GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Notes from Canada 



J. L. Byee, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



FLAVOR VS. COLOR. 



Regarding the matter of choice in taste 

 of honey being one of color or flavor I can 

 agree with Dr. Miller that, if dark honey 

 tasted all right, more would like it. Wliite 

 honey is preferred by the majority as a mat- 

 ter of taste, and yet taste can be cultivated 

 to a certain extent. Who ever liked his first 

 olive? And yet manj^, including the wi'iter, 

 ai'e very fond of them. In our home at the 

 present we have splendid honey of both 

 basswood and clover; yet for a change we 

 are using once in a while some buckwheat 

 granulated honey of a very smooth texture. 

 Formerly we could eat none of it at all ; but 

 we have learned to like the taste. Yet as a 

 " stayer " we all like the white honey best, 

 and I sujipose this will be the case for all 

 time with the majority, no matter how 

 much we may boom our buckwheat. 



* « * 



THE ONTARIO CONVENTION. 



The Ontario Beekeepers' convention, held 

 in Toronto Nov. 13, 14, and 15, was a suc- 

 cess in the matter of attendance, interest, 

 and good fellowship, and in all of these 

 respects it possibly eclipsed all past meet- 

 ings of the association. A number of our 

 cousins from " over the line " graced the 

 meeting with their attendance — sometliing 

 that was appreciated very much indeed by 

 us Canucks, and we hope that they all en- 

 joyed their short sojourn with us. In some 

 future issue I hope to give some of the best 

 thoughts of the meeting, after I have had 

 time to digest somewhat the great amount 

 of good thing's received while there. Offi- 

 cers for next season are practically the 

 same as for last year, with the exception 

 that Mr. Pettit assumes full responsibility 

 as Secretary instead of Mr. Hodgetts, who 

 was relieved on account of having so much 

 work along other lines. Mr. Denis Nolan, 

 of Newton Robinson, is again President. 

 All communications in connection with the 

 association work should be sent to Morley 

 Pettit, 0. A. C, Guelph, Ont. 



* * * 



On "Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 21 

 and 22, the bees had a splendid flight; and 

 on Friday, the 23d, those at the east yard, 

 200 miles from home, were all put into the 

 caves at that place. Conditions have been 

 thus ideal for cellar wintering in so far as 

 the start in the game is concerned; and 

 with a normal season from now on, the bees 

 wintering inside should come through in 

 good order. At the home apiaries, all the 

 bees had a good flight on the days mention- 



ed ; and since then up to the present time, 

 Dec. .5, we have had no cold weather to 

 speak of. To-day Mrs. Byer brought in a 

 splendid bunch of pansies; so readers of 

 Gleanings may know that we have had a 

 very mild fall here in Ontario. 



I might say that, just two days after the 

 bees at the east yard were put inside, about 

 two feet of snow fell. Certainly these bees 

 went just at the right time. Here at home 

 we had only enough snow to cover the 

 ground, and it soon went away. As the 

 weather has been quite mild, no doubt the 

 most of the snow has disappeared out east 

 too; but for all that, if the bees had been 

 caught in a big snowfall the hives would 

 have been in bad condition to carry inside. 

 * * * 



With no desire to start a controversy 

 over a matter that has been pretty well 

 thrashed out in the past, I can not refrain 

 from telling Dr. Miller of an experiment I 

 am trying. Some time ago our good friend 

 stated that if a colony of bees had solid 

 combs of honey with no clustering space 

 except the sj^aces beween the combs, said 

 colony would die during a prolonged cold 

 spell. Without taking the trouble to look 

 up the matter referred to, I believe that 

 the doctor will remember the circumstances 

 in connection with the discussion when he 

 made the statement. During the last week 

 in October a very strong colony in a regular 

 Danzenbaker hive was fed all the bees it 

 would take into the brood-nest. I might 

 say that the colony is so strong that it was 

 with difficulty the bees could get in the hive 

 after the supers were taken off; in fact, 

 during the coldest weather we have had 

 yet, the bees are snug in every corner of 

 the hive, although no packing is over them 

 yet, all the covering over the frames being 

 a quilt and roof above. Nov. 7 a feeder 

 was again put on the hive, and they have 

 carried down food until every cell must be 

 filled, as they refuse to take any more, and 

 start to build comb in the opening of the 

 feeder. Now, these frames are spaced but 

 1% inches apart ; and with solid frames of 

 stores in the middle of November what will 

 the bees do for a "winter nest" during the 

 weeks and weeks of cold zero weather that 

 we are pretty sure to have before spring — 

 the colony being wintered on a summer 

 stand, packed in a rough case? Will they 

 die? If the writer is alive next spring, he 

 will report, and in the meantime he will 

 lose no sleep over the fate of that abused 

 colony. 



