GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Notes from Canada 



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



I have just read with interest the plan of 

 wintering given by A. I. Root many years 

 ago, and referred to on page 863, Dee. 1, by 

 L. M. Brown. While there must be some 

 mistake in saying that the four combs the 

 bees were to be wintered on must weigh 

 about 15 pounds each, the fact, I see, is that 

 A. I. R. seemingly did not place as much 

 stress on the necessity of a " winter nest " 

 as does a son of his at the present. If I am 

 wrong in my understanding of the plan as 

 given, please correct. 



I understand that Dr. Miller has a crop 

 for 1913 that averages over 260 sections per 

 colonj. Accept heartiest congratulations, 

 doctor, for such a wonderful record. We 

 thought that the crop was fair here in On- 

 tario; but after that report we have come 

 to the conclusion that we got only a taste of 

 honey after all. However, there is no envy 

 on the part of this scribbler; and to my 

 mind such a crop means a combination of a 

 wonderfully good honey-flow, wonderfully 

 good bees, and last, but not least, wonder- 

 fully good management. 



THE EFFECT OF THE WARM WEATHER. 



" The mildest November on record " says 

 the report of the observatory at Toronto in 

 regard to the weather of Ontario during last 

 month. No frost during the first week of 

 December in our section ; so this is another 

 record. To-day, Dec. 8, it is colder, and we 

 are having our first light fall of snow. How 

 this continued mild fall weather will alfeet 

 the bees is a question I have been asked 

 frequently of late; and, frankly, I have no 

 certain answer to give to the query. Most 

 of the time it has not been warm enough for 

 bees to fly much, and I am not fretting vei'y 

 much as to any bad results that may follow. 

 At the Cashel apiary there may be an ex- 

 ception, as there the bees are surrounded on 

 the north, east, and west by swamp; and 

 during many of the November days a trip 

 to the yard would show hundreds of bees 

 sipping water from the bog, only a few feet 

 from the bees. Bees carrying water freely 

 generally means brood-rearing, and natural- 

 ly I will watch with interest as to how these 

 bees winter. 



SNOW COVERING THE HIVES. 



This matter of snow being left around the 

 hives is a live question in all our northern 

 locations where we are apt to get lots of the 

 beautiful. Snow falling in " season " can 

 pile up just as much as it likes, and I will 

 leave it around or over the hives with no 

 fear of bad results. But my hives^ali have 

 quilts over the frames, and the outside cases 

 have a space under the gable between pack- 

 ing and roof. If the bees had sealed covers 

 on them instead of quilts I might have to be 

 more careful of the snow ; but I have no use 

 for the sealed covers in our latitude, so the 

 snow does not bother. As to falling in 

 " season," I mean any time after the middle 

 of December, and I want no deep snow over 

 hives after late in March. That fall of snow 

 you had in Medina was unseasonable, and 

 I do not wonder that it threatened bad re- 

 sults if it had been left piled over the bees. 

 After brood-rearing is well on in the spring- 

 it is very dangerous to allow hives to be 

 covered any length of time, particularly if 

 the old snow has been taken away and an- 

 other fall of heavy wet snow should come 

 and cover the hives to any great depth. 



THAT WHITE HONEY IN ONTARIO. 



See here, friend E. R., you are going to 

 get into trouble for insinuating, p. 836, Dec. 

 1, that the water-white appearance of our 

 clover honey is due to the admixture of this- 

 tle honey. I am told that thistle honey is 

 very white ; but I can give no positive proof 

 personally, for the reason that I am not sure 

 that I ever had any pure. While some sec- 

 tions that are poorly farmed may have 

 enough thistles to make a slight showing in 

 the surplus, such places are in the minority. 

 In our home locations I think the editor 

 could carry in a few armfuls all the thistles 

 he could tind in the alsike within reach of 

 our bees, so you can see that thistles cut no 

 figure in our case. Up at the Lovering yard 

 there are more thistles; but the honey there 

 is not as white as we get at home, owing to 

 the presence of some other plants that do 

 not grow in York Co. 



By the way, T am informed that the editor 

 took such a fancy to our Canadian honey 

 that a policeman actually caught him with 

 a bottle in his pocket — taken, presumably, 

 from the honey exhibit we had at the big 

 show. After an investigation he was let go 

 on suspended sentence, owing to the near- 

 ness of the holiday season. 



