Ocloljui', 1907. 



American Hee Journal i 



'anadiah'^y 

 ISeedom 



^>o 



Condutled by J. L. HVKK. iMoiint Joy. Ont. 



Fall Honey Crop a Failure 



Throughout many sections of Onta- 

 rio there has been a total faihtre of the 

 fall crop of honey. Consequently feed- 

 ing now is (or should be) in full prog- 

 ress. In our own apiaries we find it 

 necessary to feed just about as much as 

 was taken avyay earlier. Pretty dis- 

 couraging; but wait till next year! 



Short Crop and Honey Exhibits 



Although the honey crop in Ontario 

 this year is very short, if any one had 

 no knowledge of this condition and 

 should take a stroll through the honey 

 exhibit at the Canadian National Ex- 

 hibition, he would not be apt to think 

 that such was the case. Our American 

 cousins quite often give our Canadian 

 bee-keepers the credit of being able to 

 produce good honey, and also of know- 

 ing how to put up a good exhibit. Re- 

 sults at the Pan-American would seem 

 to bear out such assertions, but aside 

 from any opinions of past exhibits, the 

 display, both as to quality and staging 

 at the present Toronto Fair, is certainly 

 of high merit. That the honey went in 

 "streaks" this year is shown by the ab- 

 sence of some exhibitors who usually 

 are in evidence. Messrs. Arthur Laing, 

 George Laing, E. Grainger and D. An- 

 guish, are the only bee-keepers show- 

 ing any quantity of honey, and these 

 four gentlemen certainly are to be con- 

 gratulated for the trouble they have 

 taken to arrange such large and attrac- 

 tive exhibits. 



Mr. Arthur Laing has an original and 

 unique display in the shape of a com- 

 plete apiary in wax. The honey house 

 is slicctcd with comb-foundation, and 

 the miniature hives and stands, which 

 are perfect models of standard goods, 

 rest upon a moss-covered lawn. .■\s an 

 educational feature such an exhibit can- 

 not fail to be of great value. 



Mr. E. Grainger has observatory hives 

 in which Italian, Carniolans and Cau- 

 casion bees are shown. .-Vs is usually 

 the case, the center of interest for visi- 

 tors is the queen, and quite amusing it 

 is to stand near a live bee-exhibit and 

 listen to the different connnents and 

 suggestions of people, as they are look- 

 ing for her Majesty. 



Mr. Grainger tested the Caucasian 

 bees this year, and says they did not do 

 nearly as well as the Italians. I am in- 

 clined to think that the boom for Cau- 

 casians will be short-lived; in fact, we 

 are not hearing nearly so much about 

 them as a year ago at this time. 



McEvoy Treatment of Foul 

 Brood 



On page 63, in Bulletin No. 70, is- 

 sued by the U. S. Department of .'Agri- 

 culture, there appears to be some mis- 

 understanding as to what the McEvoy 

 treatment for foul brood really is. A 

 number who claim to use the McEvoy 

 system, omit one of the most important 

 details — the second shaking. While once 

 shaking will often cure mild cases, the 

 second shaking is necessary to secure 

 uniformly successful results. For this 

 reason Mr. Mc'Evoy has always insisted 

 on shaking the bees on full sheets of 

 foundation, after having for 4 days been 

 on foundation starters. 



In the Bulletin referred to. Dr. Phil- 

 lips is credited with saying, "He [Mr. 

 McEvoy] recommends the second shak- 

 ing after the bees begin to drop from 

 starvation." While no one will think 

 for a moment that Dr. Phillips would 

 knowingly misrepresent Mr. McEvoy, 

 yet to show that just the opposite to 

 starving is Mr.McEvoy's advice, I quote 

 the following from the pamphlet enti- 

 tled, "How to examine apiaries and 

 cure them of foul brood," issued by the 

 Ontario Department of Agriculture: 



"In treating diseased colonies never 

 starve the bees, because it unfits them 

 for business, and makes them thin, lean 

 and poor, and is also hard on the 

 queens. I never starved any bees, but 

 alw.ays tried to see how fat I could 

 make them while treating them, bv feed- 

 ing plenty of sugar syrup when the bees 

 were not getting honey." 



Bees and Horticulture 



From a report relative to the peach 

 crop, lately issued by the fruit-growers 

 of the Niagara peninsula, I clip the fol- 

 lowing : 



"The earlier reports sent out of an 

 average crop were too optimistic, based 

 on the number of fruit-buds. However, 

 owing to the late cold spring, and the ab- 

 sence of bees at the right time to fer- 

 tilize the blossoms, the fruit did not 

 'set,' and consequently men who were 

 counting on thousands of baskets will 

 now be glad to obtain that many hun- 

 dred." 



It is gratifying to note that all pro- 

 gressive fruit-growers now recognize 

 the honey-bee as a necessary adjunct to 

 successful horticulture. Not so many 

 years ago, such was not the case, and 

 as a consequence complaints of fruit- 

 trees being sprayed while in bloom were 

 quite prevalent. Now all this is changed, 



;iTul it is only on rare occasions that we 

 licar of the law against spraying be- 

 ing violated. When a man is once con- 

 vinced that the doing of a certain thing 

 i-i detrimental to his own intercuts, such 

 knowledge is of more cfTcct than any 

 law compelling him to refrain from do- 

 ing this same thing because of the in- 

 jury resulting to others. At the same 

 time, the law against spraying trees 

 while in bloom, has answered, and is 

 answering, its purpose, and possibly has 

 been the means of helping to bring 

 about present satisfactory conditions. It 

 is surprising that at least one of manu- 

 facturers of sprayers continues to send 

 out with his machines, circulars in 

 which it is advised to spray while trees 

 are in bloom. It is needless to say that 

 said manufacturer does not live in Can- 

 ada, but the wonder is (no matter 

 where he lives) that he manages to sell 

 his machines to enlightened fruit-grow- 

 ers. Certainly the bcc-keepers should 

 "sit" upon such a man, and "sit hard," 

 too. 



Stingless Bees All Dead 



One of the most fascinating experi- 

 ments ever attempted in apiculture, ac- 

 cording to Discovery, was begun last 

 summer at the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, and 

 has ended, as was expected, in failure 

 through the death of the insects. 



The subjects of the experiment were 

 a colony of brown stingless bees — 

 probably the first ever seen in New 

 York. 



They were brought from the interior 

 of Venezuela. In the insect gallery vis- 

 itors could see them busily at work in a 

 glass-covered box, in which they had 

 built the queerest nest imaginable. Ris- 

 ing to a peak, it resembled nothing so 

 much as an irregular, jagged mountain, 

 of a very dark chocolate color. 



The box was placed at a sunny win- 

 dow, in the lower frame of which small 

 apertures connecting with the box af- 

 forded egress and ingress to and from 

 the outside world. The little foreign- 

 ers when installed immediately set about 

 making themselves familiar with the 

 city and its parks and the surrounding 

 country. 



Hard by, at another window, was a 

 colony of American honey-bees, stingers 

 these. The visitors were brought to the 

 United States with the idea that they 

 might be crossed with the honey-bees 

 and a new stingless species thus pro- 

 duced combinmg this advantage with 

 the superior qualities of the native in- 

 sect. 



The species were so remotely related 

 and the habits of the stingless variety 

 so highly specialized, however, that the 

 scientist at the museum considered 

 hybridization to be an impossibility. 



The honey of the stingless bee, al- 

 though much appreciated in Cuba and 

 South .\merica, w-here if is supposed 

 to possess valuable medicinal properties 

 and is an article of food, is verj' in- 

 ferior both in quality and quantity to 

 that of the honey-bee. As pollen gath- 

 erers, however, they are vastly superior 

 to the latter, being able to carry much 

 heavier loads and to work longer and 



