16 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



in full bloom. An earnest attempt was made 

 to show him the folly of his course, but he 

 persisted in it, and his reward was the get- 

 ting of not more than half a dozen plums, 

 while other neighbors that did not even spray 

 at all had fair crops of plums. Prof. Fletch- 

 er said it had been frequently asserted that 

 it was necessary to spray during bloom in 

 order to destroy some kinds of injurious in- 

 sects, but he was not acquainted with any 

 such insect. 



Mr. McEvoy, who, as foul brood inspector 

 of Ontario, is the right man in the right 

 place, read his report. He had usually found 

 bee-keepers not only willing but anxious to 

 rid their apiaries of the scourge. When they 

 were not, he was obliged to destroy the dis- 

 eased colonies by fire. In those districts 

 where he had been called upon to work, foul 

 brood had " moved out," so to speak. He 

 did not publish the names of those in whose 

 apiaries foul brood had been found. It was 

 usually cured, and in that case it would be 

 perfectly safe to buy queens and bees of such 

 parties, but, if it should be known that they 

 had once had foul brood in their apiaries it 

 would prejudice purchasers. 



Your humble servant read a paper entitled 

 " Will the Bee-Keeping of the Future Differ 

 From that of the Past," which appears in 

 another column of this issue of the Review. 

 Mr. Pringle thought the failures were more 

 frequent in the United States than in Can- 

 ada. There may be occasionally a partial 

 failure in Canada, but they do not come year 

 after year. Without being certain of the 

 matter, it is my impression that many parts 

 of Ontario are newer than most of the North- 

 ern States, that is, tiie country has not been 

 cleared up so long, and the basswood has not 

 been cut off to such an extent. Mr. Mc- 

 Knight had never known a complete failure, 

 but he agreed with the writer that the natural 

 honey resources are becoming less, and the 

 day of the specialist growing dim. The only 

 thing that promises to take the place of bass- 

 wood, is alsike clover. Mr." John Myers 

 said that eight or nine years ago a crop of 

 honey was sure as any other crop. One 

 hundred pounds to the colony was the usual 

 thing ; now it is exceptional. Mr. J. E. 

 Frith advanced the theory that the failure 

 was due to electrical conditions that change 

 periodically, so to speak, and that we may 

 expect the next cycle of years to bring back 

 the times of old. Mr. Frith also introduced 

 the idea that plants are more vigorous when 



first introduced, and, as a rotation of crops 

 is needed in some branches of farming, it is 

 possible the production of honey is not an 

 exception. Mr. J. K. Darling said rotation 

 of crops might be necessary in the raising of 

 small fruits, but he doubted if the same 

 thing was necessary in raising a crop of 

 honey. 



Mr. Darling and Mr. R. H, Smith both 

 read papers upon the wintering of bees, or, 

 at least, the discussion soon drifted into that 

 channel, and one phase was that of bees 

 swarming out and mixing up when set out 

 of the cellar in the spring. If a large num- 

 ber are set out at the same time they all 

 rush out at nearly the same time, '.and where- 

 ever a crowd of bees is seen going into a 

 hive, others follow ; or, if the wind is blow- 

 ing, the bees work up against the wind, that 

 is, the hives on the windward get the greater 

 part of the bees. In such instances it some- 

 times happens that some hives will be filled 

 to overflowing, while others are almost de- 

 populated. Mr. Pickett had gotten rid of 

 the trouble by setting the bees out in the 

 night. They then left the hives the next 

 morning with less of a rush, took time to 

 mark their location, and there was no mix- 

 ing up. Others had tried the same plan, 

 but if the next day was a little too cool a 

 great many bees became chilled and never 

 regained their hives. As the bees have been 

 confined so long they will not stay in the 

 hives and wait for a suitable day. Mr. J. B. 

 Hall said that much of this trouble came 

 from not putting the bees back upon the 

 same stand that they occupied the previous 

 season. In proof of his assertion he said 

 that by taking out one colony and putting it 

 on a different stand from its old one, the 

 bee-keeper would soon see bees hovering 

 about and searching in the locality where 

 their home had been the previous season. 

 " If they don't remember it, what are they 

 there for ?" exclaimed Mr. Hall. His hives 

 and stands are all marked, and each hive put 

 back upon its own stand, and the bees are 

 put in the cellar in such order that the first 

 hive out goes to one of the further corners 

 of the yard, the next hive to the other cor- 

 ner, the next to some other part, etc., the 

 idea being that hives that are brought out at 

 nearly the same time shall be as widely scat- 

 tered as possible, thus when the bees from a 

 hive are in full flight, there will be no other 

 colony near that is in full flight. Mr. Hall 

 takes still further precaution. He puts out 



