American Vee Journal 



gladly greet you in this glorious sum- 

 mer, sunnv land. There are a lot of 

 " tin can tourists " here, and more re- 

 ported on the way, so there will be 

 many of your class hert for you to 

 "chum" with. There is another class 

 here called "Crackers," who are about 

 on an equality with the " tin canners." 

 They associate together very much, 

 and the writer comes under this head. 

 So far as tin cans are concerned there 

 is a great demand for them for your 



purpose, but I am going to endeavor to 

 have you a lot of nice ones saved up. 

 And about fishing, we will see that you 

 catch up completely, and not have any 

 more of the fever to trouble you in 

 some time. Swimming is fine here. 

 The writer, in company with some 

 other " bee-cranks " the other day, was 

 strolling along the beautiful shell beach. 

 When we had reached a point some 

 distance from a residence, a surf bath 

 was suggested, and you know the rest. 



Conducted by J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Ontario. 



"Away Up North" Out of the Snow 



While Ohio and other central States 

 were treated to an old-fashioned bliz- 

 zard early in November, "away up 

 North in Ontario " we have had no 

 snow until today, Dec. 8. We are get- 

 ting our first light fall of the beautiful. 

 Editor Root made us open our eyes at 

 the Toronto convention, when he told 

 us of digging bees out of banks 9 feet 

 deep, and for once at least we were 

 thankful to be so far north as to escape 

 such rigorous weather. 



The vagaries of the weather are in- 

 deed wonderful, and our observatory 

 at Toronto reports the mildest Novem- 

 ber on record. The first week of De- 

 cember was without a frost, and at that 

 date pansies were still in bloom in 

 some gardens. But it is cold today 

 with a miniature northwest blizzard, so 

 things will likely be normal from now 



Bees had a fine flight on Nov. 22, and 

 during the first three days of December 

 they could have gotten out if necessary. 

 Very few came out, although the ther- 

 mometer went to 5U degrees— pretty 

 good evidence that they were in no 

 need of a flight. The chances are that 

 they will not have another flight until 

 late in March; but here we think noth- 

 ing of the bees being housed up four 

 months, provided the stores are good 

 and the bees are given good protection. 



Ontario ConventionCleaning Entrances 

 of Snow 



The 1913 convention of the Ontario 

 Beekeepers' Association is past. As 

 anticipated, the attendance broke the 

 records, and the interest was main- 

 tained until the close of the last ses- 

 sion. From over the line we had 

 Messrs. House and Clark of New York 

 State, and Editor E. R. Root, of Me- 

 dina, Ohio. Considerable attention 

 was given to the subject of co-opera- 

 tion, and while little actual work was 

 done in the way of devising plans for 

 a more effectual organization for sell- 

 ing our product, yet the discussion on 

 the subject cannot help but be educa- 

 tional. Even if no immediate steps 

 are taken, the work done may bear 

 fruit in the future. The great question 

 to solve in undertaking work of any 

 extent in the line of co-operation, is 



the financing of the scheme. That 

 question must be settled before any 

 effective work can be done. 



Some notes of the proceedings of 

 the convention were taken by the 

 writer, and at some future time I hope 

 to give a brief synopsis of some of the 

 best things at the meeting. Most of 

 the discussions were along the lines of 

 actual work in the summer time, and 

 thus most of the good things can be 

 given at a more seasonable time. 



This reminds me that the month of 

 January is a month above all others in 

 which there is "nothing doing" with 

 the bees in our northern latitudes. If 

 one has warm honey houses to work 

 in, comb scraping and all like work 

 can be done at this time; but as we 

 have no stoves in any of our bee build- 

 ings, that work is left until warni days 

 in April, when we always have time to 

 get the work done before the rush of 

 the season starts. 



The snow problem will present itself 

 in many localities in January. In my 

 own case I let all pile around the hives 

 that chooses to drift there. We have 

 quilts over the frames, and all winter 

 the cases have an air-space between 

 packing and cover of outside case. If I 

 used sealed covers over the frames, pos- 

 sibly we would have to be more careful 



of the snow, but as I^Jdo^notjwant the 

 sealed covers, I let the snow go, and 

 can see no bad results from it. On the 

 contrary, I often wish for snow, for in 

 the counties bordering on lake Ontario 

 our snowfall is very often light, while 

 north lUO miles, where we have another 

 yard, the hives will be completely cov- 

 ered. But I want the snow away in 

 time for the first flight in March, and 

 after that period I consider it danger- 

 ous to have the hives covered again 

 for any length of time. Snow falling 

 in spring is heavy and wet, and with 

 brood-rearing going on it is dangerous. 

 -#-•-♦ 



Dr. Miller's Crop 



It will now be in order for Dr. Miller 

 to get out a new edition of his book, 

 so as to tell us how that big crop was 

 harvested. Really, though, that great 

 yield is only described by one word, 

 " magnificent." After making all al- 

 lowance for the very best management, 

 good bees, good supplies, etc., what a 

 wonderful flow there must have been! 

 While Ontario is a fine honey country 

 one year with another, yet I never get 

 any of those prolonged flows like they 

 do in Illinois and some other States. 

 Very often our best crops are harvested 

 inside of two weeks, and rarely do we 

 get a flow of four weeks from clover. 

 In some sections of Ontario the yield 

 was prolonged this year, but with us, 

 although the crop was good, clover 

 yielded less than four weeks. Con- 

 gratulations Doctor, and may you get 

 366 sections per colony next year. 



And while congratulating the Doctor 

 on his great crop, let us not forget that 

 in Miss Wilson he has an able helper. 

 Who knows just how much of the 

 credit of this big yield must be attri- 

 buted to her ? Personally, "the woman 

 in the case " deserves a lot of credit 

 for the crop Ave harvested, and I sus- 

 pect a great many other beekeepers 

 would have to confess the same thing. 



Shall We Encourage Bnginners? 



One thing was very much in evidence 

 at our late convention in Toronto. 

 This was that at present there is a lot 

 of extracted honey still unsold in On- 



Mr. Johnson, OK Wehster, Iowa. . 



800 pounds out of a crop of lioi pounds harvested from 6 co Ionics m 1913. 



