1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



123 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



By R. F. Holtermann. 



OUTSIDE WINTERING. 



In this locality bees had a splendid fly Jan. 24. 

 The ground was free from snow, the wind balmy, 

 and the temperature 59 in the shade This flight 

 practically means successful wintering for colo- 

 nies properly put up. To my surprise, Mr. By- 

 er said that his bees had no flight. One hundred 

 miles sometimes makes a great diff^erence. 

 •*- 



BEES WINTERING WELL. 



Jan. 29 I had a visit from J. L. Byer, Mark- 

 ham, Ontario. We went to the bee- cellar. He 

 thought the conditions there indicated very fa- 

 vorable wintering. Mr. S. T. Pettit, Aylmer 

 West, Ont. , who is in his eightieth year, was al- 

 so here. Mr. Pettit, who has a remarkable rec- 

 ord in wintering bees, thought the bees were in 

 excellent condition. Owing to the great changes 

 of temperature I think it has been a rather un- 

 favorable winter for bees in the cellar. 



THE FERTILIZATION OF BLOSSOMS. 



It is Stated in the Algerian bee-journal, Nahla, 

 that on the island of Guadaloupe (Lesser Antilles) 

 bees are held to be of the greatest importance for 

 the purpose of the cocoa and coffee trees. Before 

 the introduction of bees, although the plants blos- 

 somed profusely, they yielded little or no fruit. 

 Now the returns are not only regular, but they 

 have more than doubled. We ought to send a 

 few of the agriculturists who live among us to 

 the above country to be convinced. 



WINTERING BEES IN A WARM ROOM. 



On page 72 you refer to a colony of bees in the 

 window of one of your offices. I also noticed a 

 previous reference to this colony. At that time 

 I felt like writing and giving it as my opinion 

 that, unless the bees could get a cleansing flight 

 within a reasonable time, trouble would begin. 

 In my estimation your statement, " Every two or 

 three weeks there has been at least one good day 

 when the bees could get an airing," is largely an 

 explanation of your success. Where bees can 

 not get this liberty I am afraid there will be 

 trouble. This is an exceptional winter. 



OUTDOOR-WINTERED COLONIES UNDER SEALED 

 GLASS COVERS. 



Your editorial report, page 71, as to the condi- 

 tion of those colonies interests me much. As we 

 would expect, the moisture condenses in the cool- 

 est part of the hive and drops down. In a mild 

 winter this may be all right (c-o-m-p-a-r-a-t-i-v-e- 

 1-y speaking); but with long-continued cold, this 

 moisture is likely to condense on stores not cov- 

 ered by bees, and injure them. The dampness 

 on walls and bottom-board must be about as 

 healthful for the bees as damp walls, etc., in a 

 living-room. During prolonged cold the mois- 

 ture at the entrance will freeze if reports in this 

 part of the country are correct. I would much 

 sooner have the moisturepassoff at the top through 



packing. If the gables of the cover have a ven- 

 tilator, and an empty space be allowed between 

 the roof and the top of the packing, the moisture, 

 soon passes away. 



SIZE OF HIVES. 



As it has been stated in the apicultural press 

 that the eight-frame Langstroth hive won the de- 

 bate at the Detroit convention it might be well 

 to quote the jury decision as given on page 90 of 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association Report: 

 "The report of the committee is that, according 

 to the weight of evidence, in the majority of cases 

 the large hive had the preference; but under cer- 

 tain circumstances, different methods, and differ- 

 ent men, the small hive was the best." That 

 means the large hive won, but the jury slightly 

 exceeded their duty by letting the 8-frame hive 

 down as easy as possible. 



HEATHER BEE-KEEPERS. 



J. C. A., Grangemouth, \n British Bee Journal, 

 page 33, gives an interesting account of taking 

 bees tQ heather. He states: "It was now about 

 time to get ready for the moors. This job was 

 begun on the evening of Aug. 11, and all was 

 ready for our annual drive of 24 miles in time to 

 reach the moors by 3 : 30 next morning. " He se- 

 cured an average of 50 lbs. per stock, of comb 

 honey. Again, he makes the statement, " I would 

 not miss the pleasure of my annual trip to the 

 heather for a good deal. . . . Out of a fam- 

 ily of seven sons I am the only one who would 

 care to touch a hive of bees with a 20-foot-pole; 

 yet they, like myself, had all to do their share of 

 watching swarms, etc., when they were young." 

 Bee-keeping does not always run in the blood, al- 

 though I have a good many times had people ask 

 me what I thought about their engaging in bee- 

 keeping, giving as a probable reason for success 

 that some relative kept bees. 



HOW SHALL HIVES FACE.? 



During the next sixty days many will be set- 

 ting bees on summer stands. When we remem- 

 ber that bees have frequently been known to work 

 on basswood, honey-dew, and other forage short- 

 ly after the dawn of day, and long before sunrise, 

 and that they work on days when the sun does 

 not appear at all, and that when nectar is abun- 

 dant the bees will work until dark, we may be 

 pardoned for not having much faith in the state- 

 ment that bees do better when the hives face the 

 east, because the sun draws them out earlier in 

 the morning; or when they face the west, because 

 they work later at night. In the Rucher Beige M. 

 A. Foure gives the results of five years' test by 

 weighing the amount annually produced by hives 

 turned north, south, east, and west. 



Those facingnorth produced 55.8 kilos honey; 

 those west produced 54.8 kilos; those east, 50.2; 

 and those south, 49 kilos. The apiary was well 

 sheltered on the north by means of a hedge. The 

 result was attributed to the fact that the bees in 

 the hives facing the north were sheltered from 

 wind, and therefore not drawn from the hives by 

 the sun when conditions for flying were unfavor- 

 able, as were those in the hives facing east or south. 

 In my estimation this is sound reasoning. 



