Nov. 1, 1911 



With all due respect to the opinions of the 

 men mentioned, it occurred to the writer 

 that, if one attempted to quote the names 

 of extensive bee-kee]iers on this continent 

 who are in favor of using queen-excluders it 

 would take several issues of the British Bee 

 Journal to provide space for the list. More 

 than that, the great majority of extracted- 

 honey producers would not do without these 

 useful appliances, as they are regarded as 

 an absolute necessity. Again, I believe that 

 most of these bee-keepers have proved to 

 their entire satisfaction that queen-excluders 

 are not "honey-excluders," as is claimed 

 by Mr. SchoU and a few others. Personally 

 I am free to confess that, if I attempted to 

 produce extracted honey with full-depth 

 supers, without queen-excluders, I certainly 

 would soon throw up the job, as the " hon- 

 ej'^-excluding " propensity spoken of is sure 

 to manifest itself very prominently if I hap- 

 jien to run short of excluders, leaving a few 

 colonies without that convenience for sepa- 

 rating the brood-nest from the surplus com- 

 partment. 



()n page 519, Sept. 1. Mr. Doolittle says 

 that bees emerging from their cells in Sep- 

 tember may survive the winter and live un- 

 til May or .June. If the inference is that only 

 bees reared after Sept. 1 thus survive the 

 winter, certainly there will be a heavy loss in 

 bees in the yards of a York Co. bee-keeper 

 this coming winter. For some reason the 

 brood-nests are packed with honey to a 

 greater extent than I ever knew before, and 

 wintering results will be awaited with inter- 

 est. For the past week or two I have been 

 doing some requeening, and in many cases 

 during the first week of September I found 

 the combs solid with honey with the excep- 

 tion of two to four combs in the center hav- 

 ing not more brood in each than the size of 

 the palms. These colonies are all strong 

 with bees; but surely if only September-rear- 

 ed bees survive the winter, the colonies will 

 be in a depleted state by spring. However, 

 I am not worrying about the matter, as I 

 anticipate that they will survive all right. 

 It is an unusual experience in this locality, 

 and I can explain it only by reason of the 

 slow flow from the buckwheat late, when 

 the nights were cool and the bees loath to 

 go into the supers. 



There seemed to ))e no difference between 

 colonies having old or young queens; but 

 there was a decided difference in one resjiect 

 — that the pure Italians were the worst sin- 

 ners in the matter of i)acking the brood- 

 nests with honey. 



Reciprocity discussion is over for the time, 

 and I trust I may be pardoned for referring 

 to a rather amusing side of the question so 

 far as it concerns honey-dealers. Of course, 

 honey is very scarce here this year as well 

 as in the United States, and that fact may 

 have something to do with the circumstance 

 I am about to relate. Some time before the 

 elections, when the trade question was just 

 a matter of guessing as to how the thing 



G49 



would go, a well-known firm in Ontario sent 

 out circulars saying that honey would be 

 much cheaper after reciprocity came into 

 force, and they strongly advised bee-keepers 

 to sell early, as they would be sure to get 

 better prices than later in the season. Since 

 the election another well-known firm sent 

 out circulars saying that since reciprocity 

 is settled they would be able to quote prices 

 on honey. A few weeks before this I had 

 shipped this firm the buckwheat honey 

 from my east yard; and now, in response to 

 their circular, I wrote them saying that I 

 had a certain amount of buckwheat honey 

 for sale here in York Co., and I asked them 

 to quote best prices. They wrote me at 

 once and offered me less than they had paid 

 me for the former lot. In acknowledging 

 their communication 1 suggested that, after 

 all, the defeat of reciprocity must have been 

 a bad thing for the honey industry in Cana- 

 da; but to date I have not received a reply, 

 so I do not know what their explanation 

 will be. The whole incident shows how the 

 game of working a producer can be played, 

 and I have no doubt that a number bit at 

 the circular sent out before the elections. 



The annual meeting of the Ontario Bee- 

 keepers' Association will be held in Toron- 

 to, Nov. 15, 16, 17. Mr. Pettit, in writing 

 me, says it is expected that this year's con- 

 vention will eclipse all former ones, both in 

 attendance and every other respect. This 

 is a high ideal; but judging from what I al- 

 ready know of the proposed program I have 

 an idea that Mr. Pettit will prove to be a 

 sure prophet. The attendance of a number 

 of our well-known bee-keepers from over 

 the line is promised, among them being 

 Mr. Tyrrell, Secretary of the National; Dr. 

 Phillips, of Washington, and Chas. Stewart, 

 one of New York State's well-known in- 

 spectors. All of these men have been given 

 a place on the program, and no doubt one 

 of the interesting features of the meeting 

 will be the thorough discussion and investi- 

 gation of the foul-brood situation. In this 

 connection Dr. Phillips will give an illus- 

 trated lecture, using his splendid set of lan- 

 tern views, some of which show the natural 

 color of diseased brood. 



Dr. Phillips will also give his popular il- 

 lustrated lecture on the behavior of the bee. 

 As notices giving full particulars will prob- 

 ably appear in the journals, it will not be 

 necessary to take much space here; but I can 

 not refrain from giving a hearty invitation 

 to all American bee-keepers, as well as oth- 

 ers, to be with us and have a good time. In 

 doing this I feel assured that I am simply 

 voicing the sentiments of all the bee-keep- 

 ers on this side of the line, and especially of 

 those who are members of the O. B. K. A. 

 The horticultural show will be open at the 

 time of the meeting, and this alone is well 

 worth a visit to Toronto, the queen city of 

 Canada. No doubt the railway rates will be 

 as in past years — single fare from all points 

 in Ontario. 



