Jan. 10. 1907 



American Hee Journal 



C^anadia 



Conducted by E. L. Bter, Markham, (Jul. 



IntFOduction and Greeting 



In stepping into the breach caused 

 by Mr. Pettit's retirement from " Cana- 

 dian Beedom," I feel that I am under- 

 taking a somewhat difficult task. Be 

 it remembered, Mr. Pettit is something 

 over 6 feet in height, while " your 

 humble servant " is — well, somewhat 

 shorter, to say the least. 



Somehow, I can not help but feel that 

 our abilities and mental capacities are 

 about in the same ratio of comparison 

 as our physical stature. However, be- 

 ing by nature an optimist, I shall not 

 worry over things that I am not re- 

 sponsible for, but shall endeavor to 

 make the best of opportunities, and 

 with this end in view, looking for the 

 hearty co-operation of all, and espe- 

 cially of Canadian readers of the 

 American Bee Journal, I shall try to 

 make this department interesting and 

 instructive. 



While, as heretofore, our corner will 

 be called " Canadian Beedom," the 

 writer has intimated to Editor York 

 that the privilege is reserved of " med- 

 dling " in "Yankee" affairs if occa- 

 sion permits. As I purpose to abstain 

 from doing anything of an extraditable 

 nature, I do not anticipate much trouble 

 along this line. 



Permit me to wish all the readers of 

 the American Bee Journal a Happy and 

 very prosperous New Year. 



Markham, Ont. J. L. Byer. 



Maintaining High Prices of 

 Honey 



Is it possible to maintain the present 

 high prices of honey ? Probably most 

 readers of the American Bee Journal 

 are aware that on this side of the 

 " line " a very short crop of honey was 

 harvested last season. As a result, 

 prices of honey are unusually high — 10 

 cents a pound wholesale for extracted 

 being the common quotation all fall. 



At the annual convention of the 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, held 

 in Toronto, in November, 1906, Presi- 

 dent Sibbald, in his address, thought 

 that honey had advanced to where it 

 ought always to stay. In his opinion, 

 honey is a cheap and wholesome food 

 at 12)4 to 15 cents per pound, and at 

 those prices it compares most favorably 

 with other foods. The most of us are 

 inclined to agree with Mr. Sibbald, but 

 the question arises. How, in a good 

 year, are we going to maintain present 

 high prices ? 



In the discussion that followed Presi- 

 dent Sibbald's address, Mr. Holter- 

 mann thought it would be unwise to 

 try to get present prices in years when 

 we had a full crop. While I am, for 

 obvious reasons, inclined to agree with 

 Mr. Holtermann, yet in common with 

 most bee-keepers, I suspect I would be 

 willing to keep up the high prices, if 

 it were possible to do so. 



One thing seems certain, and that is, 

 Canadian bee-keepers, for many years 

 to come, should have no reason to sell 

 at the low figures that have prevailed 

 in some years. Our markets, right at 

 our doors, have not been half worked 

 in the past, and I think we would be 

 safe in assuming that at least three 

 times as much honey could be used in 

 our own vicinity, as is the case at pres- 

 ent, provided systematic methods were 

 used to bring about this result. 



With the tremendous influx of popu- 



lation into the Provinces of Manitoba, 

 Sackatchewan and Alberta, and with 

 comparatively little attention being 

 paid to apiculture as yet in these 

 places, there can not help but be a 

 great market there for years to come, 

 for Ontario honey. At present every- 

 thing is prosperous there, and experi- 

 ence has proven to me that if you send 

 them the right article they do not 

 " kick " about the price. 



One great barrier to trade with the 

 West at present, is the high freight- 

 rate, but with two more transcontinen- 

 tal railroads in course of construction, 

 possibly we may hope for some relief 

 in that matter. 



In connection with the matter of 

 keeping up prices, the Crop Report 

 Committee, working in conjunction 

 with the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, is doing a grand work. When 

 their report was sent out last Septem- 

 ber, some bee-keepers who happened to 

 have a fair crop thought the news too 

 good to be true, and I received letters 

 asking questions something like this : 



" Is the crop as short as reported by 

 the committee? We came very near 

 selling our crop the other day for 8 

 cents. Do you think there is a possi- 

 bility of getting 10 cents, as advised in 

 the committee report ?" 



As a result, if I am correct, I believe 

 that every one of these enquirers re- 

 ceived in the neighborhood of 10 cents, 

 f.o.b., for their honey. Certainly co- 

 operation paid these bee-keepers this 

 year, and the lesson is not apt to be 

 forgotten another season. 



.mmMi^K^mmm^^mmMmamm^^ 



Mr. nastyis 



The 



' Old Reliable " as seen throug-h New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Drones for Service. 



That Irish editor makes me mad. Just 

 asl was pluming myself on being, like 

 Cassandra of old, the solitary prophet 

 and witness to the truth, up he pops to 

 remark that over in Britain my view 

 (that when getting drones for service 

 numbers don't count much) is common 

 enough. So ! Wish somebody would 

 take the contract to furnish those com- 

 mon-enough fellows with tongues — 

 tongues with a hung-in-themiddle ar- 

 rangement. But as that editor is one 

 that Digges in the opposite direction, 

 maybe he thinks that one believer, and 

 he a deaf-mute, would be, for the doc- 

 trine in question, common enough. 

 Page 993. 



The T-Supbr Fight. 



Dr. Miller and Frank H. Drexel cer- 

 tainly make a good fight for the T- 

 super on pages 995, 996, and 997. Then 

 why don't I adopt it myself? Ah, 



that's difi'erent ! The double-deck sec- 

 tion-holder arrangement is the kind for 

 an old played-out like me, who never 

 gets anything done. Also, I feel as- 

 sured that in changing my system as a 

 whole for the T-super system as a 

 whole, I should greatly increase the 

 number of my unfinished sections, 

 now delightfully small. Also the job 

 of cleaning the bottoms of those sec- 

 tions is going to forever bluff me oS. 

 Propolis is bad here, and my lazy sec- 

 tions have a habit of staying where 

 they are put the entire season. You 

 see, my locality is so poor a one that I 

 am seldom driven to take anything off. 

 More prompt taking would make the 

 looks of my honey better, but the real 

 quality not so good, with the quantity 

 usually the same. And my old custo- 

 mers have learned to be satisfied with 

 my honey without requiring it to be 

 ghostly white. Some one has recently 

 written that the double-deck section- 

 holder, as A. I. Root originally in- 



