304 



September, 1914, 



American T^ee Jonrnal 



in to a small extent. I believe we shall 

 be able to handle it. But there is a 

 point on which I wish to ask assistance 

 from all who can make accurate st 'dy 

 of conditions, //o-.r is the disease car- 

 ried ? I would like to ask our Govern- 

 ment experts to determine this for us 

 if possible, as we are still very much in 

 the dark on this point. 



If this could be positively known it 

 would greatly assist us in arresting the 

 spread of the disease, and until we do 

 kno'V we are in the dark. I have found 

 a few cases this year which utterly 

 baffle any attempt to account for the 

 disease being carried from any other 

 apiary. We quarantined and watched 

 our borders and did everything in our 

 power to keep it out of our county 

 from the first alarm which reached us 



that the disease was in the State. Still 

 it came We have very little, and, as I 

 said, I think we can handle it by the 

 requeening method. But what we need 

 to know is how to practically prevent 

 its spread. 



Four years ago when we heard of 

 the disease being present in the San 

 Joaquin valley, in the central part of 

 the State, I went there to study it. I 

 found that several beekeepers who had 

 suffered losses, believed the germs of 

 the disease were carried in the air. 

 They said it spread in the direction of 

 prevailing winds. 1 wonder if this 

 phase of the problem has been noticed 

 in other places. I have not had suffi- 

 cient experience to give an opinion in 

 this regard, but am seeking light on 

 the subject, as what we need to know 

 is Aou the infection is carried. 



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



Ontario Crop Prospect 



In the July issue of the American 

 Bee Journal, I stated that from appear- 

 ances at Hiat date, Ontario would have 

 one of the lightest ciops of white 

 honey recorded for some years. A 

 meeting of the Crop Report Committee 

 of the Ontario Beekeepers' Asssocia- 

 tion, held recently in Toronto, decided 

 that, from the reports submitted, an 

 average of about lb pounds per colony 

 would not be exceeded. Personally, 

 judging by letters from various parts 

 of the province, and knowing how 

 things are locally, I am inclined to 

 think these figures high enough, and if 

 strictly No. 1 white honey only was 

 taken into account, there would not be 

 as much as that. 



In several counties adjacent to To- 

 ronto, a light yield was secured from 

 maple, willow, etc., as well as a very 

 small amount from clover and bass- 

 wood, but so far, I have not seen a 

 single pound of the honey that would 

 pass as No. 1. At a time of the year 

 when we do not think of getting any 

 white honey here in York county, the 

 bees at the north yard began unex- 

 pectedly to store nicely, and we have a 

 half crop at that one yard. Not very 

 much for a good year, but something 

 to be appreciated in a year of failure, 

 when a'l hopes of getting white Iioney 

 had been abandoned for the season. 



Wintering Prospects 



In our own locality the season has 

 been very dry up to date (Aug. Hi). 

 Quite a large acreage of buckwheat 

 near our York county yards, but little 

 honey stored as yet, owing to drouth. 

 To be of benefit rain must come soon. 

 Present indications are that it will be 

 hard to get sugar for winter feeding, 

 owing to the difficulties caused by the 

 terrible war now raging, and naturally 

 we are hoping for enough buckwheat 

 to winter with, in case sugar is not ob- 



tainable except at a prohibitive price. 

 However, this is a minor consideration 

 at a time like this, and our hearts bleed 

 as we think of the awful miseries caused 

 by the war, to the millions and millions 

 who are suffering and losing all that is 

 dear to them, and through no fault of 

 their own. 



Introducing Queens 



A poor season is a good time to test 

 out methods of introducing queens. 

 Since the direct method of introducing 

 by smoking with any ordinary fuel has 

 been recommended (for years I used 

 tobacco smoke for this purpose), I 

 have been successful in almost all at- 

 tempts at introduction. 



About three weeks ago a friend sent 

 me two queens rather unexpectedly at 

 a time when no nectar was coming in. 

 Just a week previous another queen 

 had come under the same condition 

 from another friend, and as I liad 

 taken the queen away from a strong 

 colony early in the morning and in- 

 troduced the new arrival successfully 

 in the evening, I felt like trying the 

 same f;ame with the other two. Ac- 

 cordingly early in the morning, to 

 avoid any robbers nosing around, I 

 hunted out the queens of two hybrids, 

 one of them more than ordinarily vin- 

 dictive, as results will show. 



Queens were run in these colonies 

 late in the evening, and the cross col- 

 ony was given an extra hard smoking 

 so as to be sure of results. Next morn- 

 ing I found the results smi- all right, 

 as on the CO .er placed in front of the 

 hive was my nice yellow queen. About 

 five days later I went through this col- 

 ony and cut out cells started, and that 

 evening ran in another queen after 

 giving another smoking. The next 

 morning this queen was outside, too. 

 Since then I have had letters from two 

 well known queen-breeders, one in 

 Ontario and another in New York 

 State, both reporting heavy losses by 



the direct method of introduction. As 

 both of these men have introduced 

 queens by the hundreds, I did not feel 

 as mortified as if I had been alone, for 

 "misery loves company." 



It shows that conditions are bound 

 to arise that make any plan of intro- 

 duction fallible. This verdict might 

 be modified if we except some elabo- 

 rate methods used for the introduction 

 of very valuable queens, but, as a gen- 

 eral rule, somethree or four of the rec- 

 ognized common methods of introduc- 

 tion are so sure that one willingly 

 takes the chance of losing a queen now 

 and then instead of going to so much 

 work to be positive about results every 

 time. 



Caring for Super Combs 



Last month I spoke of caring for the 

 large number of super combs not in 

 use because of the failure of the honey 

 crop. Very little trouble occurred with 

 the moths in combs in the honey houses 

 until the last few days, when some are 

 beginning to be in evidence. Some 

 time in May a pile of supers was placed 

 out in one yard to have the honey 

 cleaned up — the combs had not been 

 licked up after extracting last fall. 

 These supers have been out all sum- 

 mer with only a hive cover loosely 

 placed on top of each tier. Today 

 (Aug. 13) no signs of the moths are 

 present. Spiders have webs more or 

 less all through the combs and not a 

 moth gets a chance to deposit eggs. 

 Last week I was up at the Lovering 

 yard, and there we have over 100 full- 

 depth supers piled out in the yard in 

 like condition and not a moth showing 

 its work. I will take the hint, and if 

 another season like the present comes 

 along, outdoors will go all the combs 

 at once. 



'•-•-*• 



Feeding for Winter 



No doubt many will be thinking 

 about the feeding question by the time 

 this issue is in print; in fact, some 

 have written me already asking as to 

 quantity to feed, time to do this work, 

 etc. As to quantity to feed, be sure 

 you have enough, and in a year like 

 this we are more apt to err by giving 

 too little than overdoing the matter, 

 especially if sugar is dear and the 

 pocket book light, as is the case with 

 many of us this year; at least I can 

 speak positively as far as I am con- 

 cerned. As to time, much will depend 

 upon your location. Formerly we had 

 no buckwheat, and we aimed to have 

 all feeding done in September. Of late 

 years quite a lot of buckwheat is sown, 

 much of it rjuite late. While this late 

 buckwheat yields little honey, enough 

 comes in to keep the bees breeding, 

 and there is a lot of brood in the hives 

 much later than formerly. 



As we like the bulk of this brood to 

 be hatched before doing any feeding, I 

 would like all to be fed about Oct. 10 

 or l.'i. .\s we usually have many colo- 

 nies to look after, we have to start 

 about Sept. 2(3 in order to get through 

 by the middle of October. At that date 

 we feed a thick syrup made of 100 

 pounds of sugar to 50 of water. A sack 

 of sugar is dumped into a tank used for 

 storing honey, and on top of the sugar 



