SEPTEMBER 1, 1913 



601 



Notes from Canada 



J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



The Toronto exhibition, known generally 

 as the " National," has a world-wide fame 

 for the excellence of its exhibits in general, 

 honey not excepted. This year a radical 

 change has been made in the honey depart- 

 ment, and the exhibit will be looked for 

 with interest. Instead of individual prizes 

 being given, the National directorate have 

 given a lump sum of money to the Ontario 

 Beekeepers' Association, and asked them to 

 put up a large and attractive exhibit. This 

 is being done in the way of county exhibits 

 being sent in, and the Association is to see 

 that all is staged in an attractive way. 



The circumstances mentioned on page 

 513, Aug. 1, relative to drones congregating 

 in large numbers in certain places seems to 

 be quite common. For many years I have 

 noticed that the drones from our home api- 

 ary, as well as those from a neighbor's, 

 about half a mile away, swarm by the thou- 

 sands over a field about a quarter of a mile 

 away from each of these two apiaries. Any 

 nice sunny afternoon in July and August 

 there is a great roar of flying drones in this 

 place, and I can see no reason why this par- 

 ticular location is chosen ; but the drones 

 seemingly like the spot better than any 

 other in the vicinity. 



« « * 



Since writing my last notes for this de- 

 partment, conditions have changed but little 

 in the clover situation for Ontario. As 

 forecasted then, the crop, generally speak- 

 ing, is very light in eastern counties; light 

 to fair in northern counties, and good to 

 very good in central and southwestern 

 counties. The markets are good, and in 

 our own case all honey is sold at this date 

 (July 11) except some jDails that are held 

 for winter sales. Quite a determined etfort 

 has been made by the wholesale trade in 

 some quarters to bear prices, but in a gen- 

 eral way the prices recommended by the 

 crop committee are being obtained. A few 

 beekeepers who had big crops, and feared 

 low prices later on, sold at a figure below 

 the committee's recommendation ; but I 

 suspect they see the mistake now. The 

 Western Provinces of Canada take large 

 quantities of honey; and as crops are good 

 there this year, the demand is likely to be 

 good and continue for honey all winter. 



One feature of the honey market this 

 year is that every small order from a fam- 

 ily is likely to bring a repeat order in a 

 short time. The reason for this is that 

 the clover honey this year is the finest in 

 quality that I have ever seen, and that is 



going some, as Ontario generally produces 

 some pretty good stuff in the honey line. 



« « « 



I heard a farmer once say that farming 

 is a gamble on the weather. No later than 

 a few weeks ago, one of the last men we 

 would suspect of gambling made the same 

 statement to me in regard to beekeeping. 

 I refer to our mutual friend Mr. Pettit ; and 

 I know, Mr. Editor, it will shock you to 

 learn that our friend is engaging in and 

 advising others to go into a business that 

 has a tendency to develop the gambling 

 instinct that seems to be inherent in human 

 nature in general. I will leave you to deal 

 with him in the matter. I should just like 

 to say that there is a certain amount of 

 luck or chance in beekeeping that has all 

 other rural occu^Dations " beaten to a fraz- 

 zle," to use a term quite familiar to you 

 chaps " over the line." For instance, up 

 at the Lovering yard, which is 100 miles 

 north of our home, when there about May 

 24 I certainly thought by conditions in gen- 

 eral that the bees would leave the others 

 away behind that are in York Co. around 

 our home, at least ten acres of clover up 

 north to every acre around our home yards, 

 to say nothing of other honey sources of 

 which we have nothing here. The season 

 is now over, and up north we have about 35 

 pounds per colony, while here the five yards 

 have averaged four times that much. Short- 

 ly after I left the north yard this spring, 

 late spring frosts damaged the clover bad- 

 ly, and then the prolonged drauth finished 

 up the work. Here at home the frosts did 

 little damage ; and while we were a bit short 

 of rain most of the time, yet some nice 

 showers kept the clover quite fresh for a 

 while, and the yield of nectar was very 

 good indeed. In writing the July Notes I 

 stated that buckwheat prospects were fine; 

 but since that item was written we have had 

 practically no rain, and now it looks as 

 though we shall do well if the bees get 

 enough buckwheat to pay the feeding-bill. 

 It is now Aug. 11; and unless rain comes 

 soon, certainly we can not get much buck- 

 wheat honey, as the plants are stunted and 

 the ground all parched and cracked open 

 in many places. These are commonjDlace 

 occurrences, of course, to the beekeepers 

 who have been in the business for years; 

 but perhaps a recital of some of these thing-s 

 that are likely to happen may be the means 

 of helping some beginners to realize that, 

 after all, beekeeping has trials and disap- 

 pointments to put up with as well as have 

 other jDursuits. 



