NOVEMBER 1, 1913 



751 



Notes from Canada 



.r. L. Bykr, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



For the past week I have had the unusual 

 spectacle in my apiaries of seeing great 

 clusters of bees hanging out over the fronts 

 of the hives. I have never seen this before 

 in October, and may never see it again. The 

 unseasonable heat is, of course, responsible 

 for this, and in colonies that had been fed 

 heavily tlie bees were outside of the hives 

 as in hot midsummer weather. 

 » * * 



In ray notes for Oct. 1 I said that nearly 

 all parts of Ontario had the long prevailing 

 drouth broken by copious showers. This 

 was (rue at the time of writing; but the few 

 showers that came at that time ended 

 abruptly, and since then no rain has fallen. 

 At this date (Oct. 10) every thing is as dry 

 as a bone, and we have been having torrid 

 weather, with temperatures up in the eigh- 

 ties — an unusual condition for October here 



in Ontario. 



* * * 



]\Iost of my feeding is done, but there are 

 a few colonies yet to feed. These were ex- 

 amined to-day, and in every case the queens 

 were starting quite a large brood-nest, only 

 eggs and very young larvae being present, 

 showing that the unseasonable weather is 

 I'esponsible for this condition. Too warm 

 weather at this time of the year is not the 

 best thing for heljaing wintering conditions 

 in our latitude; but quite likely we shall 

 soon get an extreme change, and this late 

 brood-rearing will then be checked. 



* * * 



Secretary Pettit reports that the Ontario 

 Beekeepers' Association now has over 1300 

 members. An aggressive campaign in the 

 way of organizing new county associations 

 is largely responsible for the large increase 

 in membei-sliip, as the majority of the mem- 

 bers of the local associations join the Pro- 

 vincial association too. Whether the use- 

 fulness of the association will increase in 

 proportion to the increase in membership is 

 a question ; but according to the old motto, 

 '' In union there is strength," the more pow- 

 erful the association is in numbers, the 

 greater chance it should have in the matters 

 of securing legislation and in forwarding 

 other interests necessary for the industry. 

 That work of that nature should be expect- 

 ed of the association in the future more 

 than in the past is the opinion of many. 



* * # 



The convention of the Ontario Beekeep- 

 ers' Association will be held in Toronto, 

 Nov. 18-21. Of course w^e are expecting a 



large attendance, not only from Ontario but 

 from the States across the border. All the 

 counties near Toronto have this year had a 

 fine crop, and this will, no doubt, be a stim- 

 ulus to many to attend, who otherwise might 

 not put in an appearance. It is needless to 

 say, the officials of tlie association are veiy 

 anxious for a good attendance, and certain- 

 ly anticipate having a pleasant and profit- 

 able reunion. A hearty invitation is ex- 

 tended to our friends " over the line " to 

 come and visit us; and it will be a genuine 

 disappointment if a number of them do not 

 ];)ut in an appearance. The c'onvention is at 

 a lime of the year when beekeepers, as a 

 rule, are not busy. So, pack your gi'ip and 

 take a trip to the Queen City of Canada, 

 not forgetting to bring your wife with you. 

 * * * 



Some time ago I noted that Mr. McKin- 

 non, of St. Eugene, Ont., claimed that his 

 Italians woi'ked as far away as four miles 

 from home. In common with previous claims 

 of this nature on the part of others I rather 

 doubted the truth of the matter, for Avhile 

 1 would not question Mr. McKinnon's ve- 

 racity, yet I felt that there was a possibil- 

 ity that he might be mistaken. Just a few 

 dajs ago he wrote me that he would like to 

 have me there to prove that he was right; 

 that at that time his Italians were cleaning 

 up a batch of blacks about four miles away, 

 and, in addition to this, they were cleaning 

 up the honey from a bee-tree that had been 

 cut down, which was 31/2 miles distant. I 

 think I shall have to admit that his claims 

 ai'e correct ; but for the life of me I can 

 not tell why my bees acted differently some 

 years ago. At that time there was an abun- 

 dance of buckwheat about four miles dis- 

 tant; and wliile bees in that district would 

 store a surplus our bees would not get a 

 smell of buckwheat, and there were Italians 

 in the apiary from different breeder in the 

 States, some of Doolittle's strain at that, 

 and you know friend Doolittle is right in 

 line with Mr. McKinnon on the question of 

 bees going a long way for nectar. Wliile 

 on this subject I must frankly admit that 

 this year we had bees travel four miles ; but 

 it was under conditions different from those 

 we have ever had before. The Lovering 

 apiai-y is two miles from the water, and 

 the bay is two miles to the opposite shore. 

 Thousands of bees flew across this stretch 

 of water, and I rather surmise that, in ease 

 of a head wind blowing against loaded bees, 

 this long fly over the water would be detri- 

 mental rather than otherwise. 



