840 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Notes from Canada 



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



Hard by the garage grew a rose, 

 Wind-tossed with stem atilt. 



One night, unseen, 



A chauffeur mean 

 Some petrol on it spilt. 

 Adulterated rose nectar 

 A bee did sip next morn, 



And now it does 



No longer buzz 

 But toots just like a horn. 



Some friend in Toronto sent me the above 

 clii:»ping pasted to a postal card. 



* * * 



Moving' bees without closing the entrances 

 is all right for the man who understands 

 his business and is either doing the work 

 all alone or is able to get help thoroughly 

 reliable and capable. Without these condi- 

 tions it is a risky business, and I advise 

 beginners to close all entrances bee-tight 

 with wire cloth. Of course, in hot weather 

 abundant top ventilation will be necessary 

 too, to avoid suffocation. 



As one of the conditions for fast work in 

 extracting honey, it is stated on page 776, 

 " If frames are sjDaced 1% from center to 

 center." To my notion that would be a 

 factor to retard rather than help ; and if 

 they were spaced more like 1% than 1%, 

 things would go much faster, especially 

 after combs are in the honey-house. Wide 

 spacing of extracting-combs is an economiz- 

 er in more than one way, and it is a practice 

 fast coming into use among many producers 

 who were formerly opposed to the plan. 

 Once try it, and I venture to say tliat not 

 oije in a hundred will return to the old plan 

 of close spacing. 



According to your dictum, Mr. Editor, p. 

 746, Nov. 1, a great many communities 

 ought to be left out in the cold because the 

 majority of places still have not the gump- 

 tion to have roads good all the year round. 

 But we are gradually coming to the point 

 where people see the necessity of good 

 roads, and at present there is more agitation 

 along this line than ever before. Some say 

 that the auto owners are behind these good- 

 road schemes for selfish purposes; and 

 wliile there may be something in this con- 

 tention, yet for once, at least, let it be said 

 that selfishness ( ? ) will be good for all class- 

 es of the community. 



*• * * 



E. D. Townsend says that " alsike clover 

 is the future dependence of Michigan for 

 its honey supply." In many respects Mich- 

 igan must be a great deal like Ontario, as 

 the same statement would largely apply to 



this Province, coinparing one year with an- 

 other. Wliile there are many localities where 

 white clover yields a good surplus some 

 years, generally speaking " white-clover 

 honey " is a misnomer, as I believe that 

 three-fourths of the clover honey of Ontario 

 is annually gathered from alsike. Certain 

 it is, that, if one hears a beekeeper asking 

 about a jDrospective location, invariably the 

 question comes up, " How is it for alsike? " 



THE CONVENTION IN TORONTO. 



These notes are being written just ten 

 days before the date of our annual conven- 

 tion in Toronto, and indications point to a 

 record attendance. The date is a week later 

 than other years, and this means that most 

 beekeepers will be through with the rush of 

 the work for the season. Pereonally I am 

 looking forward to this annual meeting with 

 a thrill of pleasure. While I always get 

 something of value from the program, yet 

 after all I plead guilty to being actuated 

 more by the social instinct than any thing 

 else; and I just wonder if there are not 

 many others with the same weakness. After 

 all, what would life amount to if only dol- 

 lars and cents were all one had to take plea- 

 sure from? Show me a man with just that 

 loredominating passion, and you may be 

 sure he is a source of pleasure to no one else 

 — possibly not even to his own selfish nature. 



TOBACCO SMOKE FOR BEES. 



Arthur C. Miller says that Henry Alley 

 never advised tobacco smoke for introduc- 

 ing queens to full colonies. Never mind 

 whether he did or not ; yet many beekeepers 

 have used that plan scores of times, this 

 scribbler among the number. But, thanks 

 to friend Miller, I find, so far as I have 

 experimented with the plan, that ordinary 

 smoke from any thing used commonly as a 

 smoker fuel will answer the same purpose 

 as the tobacco. This saves buying the to- 

 bacco and saves me from getting sick, as has 

 already happened when I seemingly got 

 more than the bees did. Come to think of 

 it, quite a few times I have seen bees rolling 

 out from the entrance when smoked with 

 tobacco, so Mr. Miller's plan saves bees 

 from getting sick too. I just wonder if it 

 would be wrong to wish that tobacco would 

 make every thing sick that uses it. I sup- 

 pose the matter is none of my business; but 

 I am led to make this query because of a 

 number of good friends of mine who have 

 repeatedly told me that they wished they 

 could quit using the " stuff." You see, if it 

 made them sick enough their wish would be 

 fulfilled all right. 



