20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



By R. F. HOLTERMANN. 

 CLOVER FOR 1909. 



Before the editorial appeared, page 1365, I 

 made a good many inquiries as to the condition 

 of clover. I expected to find it much damaged. 

 Alsike clover over a very large area in Ontario 

 and in this vicinity is not damaged; but there 

 appears to be some doubt about white clover. 

 The hazy and smoky condition of the atmos- 

 phere preventing strong rays from the sun, and 

 the heavy dews at night, no doubt were advan- 

 tageous. 



* 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 



In Stray Straws for Nov. 15 Dr. Miller git-es 

 his experience with alsike clover. In Ontario, 

 alsike clover rarely has a second crop. With 

 abundance of rain, alsike sown in the spring 

 sometimes comes into bloom the same season; 

 but the bees rarely do much on it. Conditions 

 which give vigor to a plant tend to abundant 

 honey production, and these conditions do not 

 appear to prevail at that time. This is the only 

 solution I can offer. 



ONTARIO S APICULTURAL STATION. 



Ontario is at last to have a proper apicultural 

 station, which is to be established at Jordon, a 

 place on the shores of Lake Ontario, between 

 Hamilton and Niagara Falls. There is already 

 situated there a fruit experiment station, and it is 

 upon a farm donated by S. D. Rittenhouse, now 

 a Chicago multi-millionaire whose boyhood 

 home was at Jordon. Mr. Rittenhouse has also 

 given to the neighborhood a beautiful school, 

 hall, and library, besides making other public 

 improvements in the neighborhood. 



The object of the apicultural station is to con- 

 duct experiments in the fertilization of blossoms 

 by bees, to carry on apicultural investigations, 

 and to provide a place where those of either sex 

 can take a course of study in apiculture, and 

 learn the practical management of bees. In On- 

 tario it will be headquarters, under the govern- 

 ment, for bee-keeping. The one in charge of 

 the station will lecture to the classes at the On- 

 tario Agricultural College, and possibly before 

 the MacDonald Hall students who desire to 

 learn bee-keeping. 



The government realizes that Ontario is well 

 adapted to the production of honey, and that the 

 industry deserves encouragement on account of 

 the honey and because of the benefit bees are to 

 various lines of agriculture in the vicinity of the 

 apiary. It is therefore the expressed desire to 

 foster the bee-keeping industry in every reason- 

 able manner; and from what I knovv the under- 

 taking is to be carried out in a manner to reflect 

 credit upon the enterprise and intelligence of the 

 banner province of the Dominion. 



When this station and the one contemplated at 

 the MacDonald. College, St. Anne de Bellevue, 

 Quebec, get in full working order, let the United 

 States look out. A friendly spirit of rivalry be- 

 tween the two countries in the direction of doing 

 good work should result in much good to the 

 bee-keeping ranks. 



The department desires to secure the services 

 of a young man who has a scientific training to en- 

 able him to deal with the various problems which 

 may arise from time to time in such work, and 

 who has sufficient practical experience to enable 

 him not only to manage bees successfully but to 

 conduct apicultural experiments. It is not easy 

 to secure such a combination, but it is to be 

 hoped that the good work decided upon will not 

 lag for want of a suitable man. Bee-keepers who 

 will look after the business can certainly congrat- 

 ulate themselves on the future outlook of the in- 

 dustry in Ontario. 



FOUL BROOD. 



The fruit-growers, on account of the San Jose 

 scale and other diseases, are reasoning something 

 like this: For the specialist who will properly 

 combat disease the outlook is better than ever, 

 because he can keep under disease, and the one 

 who has in the past grown fruit without paying 

 much attention to its culture will be unable to do 

 so on account of the prevalence of disease which, 

 unless checked, will lead to the extermination of 

 orchards. Convention after convention in Cana- 

 da and in the United States would almost lead 

 one to wonder if the same conclusions will be 

 applicable to bee-keeping. Will it be only those 

 constantly on the alert who will succeed in keep- 

 ing their bees free from disease.? I for one be- 

 lieve we can stamp out disease; but it must be 

 done by means of thorough inspection and the 

 hearty co-operation of bee-keepers who have been 

 aroused to this co-operation by having pointed 

 out to them the danger of neglect and inaction, 

 and the certainty of a better condition by aiding 

 the inspectors to know that they have bees, and 

 helping them by letter and word of mouth to lo- 

 cate every colony in the district. 



At the recent convention of the Ontario Bee- 

 keepers' Association the various inspectors report- 

 ed. East of Northumberland Co. several cases 

 were found. Almost all, if not all, the inspectors 

 stated that they had found more disease than 

 they had expected. One inspector had found 41 

 per cent of the apiaries he visited this year dis- 

 eased. Another inspector, J. L. Byers, had 

 found European foul brood in his district. The 

 tract of country affected was something like 

 twelve miles square. It had proved to be very 

 virulent. 



No colonies should be left uninspected. At 

 present there are many who keep bees who rarely 

 examine the brood-chambers. Some colonies, 

 owing to crooked combs, can not well be exam- 

 ined. It was pointed out that colonies so kept 

 rarely paid the owner; and, as the vice-president 

 said, they are often a menace to other bee-keep- 

 ers. There was a desire manifested at the con- 

 vention to help such bee-keepers to better-paying 

 methods — and to help them, with the co-opera- 

 tion of the Department of Agriculture, to keep 

 bees in a paying way. There was a feeling that 

 it was to the interest of almost every one to have 

 the carelessly kept bees out of the way. 



The writer is compiling these notes on a trip 

 to Amherst, Nova Scotia, to judge honey and 

 give an address on bee-keeping at the Maritime 

 Breeders' Association exhibition of stock, fruit, 

 and honey. 



