266 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 1 



Notes from Canada 



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



"The best way to avoid spring dwindling 

 is to insure good wintering. Bees that win- 

 ter well are not likely to dwindle in the 

 spring very much," page 92. Doolittle nev- 

 er wrote any thing more sound than that, 

 and it will pay every beginner to raste in 

 his hat that statement of Mr. D. Perhaps 

 some of the older members of the craft 

 might profit by doing likewise. 



Mr. Doolittle still claims, p. 200, April 1, 

 that age does not injuriously affect super 

 foundation for sections; and while I do not 

 produce enough comb honey to be able to 

 give an intelligent opinion, still I do know 

 of a lot of comb-honey producers who could 

 not easily be persuaded that Mr. Doolittle 

 is right in his view. Not the least among 

 the number would be Mr. House, of Camil- 

 lus, N. Y. 



C. P. Dadant says on page 135, when re- 

 ferring to Canadian bee-keeping, that " their 

 bees begin to eat of the stores in the center 

 earlier than ours, for they have fewer warm 

 days in the fall." My experience is that, 

 the more warm days we have at that season, 

 the heavier the consumption of stores. 

 With the weather cool enough to keep the 

 bees quietly clustered when they are with- 

 out any brood, the consumption of stores is 

 very light indeed, and the more they are 

 aroused by warm weather the more honey 

 they will eat. 



Page 86. Feb. 15, mention is made of win- 

 ter-killing of clover. In our section the 

 term "winter-killing" is a misnomer, as 

 only once do I recollect that the clover was 

 damaged in winter. While I refer to alsike, 

 the same will apply to a great extent to both 

 red and white clover. Practically all the 

 damage to clover here in Ontario is done 

 after March 15, sometimes not till after Apr. 

 1. Warm days causing the ground to thaw 

 out to the depth of three or four inches, fol- 

 lowed by freezing at night, fix the clover. 

 It will be literally lifted out by the roots, 

 and many a time have I seen whole fields 

 ruined in this way. The common red clo- 

 ver is much more susceptible to this than is 

 alsike, owing to the latter ha\ing more lat- 

 eral roots. Red clover, having a longer tap 

 root, is more easily lifted out of the ground. 

 I have seen plants of red clover raised so 

 high as to measure eight inches between the 

 ground and the top of the root. Some land 

 is more susceptible than others; but under- 

 draining improves any kind of soil so far as 

 this is concerned. 



Regarding inspection for foul brood, as 

 touched upon by Wesley Foster, page 199, 

 April 1, I would say that, while it is impos- 

 sible to tear open a hive on a cold day, yet 



if there is any American foul brood present 

 in the colony a very simple test will decide 

 the matter. If the top of the hive is sealed 

 so that little if any ventilation passes up- 

 ward, the least trace of foul brood can be 

 detected at the hive entrance by anybody 

 who is acquainted with the characteristic 

 odor of the disease. After the supers are on 

 the hives, the odor in slightly affected colo- 

 nies is not as noticeable; but in the early 

 spring, when the bees are getting a little 

 honey from willows and other bloom, I have 

 frequently spotted colonies which, on exam- 

 ination, showed only about a dozen dis- 

 eased cells. 



While the list of inspectors has not been 

 made public as yet, April 7, from what I 

 have learned the majority of those who act- 

 ed last year will again be "on the job;" but 

 at least one has refused to serve again this 

 year because he could not give the work 

 proper attention without neglecting his own 

 interests too much. In the next issue I 

 hope to be able to give the list of inspectors 

 for 1911, with territory assigned to each. 



I am glad to note what J. T. Dunn has to 

 say on page 203, April 1, about Carniolans 

 being able to resist the attacks of European 

 foul brood. Mr. Benton, of California, also 

 agrees with him on the subject, and has so 

 expressed himself in a recent issue of the 

 Bee-keepers'' Review. I hope they are right, 

 for I really like the Carniolans better than 

 any other bees. What Mr. Dunn says 

 about their keeping the hives populous all 

 the time was brought forcibly to my mind 

 yesterday while looking over the Cashel 

 apiary to see if all had stores. The day was 

 cool, and no bees were flying. All I did was 

 to turnback the packing behind the frames, 

 and then lift up the quilt. If sealed stores 

 were in evidence, no further examination 

 was necessary. 



The bees seemingly have wintered well in 

 the yard in question, as every colony was 

 alive, and only two were found short of 

 stores. No smoke was necessary in exam- 

 ining Italian colonies, as the bees were all 

 clustered near the front of the hives. As a 

 rule, they reached across the hive and about 

 half way back. When Carniolan colonies 

 were examined, what a different story! 

 Bees were crammed into the furthest cor- 

 ners of the hives; and as they were a bit 

 stupid from the cool weather, it took a lot 

 of smoke to drive them down so that I 

 could see whether there were any stores. 

 It is only fair to say that the Italians have 

 the most honey on hand, for, aside from 

 the well-known tendency of this race to 

 pack more honey in the brood-nests during 

 the buckwheat flow than do the Carnio- 

 lans, they have not nearly as many bees to 

 winter as do the latter race. This fact ac- 

 counts, no doubt, for the extraordinary win- 

 tering qualities of the Carniolans, for, given 

 an abundance of good stores in the fall, it 

 matters not how cold the winters are — they 

 always come out in the spring boiling over 

 with bees. 



