1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



125 



Notes from Canada 



By J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



My curiosity is aroused in regard to that 

 advertisement in November Gleanings, 

 asking for dead drones and queens. Wiiat 

 can they be wanted for, any way? Last 

 spring, between fruit bloom and clover, I 

 was in some yards where dead drones could 

 have been gathered by the gallon. If there 

 had been a market for them then, what a 

 bonanza it would have been for the owners! 



Regarding the advice given by J. S. Pat- 

 ton, p. 767, Dec. 1, as to having hogs in the 

 apiary to keep down the grass, I would say 

 to any one thinking of trying the plan, " go 

 slow." At one of our yards the owner of 

 the farm allowed some hogs among the 

 bees, thinking they would do no harm; but 

 the second day they were in the yard they 

 got to lubbing against the hi\es, and upset 

 a good colony, entirely ruining it for the 

 season. 



Editor Hutchinson says in the Review 

 that dummies or division-boards are all 

 right in hives with self-spacing frames, but 

 that theyhaxe no use in a hive that has 

 frames of the loose hanging variety. \\ hy 

 not, 1 wondt-r? While dummies are not 

 necessarily conservers of heat, yet thty olt- 

 en come handy for many purjioses such as 

 forming nuclei, etc. Then if one is con- 

 tractirig for wintering, they are necessary 

 to crowd the bees up; for, although a comb 

 will, in a sense, act as a divission-board, yet 

 bees will cluster on the outsirleof the comb, 

 while the board would keep them in. Per- 

 sonally we like a dummy in every hive, and 

 we find the habit growing on us, as a few 

 years ago we had no partiality on the ques- 

 tion. 



Friend Holtermann's method of carrying 

 hives into the cellar is all right if the combs 

 are of the self-spacing kind and the hives 

 are full of frames. But lest some novice 

 should try to carry a hive like that when 

 the frames are of the loose hanging variety, 

 a word of warning is necessary, as in a case 

 of that kind something would be doing, 

 surely My hives have loose frames, and I 

 believe I can carry them with as little strain 

 to the body, and with as little jarring of the 

 hives, as though the frames were fast. But 

 I want cleats on the ends of the hives; in 

 fact, I want them there for handling the 

 hives at any time when it is necessary. 

 For carrying in the cellar, the left arm is 

 passed over the top of the hive, with the 

 right hand at the bottom, the rear end of 

 the hive, as it were, resting on the side and 

 left hip. In that position I can carry any 

 number of hives with little fatigue and 

 practically no disturbance to the bees. 



In the death of D. A. Jones, Nov. 20, 

 Canada loses one of the pioneers of bee- 

 keeping. While Mr. Jones was not engaged 

 in bee-keeping during the latter years of his 

 life, no doubt many of the older readers will 

 remember him as being very prominent in 

 the business some years ago. He was the 

 founder oi the Canadian Bee Journal, and 

 was one of the first to import queens from 

 Italy to this country. He traveled exten- 

 sively, and in one of his trips he visited 

 Cyprus and Palestine to investigate the 

 bees of that country. While I never had 

 the privilege of meeting Mr. Jones, yet my 

 father and grandfather were well acquaint- 

 ed with him, as he was born within a few 

 miles of our home. Mr. Jones was 75 years 

 old, and for over 40 years he had been post- 

 master in the town of Beeton. This name, 

 by the way, was given because of the indus- 

 try established by him at that place so long 

 ago. 



The recent tariff arrangements between 

 the L^nited States and Canada came as a big 

 surp ise to the bee-keepers of this country 

 in so far hs the tariff on honey is concerned. 

 Judging from the many letters received, 

 the majority of bee-keepers on this side of 

 the line feel that they have be- n handed a 

 "lemon." Personally, the writer inclines 

 toward free traWe in all commolities; but it 

 does Neem unfair that, while many of our 

 products are put on the free list, the most 

 of the manufa turers are still protected 

 heavily. For instance, take the biscuit 

 industry. While the most of the raw ma- 

 terials, including honey, used in the manu- 

 fa"ture of these articles, are placed on the 

 free list, yet the finished product is protect- 

 ed by duties ranging from 25 to 32>^ per 

 rent. One of the hardest knocks to the 

 Canadian producer will be the free admis- 

 sion of honey from the British West India 

 Islands; for, with the cheap labor in these 

 countries, such hone\ will be hard to com- 

 pete with. Many Ontario producers feel 

 that the markets they have been building 

 up for years will now, by reason of geograph- 

 ical conditions, be snatched away from 

 them. Whether it will work out as bad as 

 it looks is a matter for the future to decide; 

 but I believe I am safe in saying that nine- 

 tenths of the bee-keepers of Canada would 

 prefer to have matters left as they were be- 

 fore the recent changes were suggested. 

 We have mentioned West India honey as a 

 competitor with our own product; and I 

 might explain that, while it will never sup- 

 plant our honey for table use, yet the bet- 

 ter grades of it may be used for manufactur- 

 ing; and some bottlers have been mixing it 

 with our best clover honey and palming it 

 off as pure Ontario honey. With the duty 

 removed, the temptation will be much 

 stronger to get this honey; and, all things 

 considered, it does not look any too bright 

 for the marketing of our product under the 

 new regulations. 



