78 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



By R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



That telescope excelsior cover, page 57, pleases 

 me. I use a telescope cover, and like it. 



DUTY ON BEESWAX. 



If bee-keepers used more wax than they pro- 

 duce, more than they produce at a profit, then 

 higher duties would injure them. If the manu- 

 facturers use a large quantity of beeswax which 

 the bee-keeper supplies, then a duty should 

 benefit the bee-keeper financially. My private 

 opinion for years, based in part on feeding, has 

 been that the cost of producing wax is greatly 

 overestimated. A bee brought up to the condi- 

 tion of wax secretion, and then kept at it under 

 proper conditions as to temperature, etc., could 

 be made to produce wax at a good profit with 

 wax at 30 cts. per lb. 



Bee-keepers would also gain much by a more 

 frequent change of the combs in the brood-cham- 

 ber. 



Where disease is likely to occur, a more fre- 

 quent change of combs should help much to 

 combat these conditions; and on that ground 

 alone, to encourage this added protection would 

 be well worth considering. 



♦ 



MOVING BEES. 



On page 18 Dr. Miller refers to various state- 

 ments that have been made to the effect that bees 

 gain by being moved. There are probably few 

 if any men on this continent who have made 

 more moves with bees than I have. Last season 

 alone, as nearly as I can figure it, I moved four 

 car loads, four boat loads, and nearly fifty team 

 loads of bees. My experience convinces me that, 

 if bees are moved carefully, and extreme excite- 

 ment is prevented by ventilation and watering, 

 they benefit by a move, because they uncap 

 stores; but this can be accomplished with much 

 les? trouble and expense right at home. If bees 

 are not very carefully prepared and treated when 

 moving they may get excited, become thirsty, 

 and utilize the food which has been given to the 

 larvas, thus destroying them. This, of course, is 

 a very serious setback to a colony. When the 

 tongues of the bees are pushed through the 

 screen, and moved about in an excited way — gi'-ve 

 them n.vater. 



MOVING BEES IN WINTER. 



The above subject, page 17, Jan. 1, has exer- 

 cised many, and I feel particularly interested in 

 the subject at the present time. My first experi- 

 ence in moving bees in cold weather was in the 

 late autumn of 1901. I then bought a lot of 

 bees in New York, and had them moved about 

 two miles to the station by means of teams. The 

 car, during winter weather, was two days on the 

 way, and upon arrival in Brantford it was winter 

 weather with snow. The bees were hauled on 

 sleighs about a mile, placed without a flight in 

 winter quarters, in a first-class cellar. They 

 came through in excellent order with the exception 

 of one which starved, and there was no sign of 

 dysentery. The bees had clover honey for stores, 

 and some of them were on pretty close rations. 



In another instance I bought 35 colonies, which 

 were hauled by wagon over 20 miles to the bee- 

 cellar here (this cellar is illustrated in the ABC 

 and X Y Z of Bee Culture). They reached the 

 cellar in the evening, and, not wishing to disturb 

 unnecessarily 483 colonies already in the cellar, I 

 left the 35 outside until next morning, when they 

 were taken down. I will report how they win- 

 ter. They were brought here Dec. 31, and at 

 this date, Jan. 11, after careful examination with 

 a candle, in no respect can I see any difference 

 between these and the other bees. The bees of 

 the one lot were as tightly clustered, and as ob- 

 livious to candle light, as those of the other. 



THE MARITIME BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



The Maritime Bee-keepers' Association, the 

 leading officers of which are portrayed on anoth- 

 er page, is an organization which is making a de- 

 termined effort to place bee-keeping on a better 

 footing in these provinces. It wishes to encour- 

 age in any one a desire to engage in the industry 

 if the person is so situated that he is likely to suc- 

 ceed. All the officers are men of weight and in- 

 fluence, and they come in contact with the public 

 in connection with the offices which they hold. 



All the members of the association get Glean- 

 ings, and for the benefit of these and others it 

 might be well to point out that frequently the 

 bees store honey, in the fall of the year, from as- 

 ter, and, so far as I can judge from statements I 

 have heard made in Michigan, Pennsylvania, 

 New York, and Ontario, the bees are liable to 

 winter badly on such stores. Under such cir- 

 cumstances it is advisable either to put into the 

 brood-chamber combs of sugar syrup previously 

 fed, or to give the bees a 15 to 20 lb. feed of syr- 

 up made in the proportion of 2>^ parts of gran- 

 ulated sugar to 1 of water. Feed after a frost has 

 come to destroy practically all blossoms. Bad 

 wintering appears to be a common experience 

 with Maritime bee-keepers. 



The quality of the honey exhibited at the an- 

 nual fair was the best I have seen there during 

 my three years' experience as judge and lecturer. 

 Mr. Baker, the secretary, had a particularly 

 fine display of honey, including very choice 

 comb. Others had extracted honey which would 

 pass in Ontario as of first-class quality. 



The exhibitors were: B. W. Baker; Craig Bros., 

 W. B. Wallace, Miss Julia A. Corbett, and Chas. 

 Pierce. 



At this show Mr. Wallace had some comb 

 honey. It was not white, neither was it amber, 

 but rather a very light ocher color. He describ- 

 ed a plant, which we decided was hanihack, as 

 the source. After taking a section home and 

 cutting it I detected the hardhack aroma. Two 

 other members of the family, independently, did 

 the same. This honey has an excellent body, a 

 fair color, and is more aromatic than any other 

 Canadian honey I ever tasted. In fact, I would 

 have put it down as a tropical honey. 



Rev. A. E. Burke, Alberton, P. E. Island, has 

 been of material assistance in helping bee-keepers 

 in organization. At the evening address on 

 " Bees, Their Modern Management and the Val- 

 ue of Honey as a Food," there were over 2000 

 people present. The Halifax papers estimated 

 the audience at 3000. 



