154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



surplus honey in Quebec is largely white 

 clover and buckwheat. 



There are still many box hives in the prov- 

 ince, and the writer is not as strongly op- 

 posed to them as some are, for the old let- 

 alone plan of keeping bees goes better with 

 the box-hive system than with the modern 

 hive. But in these days, owing to the rapid 

 transportation of bees, honey diseases are 

 more easily spread : and on account of the 

 known fact that there is disease about, no 



JULES ALLAKD 



A. GIRARD 



F. W. JONES 



C. O. JONES 



JACQUES VERRET 



A. L. BEAUDIN 



colonies should be kept in such a way that 

 the combs can not be examined, whether in 

 the old box hives or in carelessly'looked-after 

 modern hives. 



Referring to the illustrations above, the 

 gentleman who is by right of position at the 

 head of the bee-keeping industry is the Hon. 

 Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Jules Allai'd. 

 He springs of a nationality (French) which 

 has had much to do with the development of 

 bee-keeping. The French people have made 



bee-keeping a great national wealth-produc- 

 ing indvistry, and they and the Germans ap- 

 pear to have a natural aptitude for the busi- 

 ness. Thrift does not allow such a source of 

 revenue and aid to other branches of agricul- 

 ture to be lost. 



Under the management of the Quebec De- 

 partment of Agriculture, among other eiiorts 

 to develop bee-keeping there have been sent 

 out through the province a large number of 

 lecturers. The writer has been among the 

 numl^er, and he has found the people of the 

 audiences intelligent, deeply interested, and 

 of an inquiring and receptive mind. I have 

 very pleasant recollections of my work there. 



The Hon. Minister, Mr. Jules Allard, is 

 about to take a very important and necessa- 

 ry step in bee- keeping. Mr. A Girard writes 

 me, under date of Dec. 30, 1907. "At the next 

 session of the Parliament of Quebec he in- 

 tends having a law passed for the appoint- 

 ment of inspectors to fight the contagious dis- 

 ease foul brood." 



Mr. A Girard, editor of the Jotirnal of 

 Agriciiltun:, who takes the very deepest in- 

 terest in bee-keeping, stands in a very prom- 

 inent and intiuential place, and is able to 

 help the cause. It has been my pleasure to 

 attend institute meetings with him, and I 

 know he is ever ready to do all in his power 

 to help in the development of this industry, 

 for which he has a genuine affection. 



Of the many bee-keepers who well deserve 

 mention in this article, owing to limit of 

 space the readers will, for the present, have 

 to content themselves with a brief introduc- 

 tion to four gentlemen, all Canadians by 

 birth, but two of English and two of French 

 extraction. 



Mr. F. W. Jones, Bedford, Que., is perhaps 

 one of the very best-known bee-keepers in 

 the province. He has done much to dissem- 

 inate modern apicultural knowledge. He 

 has not only been an extensive bee-keeper, 

 but he does a large business in bee-keepers' 

 supplies. From personal acquaintance with 

 him for many years 1 know he possesses not 

 only strong business integrity, but he seeks 

 to do toward others as he would be done by. 



Mr. C. O Jones, Bedford, Quebec, is an 

 extensive comb-honey producer, and these 

 two last-named gentlemen have had the ex- 

 perience of competing with one another at 

 Montreal exhibitions, even dividing the prize 

 money when the judges did not act wisely. 

 I have been in Mr. Jones' winter repository. 

 He removes the bottom-boards from the 

 hives, closing, however, about three-fifths of 

 the space below by setting the hive on two 

 other hives sufficiently far apart to leave 

 open at the bottom two-fifths of the center 

 space, running from front to back. 



Mr. Jacques Verret, Charles burg, Quebec, 

 like the Messrs. Jones, speaks both English 

 and French, and is of French extraction. He 

 is an enthusiastic bee-keeper, and is a strong 

 advocate of black bees. He prepares his 

 colonies for winter in September, wintering 

 only strong ones with plenty of stores. His 

 bees are put into winter quarters about No- 

 vember 15, and for the last four years they 



