December, 1907. 



^a as^ ' <( 



American "Bee Jonrnal 





Conducted by J. L. BYER, Mount Joy, Ont, 



Report of the Ontario Convention. 



The Ontario Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion met according to program, in To- 

 ronto, on Nov. 13, 14, and 15, 1907. 

 Despite the fact of the bee-keepers 

 having gassed through a poor season, 

 the attefldance was good, and intense 

 interest was manifested throughout the 

 different sessions. 



The Vice-President's Address. 



In the absence of Pres. R. H. Smith, 

 Vice-Pres. Miller occupied the chair. 

 Mr. Miller makes a good presiding offi- 

 cer, and during the different meetings 

 conducted the proceedings with tact and 

 courtesy, to the satisfaction of all pres- 

 ent. In his address he referred to the 

 short crops, but thought that the pres- 

 ent high prices would in a measure 

 make up the deficit. Specialist bee-keep- 

 ers should look upon their calling as a 

 dignified one, and should aim to place 

 the business upon a higher level. 



He referred to the fact that the Min- 

 ister of Agriculture for Ontario — Hon. 

 Nelson Monteith — was ever ready to 

 help along towards this desired end, and 

 that as bee-keepers, we owed his De- 

 partment a debt of gratitude for help al- 

 ready received. 



The new system of having 6 inspec- 

 tors instead of one, he believed to have 

 been entirely satisfactory, and the 

 closer union of the Association with the 

 Department of Agriculture, by having 

 Mr. Hodgetts of the Department, as 

 Secretary of the Association, had proved 

 to be a decided advantage to all con- 

 cerned. 



As regards the prospects for the fu- 

 ture of bee-keeping, the speaker regard- 

 ed them as being very bright. The 

 population of Canada, particularly in 

 the West, was increasing at an enor- 

 mous rate, and for some years at least 

 we would not need an export market, 

 as the home trade would take all the 

 honey we could produce. 



Mr. Couse, in the discussion that fol- 

 lowed the President's address, endorsed 

 all that had been said, and referred to 

 the fact that better honey was being 

 produced than was the case some years 

 ago; in fact, "no better honey was pro- 

 duced in the world than the product of 

 Ontario apiaries." This desirable state 

 of affairs had largely been brought about 

 by the good work of the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association. The honey indus- 

 try is a profitable one in many ways, 

 as the success of the clover, fruit-grow- 

 ing, and other industries were largely 

 dependent upon the bees. 



Distribution of Honey. 



W. A. Chrysler, of Chatham, read a 

 paper on "Distribution of Honey." The 

 speaker had lately arrived home from 

 a trip through the Northwest, and from 

 observations there, relative to the hon- 

 ey market, he was more than ever con- 

 vinced of the advantages of co-opera- 

 tion among bee-keepers for the hand- 

 ling of their product. Mr. Chrysler 

 lives in a locality where co-operation has 

 lifted the fruit-growing industry out of 

 the rut and placed it on a highly prof- 

 itable basis and it is only natural that 

 he should be an enthusiast on this sys- 

 tem of marketing. While nearly all 

 were in favor of the idea, yet some 

 thought that it was not likely that much 

 would be done along that line as long 

 as the production was limited, and prices 

 as high as at present. In other words, 

 history would repeat itself, and, like the 

 fruit-growers, dairy-men, and others, 

 the bee-keepers would not be actively 

 concerned about co-operation until act- 

 ually forced as a matter of protection 

 to do so. However, a committee was 

 appointed to look into the subject and 

 report at the next annual meeting. 



The President thought it good policy 

 to send some honey to the Western 

 Province even in poor years, in order 

 to hold the trade for years when there 

 was more honey to be disposed of. This 

 year, although all the honey produced 

 could have been disposed of easily in 

 Ontario, yet the Middlesex County As- 

 sociation had shipped part of their crop 

 West, with good returns. 



Price of Good Honey. 



At this stage of the meeting a discus- 

 sion arose as to what good honey should 

 be sold for. The view entertained by 

 some that extracted honey should retail 

 for IS cents, was in the judgment of 

 some members a little too high in years 

 of good crops, as there was a danger of 

 foreign honey being shipped in. Even 

 this year, in the early part of the sea- 

 son, an offer was made from Colorado 

 to lay down alfalfa honey in Toronto 

 at 10^ cents; and honey from Jamaica, 

 for manufacturing purposes, was offered 

 at a surprisingly low figure. It was 

 thought easier to keep foreign honey 

 out than to oust it after having once 

 gained admission to our markets. 



Mr. Storer, of Lindsey, who had late- 

 ly returned from Scotland, spoke of see- 

 ing 1200 acres of raspberries near one 

 small town, and the entire product was 

 sold under the co-operative system to 

 the complete satisfaction of the grow- 

 ers. 



Mr. Hodgetts, Secretary of the Onta- 



rio Bee-Keepers' Association, at the in- 

 vitation of the President, also spoke 

 along the lines of co-operation. I-'rom 

 his connection with the fruit-growers' 

 association he had intimate knowledge 

 of its workings, and he had no hesita- 

 tion in saying that the system had been 

 a huge success with the members of that 

 body. While the bee-kecpcrs of Onta- 

 rio might not be ripe for co-operation, 

 yet he saw no reasons why it would not 

 work out satisfactorily if given a trial. 

 ■ The Honey Exchange Committee 

 came in for a good deal of praise for the 

 good work done, the only difference of 

 opinion among members present being 

 that some thought the report should be 

 sent out earlier than was the case last 

 year. It was pointed out that the re- 

 ports covered a large territory, and, all 

 things considered, it was hardly possi- 

 ble to get out a fairly accurate estimate 

 of crop conditions much earlier than 

 has been the case in past years. 



Requeening Colonies. 



In answer to the question, "When 

 shall we requeen?" Mr. McEvoy said 

 more requeening should be done; that 

 some queens were good at 4 and 5 

 years old is no argument against the 

 advisability of requeening. Some horses 

 are good at 17 years, but more at 7; 

 some men at 70, but more at 17. The 

 same principle applied to queens. 



Mr. Holtermann wished to refute the 

 idea that a queen lays a given number 

 of eggs and then dies; that the princi- 

 ple is contrary to all animal nature, 

 poor wintering and other causes largely 

 determining how long a queen shall be 

 prolific. 



Mr. Dickensen would requeen every 

 2 years, but the majority of the mem- 

 bers would prefer to requeen whenever 

 a poor queen was noticed, rather than 

 practise a wholesale method, perhaps of- 

 ten destroying some better queens than 

 their successors would prove to be. 



Wax-Presses. 



Relative to a question on wax-presses, 

 those who had tried the Hershiser ad- 

 mitted that while more wax could be ob- 

 tained, yet the quality was not so good 

 as that taken with the Hatch-Gemmill 

 press. Later on during the convention, 

 Mr. Sibbald by means of a model, ex- 

 plained the workings of a press (one 

 member called it a cross between the 

 Gemmill and Hershiser presses) which 

 he thought superior to either the Hatch- 

 Gemmill or Hershiser. (Cuts of this 

 press with Mr. Sibbald's explanations 

 will appear in the printed annual report 

 of the convention.) 



Foul-Brood. 



Miss Trevorrow, of Meadowvale, read 

 a paper on "Foul Brood." She had no 

 practical knowledge of the disease, and 

 her paper (an admirable one) was large- 

 ly along the lines of prevention rather 

 than cure. Carefulness and neatness in 

 the apiary was touched upon as well as 

 the necessity of using the wax-press 

 freely to melt up all old combs. The in- 

 spectors had many difliculties beyond their 

 control to contend with, and it was de- 

 cidedly necessary that bee-keepers should 

 heartily co-operate with the inspectors 

 if the dread disease is to be eradicated. 



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