356 



AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June S, 19C2 



kets) that the consumer can not detect it. 

 Both are so vile that the consumer is soon dis- 

 gusted and quils trying to eat it, and thus is 

 the demand lessened and the market spoiled 

 for really good honey. Here is the root ot 

 the apparent over-production. 



The remedy is to put only first-class goods 

 on the market, in which case he thinks it will 

 be difiieut to meet the demand. 



Relative Size of Bees.— Locoppe Ar- 

 nold, in Le Kucher Beige, takes comfort in 

 the thought that workers are the smallest 

 members of a colony of bees. Suppose the 

 order were reversed, and the drones were 

 smallest and workers largest, what use could 

 be made of excluder-zinc '. 



\ Weekly Budget. I 



The Buffalo Convention Report in 

 pamphlet form was mailed to the membership 

 of the Association, as shown by the published 

 list of names. But it seems that some have 

 not read the Report carefully, and so are 

 sending us 25 cents for the copy we mailed 

 them, when it says on pages 11 and 12 of the 

 Report that the Association voted to have the 

 Buffalo convention proceedings put in booklet 

 form for the members. The Association pays 

 for it, so the members need not pay again for 

 the Report. 



The Canadian Experimental Apiart is 

 shown on the first page. We are permitted 

 to present it to our readers, through the kind- 

 ness of Prof. James Fletcher, Entomologist 

 and Botanist of the Dominion Experimental 

 Farms, who wrote us as follows : 



In the autumn ot 1S93, in response to many 

 representations made to the Honorable Minis- 

 ter of Agricilture, arrangements were made 

 for the institution of an apiary at the Central 

 Experimental Farm at I lllawa, in the extreme 

 west ot the Province of Ontario. This work 

 was placed under the supervision of the Ento- 

 mologist and Botanist; but the practical man- 

 agement of the work was entrusted to Mr. 

 John Fixter. the Farm Foreman, who has had 

 considerable experience as an apiarist, and 

 who has carried out all the experiments 

 which have been tried from the beginning of 

 this work until the present time, and which 

 have been reported upon year by year in the 

 report of the Division of Entomology, which 

 forms part of the general report of the Ex- 

 perimental Farms. 



A suitable space was chosen near Mr. Fix- 

 ler's house, where the colonies could be con- 

 veniently watched and attended to. About 

 50 colonies has been the average capacity ot 

 this apiary, and some interesting experiments 

 have been tried. Among these may be men- 

 tioned the testing ot various comb founda- 

 tions as to ([uality, and when milled at diller- 

 ent temperatures, heavy and light sheets 

 made with different mills; the wintering of 

 bees— in a cellar, in a pit dug in hill-side, in a 

 house-apiary, in a root-house, and out-of- 

 doors, with various protections: experiments 

 with different degrees of artificial heat in the 

 cellar, with a careful record ot the tempera- 

 tures and the results; the feeding ot sugar 

 syrup for winter stores; experiments with 

 the hou.se-apiary against the open apiary in 

 summer; and also experiments to decide 

 whether bees could puncture sound fruit of 

 various kinds. 



Records have been taken of the weights of 

 colonies daily during the summer, and also ot 

 the various plants in bloom which were par- 

 ticularly attractive to bees, not only of the 



apiart of t. s. apker, of LTCOMINQ CO., PA. 



more commonly cultivated plants, but of 

 many others in the extensive collection of 

 native and introduced plants grown on the 

 grounds ot the Central Experimental Farm. 



A large number of farmers and fruit-grow- 

 ers visit the apiary every year, and every 

 facility is given them to examine the work 

 and to avail theniselres of the inforumtion at 

 the disposal ot the apiarist. Mr. Fixter is an 

 enthusiast, who is thought by Canadians to 

 be the right man in the right place, and is 

 well known to many of the fraternity in the 

 United States, who have met him al the an- 

 nual conventions. James Fletcher. 



We may sa.v further that we have had the 

 pleasure of meeting Mr. Fixter at several of 

 our National conventions. He certainly has 

 a very neat apiary. We think bee-keepers, 

 both in Canada and in the United States, 

 would be glad to hear from Mr. Fixter. 



Close Satirdats at 1 p.m.— Our custo- 

 mers and friends will kindly remember that 

 beginning with July 1, for three months we 

 will close our ofHce and bee-supply store at 1 

 p.m. on Saturdays. This isour usual custom. 

 Nearly all other lirms here begin the Saturday 

 afternoon closing with May 1st, but we keep 

 open two months later on account of the local 

 bee-keepers who find it more convenient to 

 call Saturday afternoons for bee-supplies. 



The Apiart of T. S. Apker, of Lycoming 

 Co., Pa., is presented herewith, through the 

 kindness of Mr. W. H. Helm, who visited it, 

 and sent us the following concerning it: 



About 21 miles north of Williamsport, in a 

 small town, is located the apiary of Mr. T. S. 

 Apker. who is an extensive bee-keeper. When 

 a little boy he took great pleasure in his 

 father's apiary, by helping his father what he 

 could until at the age of 10 years, when he 

 began to have bees ot his own, and has been a 

 successful bee-keeper for 22 years. How- 

 ever, in the year ISill, misfortune came to 

 him, as it does to nearly every bee-keeper. 

 At that time Mr. Apker lost 4.5 colonies with 

 that dreadful disease- dysentery. This did 

 not discourage him in the least, tor he made 

 a new start, and has now an apiary of 12.5 

 colonies in good condition. 



The apiary is located in an orchard with 

 grape-vines as shade. A better location could 

 hardly be found for basswood honey, which 

 is his main crop. He works his apiary mostly 

 tor comb honey, and a little extracted, but 

 finds good sale tor all the comb honey in his 

 neighborhood and in W^illiamsport. 



The hives that Mr. Apker uses are of his 

 own make, and are somewhat on the same 

 principle as the Langstroth. The supers are 

 made the same as the T-super, using the 4- 

 openiug sections with wood separators. The 

 finest comb honey I saw last season was pro- 

 duced at this apiary, and was of the finest 

 quality, being the best filled sections and of 

 nice basswood flavor. 



In the picture will be noticed in the back- 

 ground the hills where there are plenty of 

 basswood, also on the west side ot his apiary 

 are hills ot the same, surrounded with good 

 pasturage of basswood, where nectar is gath- 

 ered by his strain of bees, which are mostly 

 blacks and Italians. 



Now a word about Miss Nellie, daughter of 

 Mr. Apker, who is also taking a great interest 

 in bees, I am sorry that in the photo the 

 readers are not able to see the colony of bees 

 which she owned at the time I was there, it 

 being on the south side of the apiary, and, 

 therefore, not shown in the picture. This 

 was a runaway swarm which she hived her- 

 self, being stung some. But this did not dis- 

 courage her in the least. She is quite a help 

 in her father's apiary, and takes a great in- 

 terest in the busy bees. 



Tlirough the effort of Mr. Apker and two 

 other men. who helped him during the last 

 flood in December, his apiarj' was saved. 

 Near the apiary Hows the Lycoming creek, 

 which overflowed its banks, endangering the 

 apiary from being flooded or washed away. 

 There was 10 inches of water in it, which 

 made it necessary to move the bees to a higher 

 location. Some bee-keepers lost their entire 

 apiaries during this Hood, and some lost from 

 40 to .50 colonies, which was (luite a loss to 

 many in this section. This was also true ot 

 Loyalsock creek, which overflowed, and 

 caused bee-keepers to lose their apiaries. Mr. 

 F. A. Hayes lost .50 colonies during the flood. 

 He is also an extensive bee-keeper in this 

 county. I am sorry to say that many bee- 

 keepers lost their apiaries in that flood. 



W. H. Heim. 



Rearing Our Own Queens. 



W. H. Pridgen, although a well known 

 queen-breeder, seems to think it well for bee- 

 keepers largely to rear their own queens. In 

 an article in Gleanings in Bee-Culture he says: 



The tendency on the part of honey-pro- 

 ducers is, to a greater extent than ever before, 

 to rear their own — not only because a larger 

 proportion of those reared at home give bet- 

 ter results than those transmitted through 

 the mails, all else being equal, but because 

 the essential conditions for the production of 

 the highest type are more generally under- 

 stood. 



Bees are no longer regarded as bees without 

 considering their (lualities; but each progres- 

 sive bee-keeper is continually on the lookout 

 for superior honey-gatherers and other desir- 

 able traits shown by individual colonies., 



The ability to rear our i|ueens from the best 

 mothers, and control their mating to some 

 extent by weeding out and i>reveuting the 

 production of objectionable drones, and thus, 

 step by step, make ijermanent improvements 

 in the working (lualities ot our bees, not only 

 increases our proflts, but lends enchantment 

 to pleasure. 



■*■ 



Next Week we will be able to announce 

 something definite about rates and accommo- 

 dations for the Denver convention in Septem- 

 ber. 



