AUGUST 1, 1912 



469 



KICDT 



[F^(D)Ka (S/ara^i/a 



J. L. Btee, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



Drouth is very severe in many sections of 

 Ontario at this writing, and the honey crop 

 will be greatly cut down on that account. 

 Personally we are more than satisfied with 

 results up to date, as we really expected lit- 

 tle if any honey at the apiaries here in 

 York Co. 



That picture on page 406, where 11 colo- 

 nies of bees are shown with over 100 lbs. 

 ] er colony piled on them, and gathered 

 fi-om milkweed, forces one to the conclusion 

 tliat the plant must be a great secret er of 

 nectar. There is veiy little at our home 

 yards; but at the one yard recently moved 

 north we have abundance. It is just open- 

 ing, and it would be a pleasant surprise if 

 it were even half as generous in yielding 

 nectar as it is in friend Kirkpatrick's local- 

 ity. 



* * * 



When sending copy for July 1, I stated 

 that, by the time my next lot of stuff was 

 sent, we would know if friend Crane's 

 prophecy as to a good honey crop was cor- 

 rect or not. Although, as we have said in 

 previous issues, clover was extremely 

 scarce in our locality this year, yet what lit- 

 tle we had yielded well from June 24 till 

 July 7, then shut down at once, owing to 

 drouth and the very small acreage which 

 was rapidly ripening. Strong colonies 

 stored a nice suiplus; but many colonies in 

 Ontario this year were not ready for the 

 flow when it came. This fact is gleaned 

 from a lot of correspondence with bee- 

 keepers of the Province. Nearly all the 

 honey came in during the afternoons, and 

 from 2 till 7 the flow would be heavy. At 

 this date, July 13, basswood is not open. 

 What little we have looks well, as trees are 

 very full of buds. At both my east and 

 north yard the trees are plentiful, and we 

 are hoping that basswoods will be in good 

 humor this year and give us a crop. 



* * * 



E. W. Peirce's arguments for cheaper 

 honey are readable, and on the face of it 

 appear reasonahle too. Briefly capitulated, 

 tliey sum up about like this: More bees to 

 be kept, better management, and, as a re- 

 sult, more honey can be sold cheaper than 

 at present. That is all right, friend Peirce; 

 but why not apply the same argument to 

 all other produce as well ? Get other things 

 eheai^er, and then honey can be sold cheap- 

 er too. But with steak around 25 cts. per 

 pound, and all other food values in about 



the same proportion, it is a poor time to 

 ask the beekeeper to take a less price for 

 his honey, particularly when there is a 

 ready sale for all he can produce; and it is 

 not a question of what we will give you for 

 your honey, but, rather, a statement on the 

 part of the producer as to what he wants 

 and expects to get for it. My honey is sold 

 already, though it is all on the hives ripen- 

 ing; and, needless to say, I got what I ask- 

 ed, although I might say that my price is 

 suijject to the price that will be recom- 

 mended by the crop committee of the On- 

 tario association, which has not as yet had 

 its annual meeting. This may show a little 

 what a benefit such a committee is, when 

 large buyers have confidence enough in 

 them to be willing to buy honey in big lots 

 subject to their ruling. 



During this past two weeks the writer of 

 these notes has been just about busy run- 

 ning back and forth from one yard to an- 

 other, trying to keep things in shape and to 

 avoid losing any swarms. We have had 

 very little swarming ; and what we had was 

 mostly caused by superseding queens, and 

 in this respect old failing queens during 

 the honey-flow are a great nuisance, as you 

 hardly know how to treat a colony that is 

 preparing to supersede their queen ; that is, 

 when the colonj^ is at an outapiary and no 

 one in charge. However, I had only one 

 swarm to skip out, and that happened day 

 before yesterday. The next day I was at 

 the yard, and young queens were piping in 

 great shape. I opened the broodnest and 

 cut out about a dozen ripe cells, one queen 

 being noticed as leaving the cell when I 

 lifted out a comb. She ran down in the 

 hive; and I thought that, after shaking all 

 bees off combs and destroying every cell, 

 no second swarming would take plaee^ — 

 particularly so, as little honey was coming 

 in. I closed the hive, and in less than ten 

 minutes they swarmed, the swarm alighting 

 in two clusters about 50 feet apart. As the 

 old queen had been a good one, the two 

 small swarms were hived for the sake of 

 the young queens. They certainly had the 

 swarming fever in bad shape, and I sup- 

 pose that, when I went throng L the hive, a 

 number of young queens hatciied when the 

 bees' attention was called away from 

 guarding the cells; and with three or four 

 virgins loose in the hiv^, it was a case of 

 swarm at once or else give up the notion 

 and let the queens fight it out. 



