Aug. 1, 1911 



453 



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



British Columbia has the strictest foul- 

 brood act yet enacted, in that it gives pow- 

 er to hold in quarantine any bees being 

 shipped in, even if coming from the sister 

 Provinces. It seems to the writer that this 

 is reasonable; and why should it not apply 

 to honey being shipped in from infested lo- 

 calities? 



Fruit is scarce in our Province this year, 

 and already the demand for honey is the 

 greatest I ever knew. Certainly those who 

 have honey to sell need not go begging for 

 a market this season, and I note that sales 

 already made have been at a good figure. 

 All heat records have been broken here dur- 

 ing the past ten days, and this condition 

 largely explains the scarcity of fruits, as 

 many varieties were literally cooked on the 

 bushes. A temperature of 105 in the shade 

 may be all right for Texas vegetation, but 

 we Canucks prefer things a little cooler; and 

 this July, so far, has been a revelation to 



That picture of Mr. Hutchinson and the 

 children on page 395 has always been a 

 pleasure to me to look at; and I am proud 

 CO say that, shortly after the original was 

 taken, friend Hutchinson sent me a nicely 

 finished copy of the same. To say that we 

 value it highly is expressing our sentiments 

 very mildly, and many competent judges 

 who have seen the picture at our home tell 

 me it is the best example of the photo- 

 graphic art they have ever seen. Needless 

 to say that, since friend H.'s untimely de- 

 cease, the picture has been valued more 

 than ever, and will long be cherished as a me- 

 mento of one of the kindest men who ever 

 lived. 



In our immediate district the crop of hon- 

 ey is almost a failure; and as farmers say 

 that the clover seeded this spring is all kill- 

 ed, things look none too good for next sea- 

 son. While all around us rains have fallen, 

 here with us we have had no rain (except a 

 few sprinkles) for over a month, and at this 

 date, .July 11, things are parched badly. At 

 two of the yards no buckwhat has been 

 sown, as it was no use putting it in, so that 

 means feeding for winter stores at those 

 places. Western and ICastern Ontario have 

 fair crops, at least in some ])laces; and as 

 we happen to have an apiary in Eastern 

 Ontario this year that is giving us a crop, 

 we can, as usual, say, "It might have been 

 worse." 



Editor Hurley, of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, calls attention to the fact that 

 there are openings for some good queen- 

 breeders here in Ontario, and says that, 

 since Mr. Adams went out of the business, 



many inquiries have come relative to the 

 matter of getting queens in Ontario. Mr. 

 Hurley is right in the matter, and with him 

 I would say that there "is a great oppor- 

 tunity in Canada for some enterprising bee- 

 keeper to go into queen-rearing on a large 

 scale." The " made in Canada" slogan is 

 quite popular at the present, and there is not 

 the slightest doubt that the right man could 

 sell thousands of queens right here in On- 

 tario and the other Provinces, and his 

 chances would be equally good for disposing 

 of his product over the line. 



During the past few weeks I have had the 

 jjleasure of meeting no less than four of the 

 foul-brood inspectors, and all report lots of 

 work to do. One of the discouraging fea- 

 tures of the work is that many will not take 

 the trouble to familiarize themselves with 

 the disease so as to be able to head it off 

 when it first gets into their apiaries. Per- 

 sonally I am not in the work now, so I can 

 speak freely, and for some time I have taken 

 the ground that all who contemplate keep- 

 ing bees must ultimately learn to be their 

 own inspector. It is simply impossible to 

 visit all apiaries every spring, and five min- 

 utes to each colony every year would easily 

 tell the owners if any very serious trouble is 

 in evidence. Yet many will not look into 

 a brood-nest from year to year, and the first 

 thing they know their bees may have con- 

 tracted foul brood badly; whereas a look 

 over the combs a few months earlier might 

 have saved a lot of trouble. Last summer 

 I was sent to a certain bee-keeper, and on 

 examination I found all the bees rotten with 

 American foul brood. I learned that, a few 

 years ago, they had been in the same con- 

 dition, and had all been treated. The trou- 

 ble had not been entirely eradicated, and 

 had gradually got so that the latter condi- 

 tion was worse than the former. The own- 

 er seemed to know the disease all right; and 

 when I questioned him as to why the yard 

 was in svich a condition, and asked why he 

 had not examined them himself, he replied, 

 "Why, that is what you fellows are for; 

 why didn't you come along and tend to 

 your work?" I suppose the man never 

 thought that such a thing as examining 

 every apiary in the Province each spring 

 was an impossibility; yet his attitude was 

 the same as that of many other men on this 

 question. Let me say most emphatically 

 that it is imperative tliat every man intend- 

 ing to keep bees shall learn to know foul 

 brood at sight. While there may be liabili- 

 ty of making mistakes in diagnosing Elu- 

 ropean foul brood, there is not the slightest 

 excuse for not being able to know American 

 foul brood, as there are certain characteris- 

 tics of this disease that will enable any in- 

 telligent person to know the malady at first 

 sight. 



