648 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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



On page 583, Oct. 1, I mentioned having 

 found on the front of the hive an old dipped 

 queen with a small cluster of bees. Investi- 

 gation a few days later showed that a young 

 queen was laying nicely. It looks as if the 

 poor old mother had been driven ruthlessly 

 from the hive. Clearly, bees with all their 

 good qualities have no understanding of the 

 sense that we would call "pity." 



In the notice sent out to members by the 

 Crop Committee of the Ontario Association, 

 regarding the crop of bvickwheat honey, we 

 are told that 100 per cent of the members re- 

 port that the recommended prices for white 

 honey were obtained. Score another for the 

 good work of this committee which indirect- 

 ly, since it was appointed a few years ago, 

 has i)ut thousands of dollars into the pockets 

 of Ontario bee-keepers. 



Regarding bees moving eggs, the editor of 

 the Australian Bee Bulletin had better write 

 a certain queen-breeder in California before 

 he is too sure that nian can not move the 

 eggs without injuring them, as the breeder 

 in question uses eggs instead of larvie ex- 

 clusively in all his queen-rearing operations. 

 Then, even if a man could not do the trick 

 successfully, surely that gives no license for 

 saying that the bees can not do it — page 51(5, 

 Sept. 1. 



Yes, we have had fine rains since the last 

 batch of notes was sent to Gleanings (page 

 583) . Nature is again looking more like her 

 wonted self, and the grass is quite green, 

 even if the season is late. While the rains 

 were of little practical value to the bee-keej)- 

 er, yet they have helped what little clover 

 there is in the country. It is indeed very 

 little of this plant that is surviving in our 

 section. Quite a number of dandelions have 

 come into bloom since the rains; and to-day, 

 Oct. 10, the bees are carrying considerable 

 pollen from this source. 



Relative to the high price of sugar (page 

 582, Oct. 1), one extensive bee-keeper here 

 in Ontario actually profited by the unpre- 

 cedented rise in the price of this article. 

 Quite early he bought several thousand 

 pounds of sugar, thinking he would have a 

 heavy feeding bill. It turned out later that 

 very little feeding was necessary, and as a 

 result he had about 4000 pounds of sugar 

 left after his bees were in shape for winter. 

 As he had bought the sugar at $5.05, and it 

 is now just about a dollar a hundred higher 

 than that figure, wholesale, needless to say 

 the sugar was not a burden on his hands. 

 By the way, I notice Dr. Miller says that 

 sugar is 8 cts. a pound over there. I had an 



idea that sugar was always higher in Canada 

 than in the United States; but that does 

 not look like it, as I believe the highest 

 mark reached here was 16.05 for best granu- 

 lated in a wholesale way. 



The latter half of September and the first 

 week of October were cold and wet, with the 

 result that those who were feeding bees at 

 that time made very poor progress. I never 

 knew feed to be taken so slowly. Lately we 

 have been having fine weather; but as all 

 my feeding was done before the change, it 

 made little difference to me. When bees 

 are heavy with honey, and require but little 

 feeding, I have noticed that they do not 

 come up over sealed stores to go to syrup as 

 readily as when they have an empty brood- 

 nest. This probably made the feeding go 

 more slowly than it would have done in or- 

 dinary circumstances when the weather was 

 cold. I think our bees will go into winter 

 quarters this season the heaviest in all my 

 experience. 



L. C. Wheeler, in the Revietv, says that 

 lighting a smoker with coal oil, as advocat- 

 ed by the late Mr. Hutchinson, causes the 

 smoker to smell badly afterward, and will 

 even taint the honey after being so treated. 

 I have never tried the plan; but while on in- 

 spection work I came across different men 

 who had tried it — some pretty good bee- 

 keepers too, and they never reported any 

 trouble along the line mentioned by friend 

 Wheeler. The jilan looked good to me, and 

 I had often thought of having a small oil- 

 can in each yard, loaded with coal oil; but 

 according to what Mr. Wheeler says it might 

 be well to do a bit of experimenting. 



Editor Tyrrell, when through using a 

 smoker, does not empty out the unburned 

 fuel, but plugs up the nozzle with green 

 grass (he would have some fun finding any 

 here just now), thus extinguishing the fire, 

 and then when relighting he uses the char- 

 coal that will be left in the smoker. One 

 objection to leaving a smoker in this condi- 

 tion is that the creosote will glue the nozzle 

 fast to the barrel, and then it is quite a job 

 sometimes to break connections, and pos- 

 sibly the hinges will break. Of course, if 

 dry fuel is used there will be little if any 

 creosote; but with us that is not always to 

 be had — indeed, I like the fuel damp, as bet- 

 ter results are obtained. 



D. M. Macdonakl says, in the British B(e 

 Journal, in speaking of the queen-excluder, 

 "My dislike of this ai)pliance has been re- 

 corded in the past," and then proceeds to 

 quote three authorities agreeing with his 

 view of the question. Messrs. Scholl and 

 Chambers, of Texas, and the editor of the 

 Australiai} Bee-keeper comprise the trio. 



