232 



American Hee Journal I 



a >- - I !■ II ■ II I !■ ■ mi iii m ^""^ 



July, i;U4. 



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



Dry in Ontario 



Weather is very dry, and clover short 

 and scarce. This describes conditions 

 at present in many sections of Ontario, 

 our own locality among the number. 

 Unless rain comes soon the crop of 

 honey from clover must be light, as 

 the stunted plants will not stay long in 

 bloom even if they should yield nectar. 

 Bees are generally in good condition, 

 so even if the flow should be short 

 chances are good for a light yield, pro- 

 vided there is honey in the clover. 



Aside from this year's prospects, 

 rain would be welcome, as with con- 

 tinued dry weather the fresh seeding 

 done this spring will kill out, and 

 alsike will be scarce again next year. 

 Unless we get rains soon the buck- 

 wheat will be a failure, too, so natur- 

 ally we are hoping for abundant rains 

 in the near future. Who knows but 

 what we may be having more rain than 

 we want within the next month ? 



Save Your Beeswax 



Good advice on page 189, to save all 

 the beeswax from scraps of combs, 

 bur combs, etc. Wax is worth just as 

 much in Canada as it is in the United 

 States, if not more. During my years 

 of inspection work I was often amazed 

 at the appalling waste of good wax. 

 The market is always good, and seems 

 to be getting better each year, owing 

 no doubt to the fact that new uses are 

 being found all the time for the pro- 

 duct, and while there is a possibility, 

 yes, a probability, of the over-produc- 

 tion of honey, I hardly think such a 

 thing will happen to the market for wax 

 for many a year to come. 



days, shoeing a horse only a short time 

 ago. 



I wonder how many pampered sons 

 of rich men, who know not what toil 

 is, would be alive at over 100. Truly, 

 work coupled with temperate living is 

 the secret of good health and long life. 

 ■^-•-*^ 



Equalizing at Clover Flow 



Some have asked as to the advisability 

 of equalizing colonies at clover flow. 

 While this may be too late for many 

 localities, a word on the subject may 

 not be out of place. As a general rule 

 it is not good policy to do equalizing 

 before clover flow, for weak colonies 

 never want for brood provided the 

 queen is in normal condition, and to 

 give more brood to such colonies 

 would be simply making the situation 

 worse instead of improving it. Even 

 when the clover flow comes on I would 

 not think of doctoring up very weak 

 colonies at the expense of stronger 

 ones, as it would be a losing game. 



But often there may be colonies not 

 quite strong enough for the supers, 

 while others may be so very strong 

 that you know swarming will occur no 

 matter what plan is taken to avoid it. 

 In such cases I like to equalize by tak- 

 ing from these extra strong colonies 

 enoueh brood to fill out the medium 

 colonies so that all will be in shape for 

 the flow. Done at the right time, ma- 

 nipulations of this kind pay well for 

 the trouble, for in addition to holding 



back the extra strong from swarming 

 all of the apiary will be- nearer alike, 

 and much will be gained at extracting 

 time by having the yard in uniform 

 condition. 



One year shortly after starting to 

 keep bees, winter ami spring conditions 

 were extremely bad, and losses were 

 heavy all around us. My own bees 

 were mostly alive, but at opening of 

 the flow the colonies were not ready to 

 take advantage of it. After sizing up 

 the situation I decided to make a judic- 

 ious doubling, reducing the strong 

 colonies to about two-thirds of the 

 original number, leaving the other one- 

 third with their field bees and queen, 

 but with little brood. The colonies 

 strengthened were in fine shape just at 

 the time of the short flow we had that 

 year, and I secured a nice crop. 



The apiaries nearme leftalone stored 

 very little. Such a condition may 

 never occur again, but it shows that 

 there are times when it pays to double 

 up. One good colony will store more 

 honey during a short flow than will 

 two weak ones not ready for the supers. 



Soil and Climate Influence Color and 

 Quality of Honey 



An increasing acreage of alfalfa is 

 being grown in Ontario each year, but 

 it cuts no figure as a honey plant, 

 yielding only lightly about one year in 

 five, and the honey is of inferior quality. 



Some take the view that soil and 

 climate have no effect on quality of 

 honey, but I suspect that a producer of 

 alfalfa honey in Colorado or some 

 other western State would not own 

 our alfalfa product as being genuine if 

 he compared it with that produced in 

 his own locality. Yes, soil and climate 

 do have an influence on quality and 

 color of honey, whether it be alfalfa, 

 alsike or white clover. 



Long Life Dependent Upon Work and 

 Moderate Living 



Last week it was my privilege to 

 shake hands with a beekeeper who is 

 I0(j years of age. He was out in the 

 yard among the bees at the time, and 

 my regret is that I did not have my 

 camera so that 1 could have his picture, 

 as I hardly expect to see so old a man 

 again in the possession of his faculties. 

 His eye-sight seemed fairly good, as 

 he had no glasses on, and as for his 

 hearing, he conversed readily with me. 

 Seemingly, bee stings have not had a 

 bad effect on his health. Most wonder- 

 ful to relate this, man, at the age of lOU, 

 lives all alone and prepares some of 

 liis own meals, although he informed 

 me that liis son on the farm did his 

 cooking as a rule. The gent'eman in 

 question is Mr. O'Neill, of Uxbridge, 

 Ont., well known in all that section of 

 country, h.iving lived there as a black- 

 smith and beekeeper for many years. 

 Born in Ireland, he conies of a hardy 

 Stock, and has worked hard all his 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



Conducted by J. J. Wilder. Cordele. Ga. 



Too Much Brood 



Mr. Willikr: — I cleaned all my supers 

 in early spring and put in starters, but 

 when the bees began building comb as 

 fast as they could build it, the queens 

 filled it with eggs, and it is all solid 

 sheets of brood and no honey. My 

 old box-hives are in the same condi- 

 tion. What shall I do, as I want honey 

 in my supers ? W. T. BfRTON. 



Childersburg, Ala. 



You will soon find out that your 

 trouble is a good one, for you have to 

 have a great production in bees before 

 you can expect to gather much honey, 

 and I would not think of cutting this 

 fine crop of young bees out of the 

 frames and again put in starters ex- 

 pecting honey, fur you would almost 

 destroy the entire field force of bees at 

 the time the main honey flow comes 

 on. I know it is customary with box- 



hive beekeepers who are not well in- 

 formed, to remove in early spring, and 

 from time to time during the season 

 all the young bees in the comb in the 

 supers, or whatever may be used for a 

 storing apartment. This is a great 

 mistake. The best thing to do is to 

 add more storing room above this 

 brood. Sometimes in early spring a 

 colony dwindles down to only a small 

 cluster of bees, and the queen deserts 

 her old quarters below and goes into 

 the super above, and establishes her 

 quarters there for a while, but as soon 

 as the colony is sufficiently strong it 

 will go below again, and the bees will 

 fill the super with honey, but in such 

 cases the super of brood should be 

 placed under the main hive-body 

 which contained the old brood-nest, and 

 the queen will enter it much sooner. 



In early spring our I'lrst apiary work 

 is to arrange the queen's quarters at 



