 

 ing. Just how long the boom for sweet 

 clover seed will last is a question; one firm's 

 representative told me a few days ago that 

 it was good for three or four years yet. This 

 firm buys a great quantity of all kinds of 

 clover seed each year. Another large buyer 

 told me that two years would skim the 

 cream off the business as far as high price 

 for the seed is concerned. I do not attempt 

 to make any guess on the subject, but it 

 looks as tho beekeepers in many sections 

 will have an opportunity during the next 

 few years to test out sweet clover as a honey 

 plant. While we shall welcome any real ad- 

 dition to the honey resources of the country, 

 personally I will still cling to alsike as tlie 

 greatest asset of the beekeeper for the pres- 

 ent and the future. Its advent into the 

 clover regions has been worth more to the 

 beekeeping industry than all other sources 

 of nectar combined — at least, that is the 

 opinion of the writer of these pages. 



Honey markets seem to be a bit firmer 

 than 10 days ago, caused no doubt by the 

 great sugar shortage and the advancing 

 price of this staple. Buckwheat seems to be 

 affected most, as it is quoted half a cent to 



a cent higher in the wholesale market. Buck- 

 wheat honey is much cheaper than last year 

 compared with clover honey; and just why 

 is hard to understand, as the crop is the 

 lightest it has been for years. Claims are 

 made that a large quantity was held over 

 from last year, but I have not been able to 

 verify these claims one way or the other, 

 reports having been very conflicting. 



The men in charge of the apiary develop- 

 ment work both at Guelph and Ottawa have 

 in the past given valuable help in many 

 ways, but for the immediate future it seems 

 to a good many of us that a new line of 

 work should be taken up in addition to the 

 regular duties now attached to the positions. 

 I refer to the matter of large queen-rearing 

 apiaries where Italian stock highly resist- 

 ant to European foul brood could be produc- 

 ed and sold to beekeepers at cost or even 

 above that, as beekeepers would not com- 

 plain if sure of getting the goods. This 

 plan would hurt no one engaged in the 

 queen-rearing business, as all can sell all the 

 good queens they can produce. European 

 foul brood is cutting very badly into the 

 production of honey in many localities, and 

 many queens bought promiscuously turn out 

 to be useless in standing up against the dis- 

 ease. Many localities cannot produce pure- 

 ly mated stock, and that is where the gov- 

 ernment yards would be beneficial in being 

 able to send stock of known resistant traits 

 to requeen when necessary. Some objections 

 have been raised to the plan; one, as I re- 

 member it, was that pure mating could not 

 be obtained near Ottawa where the Domin- 

 ion apiarist is in charge. This could readily 

 be remedied, for it would not take much 

 funds to secure some location where few 

 bees are kept, and the few that are near 

 could soon be Italianized. The grants nec- 

 essary to form a good queen-rearing apiary 

 and pay for proficient help in managing the 

 same, would be very small — indeed, it could 

 be made almost if not quite self-supporting, 

 as all queens produced could be sold as fast 

 as ready for mailing, if beekeepers were as- 

 sured of getting good stock. Much criti- 

 cism has been made privately, if not in pub- 

 lic, in regard to the apiary work at experi- 

 mental farms being on too much of the fad- 

 dist idea instead of the really practical — - 

 this, in particular reference to the work at 

 Ottawa. Whether this criticism is justly 

 founded or not I do not propose to say just 

 now; but one thing I do feel sure of, is that 

 a work like what I have briefly outlined 

 would be the most practical and useful that 

 could be undertaken, and the men that go 

 ahead and make it a success, will have the 

 gratitude of hundreds of beekeepers. I un- 

 derstand that the workers at Guelph are in 

 favor of the scheme so far as it is practical 

 with the material they have at hand, and I 

 hope other leaders or teachers feel likewise. 



Markham, Ont. J. L. Byer. 



