THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



597 



Bxplaiiatory — The ngures beb'Oke the 

 names indiciite the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous sprins and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 5 north of the centre ; 9 south ; O east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; ~o northwest; 

 O^ southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For tile American Bee JoumaL 



The Ontario Convention. 



BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. 



The annual meeting of the Ontario 

 Bee-Beepers' Association assembled 

 in the City Hall at Toronto, at 7:30 p. 

 m. on Sept. 10, 1885. The President, 

 Dr. J. C. Thom, of Streetsville, oc- 

 cupied the chair. After the reading 

 of the minutes,the Secretary, Mr. Jacob 

 Spence, read the annual report of the 

 Executive Committee, which detailed 

 efforts made to secure statistics of 

 bee-keeping, referred to the severe 

 losses of the past winter, and urged 

 some scheme of affiliation by which 

 local societies should be represented 

 in this organization. Mr. Spence also 

 read the Treasurer's report, which 

 acknowledged a balance from last 

 year of $2.83 ; membership subscrip- 

 tions, $12(>— in all, $12.S.83; outlay, 

 $116.4.5; amount on hand, $12.38. A 

 scheme of affiliation was submitted 

 which was received and laid on the 

 table for consideration at a later stage 

 of the meeting. 



The President's address was the 

 next order of business. It called 

 attention to the great progress made 

 of late years in the art of bee-keep- 

 ing, and vividly described a flrst-class 

 modern apiary. Referring to the 

 severity of the weather during the 

 past winter, the President said that 

 with due preparation and precaution 

 bees could be and had been carried 

 through even such a season without 

 much loss. He recommended as the 

 result of his own experience, a suf- 

 ficiency of honey, young queens, non- 

 interference after the first of Octo- 

 ber, and placing the hives in a dry, 

 frost-proof repository with a tempera- 

 ture of about 42'-^ above zero, and free 

 ventilation. He mentioned the re- 

 cent discovery that the keeping- 

 quality of honey depended upon a 

 well-known constituent of bee-poison, 

 viz : formic acid. The honey of sting- 

 less bees in Smith America contains 

 no formic acid, and, therefore, will 

 not keep; hence they only lay up 

 enough for daily use. He advocated 

 the establishment of an experimental 

 bee-farm, in which races of bees from 

 foreign countries could be thoroughly 

 tested. " After having the Asiatic 

 races inflicted upon us," he said, " we 

 are now threatened with the Carnio- 



lan." He expressed the opinion that 

 the Italian race should be cultivated 

 as the best bee America has yet ob- 

 tained, lie advocated the formation 

 of a union among Ontario bee-keep- 

 ers, for the purpose of establishing a 

 foreign market for the surplus honey- 

 product. He mentioned the Colonial 

 and Indian exhihition to be lield at 

 Kensington, England, next year, as 

 affording an excellent opportunity for 

 the display of Canadian honey. 



A spirited discussion arose on the 

 President's address. Rev. W. F. 

 Clarke led off by remarking that the 

 condemnation of foreign races of bees 

 was far too sweeping. He thought, 

 too, that it was geographically incor- 

 rect. He was under the impression 

 that it was the Cyprians which the 

 Doctor wished to condemn, and if so, 

 it was European and not Asiatic bees 

 that were referred to, for Cyprus was 

 in Europe. Personally, he thought 

 tlie introduction of Cyprians had been 

 an injury. He had seen such a man 

 as D. A. Jones, who boasted of his 

 ability to handle all sorts of bees with- 

 out veil and gloves, run into the 

 bushes on opening a Cyprian hive, 

 and smoke even from a Bingham 

 "Conqueror" had no effect upon 

 them. He was of the opinion tliat 

 the Asiatic bees had been of great 

 benefit, and that a dash of Syrian or 

 Holy Land blood was a decided im- 

 provement to the best Italians. He 

 was sorry the Doctor deprecated the 

 introduction of the Carniolans. If 

 correctly reported, they were gentler 

 than the gentlest Italians, and equally 

 good honey-gatherers. He had re- 

 cently obtained a queen of this breed, 

 and intended giving the Carniolans a 

 fair trial, as he had done with every 

 other race of bees that had come be- 

 fore the bee-keeping public. 



Mr. J. B. Hall had never tried the 

 Italians, Cyprians or Syrians, he was 

 liappy to say, as he kiiew of a better 

 bee than any or all of them— what it 

 was, or how it could be obtained, the 

 speaker did not disclose, though 

 queried closely. Only vague hints 

 were all he would give as to that par- 

 ticular bee. He had tried the Carnio- 

 lans ; had about fifteen queens of this 

 strain in his apiary. He could not yet 

 speak of their honey-gathering quali- 

 ties, but they were the quietest bees 

 he had ever handled. You might 

 kick the hive once, twice, three 

 times ; the first time they manifested 

 a little surprise, liut did not get ex- 

 cited or rush out ; the second time 

 they would not notice the kick so 

 much, and the third time they had 

 become used to it, and hardly noticed 

 it. 



On being called upon, Mr. D. A. 

 Jones was rather reluctant to speak 

 on the races of bees, lest it should 

 seem like an attempt to injure a 

 noted breeder of queens who was now 

 at work in the East. He would tell, 

 however, what he was doing in his 

 owh apiary, and people might form 

 their own conclusions. He was weed- 

 ing out all trace of the Cyprian race, 

 and breeding from the best Italians 

 with perhaps a third of Syrian or Pal- 

 estine crossing. He found that the 

 best " business bee " for this country. 



But he wished to say that for the 

 Southern Stales, and further south — 

 (or Cuba and such regions— tlu^ flyp- 

 rians and Holy Lands were the Ijest. 

 He had tested the Carniolans, and 

 thought very highly of them, so highly 

 that he would recommend all who kept 

 bees on a large scale, to have a dash 

 of this strain. The great objection to 

 them was that they were so like black 

 bees that it was almost impossible to 

 tell them apart. Even the queens 

 were very like black queens, so that 

 in breeding and selling tliem there 

 was no test of purity. 



Mr. J. B. Hall replied that there 

 was as much difference between 

 Carniolans and black bees as between 

 white men and negroes— especially 

 when they were " babies." An experi- 

 enced bee-keeper would never con- 

 found them. Especially was this true 

 of the queens which had dark, zebra- 

 like stripes, and a species of down or 

 fur totally unlike black bees. But he 

 concurred with Mr. Jones in thinking 

 them worthy of attention if only for 

 their gentle and peaceable qualities. 



Mr. Cornell was of the opinion that 

 the Syrians had some very valuable 

 qualities which we ought to secure in 

 the bee of the future. He had al- 

 ready introduced four Syrio-Albino 

 queens, and was so well pleased with 

 them that he had sent for another lot. 



On the subject of establishing a 

 government bee-farm for experiment- 

 ing with the various races of v bees, 

 Mr. Jones remarked that after a 

 pretty extensive experience, he was of 

 the opinion that the scheme was im- 

 practicable for various reasons. One 

 was that the government would not 

 put money enough into it to make it 

 a success. Another reason was the 

 extreme difficulty of finding an iso- 

 lated locality, except somewhere un- 

 suitable for bees to live. On the 

 Georgian Bay islands this year it had 

 been so cold 'that his queen-breeding 

 operations there had proved imprac- 

 ticable altogether. 



The recommendation of the Presi- 

 dent in regard to the exhibition of 

 Canadian honey at the Kensington 

 (England) Show next year was dis- 

 cussed at some length, and a resolu- 

 tion passed appointing a committee 

 to wait upon the Ontario Government 

 to secure their co-operation, and en- 

 deavor to make a creditable showing 

 of Canadian honey on that occasion. 



A temporary committee on order of 

 business was appointed, comprising 

 Messrs. Cornell, Clarke, Spence, 

 Campbell and Morison. 



A vote of thanks was passed to 

 Pres.Thom for his able and appropriate 

 address, which was referred to the 

 committee on order of business to 

 bring up the remaining topics from 

 the address for future discussion. 



A question drawer was established, 

 and, as a little time yet remained, the 

 first question handed in was taken up, 

 viz: "Is there any advantage in re- 

 versible frames ?" 



Mr. Cornell had been using what 

 was really a reversible frame, for 

 years. It was the Quinby frame, and 

 sometimes in transferring he had 

 found it advantageous to turn the 

 frame bottom side up. Mr. Clarke 



