JULY 1, 1912 



397 



K!]®Tr 



\Fm(S)W (B^ra^m^ 



J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



That cover picture of the June 1st issue 

 reminds me that, for some reason, raspber- 

 ries here in Ontario do not yield honey to 

 the same extent as reported in northern 

 Michigan. While the raspberry is a good 

 honey j^lant, yet it does not last very long; 

 and as soon as clover comes into bloom the 

 bees prefer the latter. By the way, I was 

 talking to a friend a few weeks ago who 

 formerly kept bees in northern Mjcliigan, 

 and in his opinion much of the "raspberry" 

 honey of that section comes from milkweed 

 and white clover. This claim is given with- 

 out any comment on my part, as I know 

 nothing personally about the matter. [The 

 milkweed honey has quite a ditferent flavor 

 from the raspberry, as does also the white 

 clover. — Ed.] 



The editorial, page 327, June 1, regard- 

 ing five-banded bees, is quite in order — not 

 that I would pick out the advertisers of 

 these bees for S23ecial criticism, but, rather, 

 that we should insist on more careful ad- 

 vertising without the exaggeration so com- 

 mon to many who make claims for their 

 goods in the press of the country. About 

 the worst sinners in this respect are some 

 of the advertisers in the poultry journals, 

 and sometimes these same advertisers do 

 not confine their efforts to poultry journals, 

 but branch out in the bee journals. A per- 

 son who answers an advertisement with 

 hard cash has a right to receive just what 

 the advertisement leads him to believe he 

 will receive. Any thing less than that is 

 fraud ; and the writer of the advei'tisement, 

 if he willfully misrepresents his goods, is, 

 in plain English, a liar as well as a fraud. 



* * * 



An unusual number of demonstrations 

 have been carried on in different Ontario 

 apiaries this spring, and in most cases they 

 have been well attended whenever weather 

 was favorable. During the last week in 

 May I was at two of these meetings in 

 Hastings Co., and both were well attended, 

 even though rain jDoured steadily all the 

 time on the last day. While we could not 

 open hives, yet we used empty hives and 

 appliances for object lessons, and worked 

 inside a building. As there were 20 or more 

 beginners present on such a bad day, we 

 wondered how many would have been there 

 if the day had been fine. There is a source 

 of pleasure in talking to a large number of 



enthusiastic beginners in a meeting of this 

 kind, and almost unconsciously the demon- 

 strator will try to give the very best that is 

 in him, when an audience is so apprecia- 

 tive. While I have little time for work of 

 this nature, I unhesitatingly plead guilty to 

 having a liking for it aside from what little 

 pecuniary recompense there is in the job. 

 I well remember how I used to like to find 

 out things about beekeeping (the desire is 

 still present) and now it is always a source 

 of pleasure to meet some youngster who is 

 enthusiastic about bees, and any help that 

 I can give him is always given with great 

 pleasure. 



Last year at this time (June 12) the 

 weather was hot and the ground dry and 

 hard. This year we had cool weather all 

 through May with the exception of two hot 

 days (23d and 24th), and June up to date 

 has been much the same, with the exception 

 of last week, when no rain has fallen. The 

 season is very late, as only a few clover 

 heads are showing; and any flow, if we 

 should have one, can not possibly be on be- 

 fore June 25, at the earliest. Clover is good 

 wherever there is any ; basswood is showing 

 lots of buds, and there will be more than 

 the usual acreage of buckwheat in many 

 sections where the wet weather prevented 

 seeding with other grain. This will not be 

 in evidence in our locality so much, as most 

 of our land is tile-drained, and the wet 

 weather did not hamper the farmers so 

 much. However, we look for quite an acre- 

 age of buckwheat on account of many farm- 

 ers sowing their summer fallows with this 

 plant in an effort to kill many of the weeds 

 which seem to be on the increase of late 

 years. At the east yard, the blueweed is 

 in evidence as usual, and the prospects are 

 good for basswood, of which there is an 

 abundance in that section. Up north 100 

 miles, where I have- one apiary, the pros- 

 pects are good for all the usual sources of 

 nectar — especially so for alsike and white 

 clover. 



Wliile we have mentioned more than 

 once that the prospects are poor at the 

 home yards here in York Co., with good 

 strong colonies we may perhaps get some 

 surplus after all. At any rate, before the 

 next batch of copy comes for Gleanings 

 the question will have been decided one way 

 or the other. 



