66 



GLEANINGS IN BEE OULtURfi 



Notes from Canada 



J. L. Byee, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



A mild winter so far, here in Ontario. 

 At this date, Jan. 10, we have not yet had 

 zero weather. But there is lots of time for 

 real cold weather yet, as from now till Feb. 

 15 is the time we usually get our most se- 

 vere snaps. Although the weather is mild, 

 yet the air is not warm enough to stir the 

 bees up any, and from all appearances they 

 are wintering nicely so far. 



DECEMBER BROOD-REARING A DOIjBTFUL DE- 

 SIRABILITY. 



Brood-rearing is going on nicely in De- 

 cember, page 3, Jan. 1. May be all right 

 for Medina, but none of it if we can avoid 

 such a thing for us in this locality. If those 

 bees could not be taken out of the cellar 

 till some time late in April, as might hap- 

 pen here in Ontario, I feel that so much 

 December brood-i'earing would spell disas- 

 ter. Although the editor tells of weak 

 colonies going into the cellar and coming 

 out strong in the sj^ring, I must say I am 

 very skeptical about such a thing being 

 possible in ordinary practice, to say the 

 least. If there is any thing I feel sure 

 about, it is that brood-rearing, especially 

 out of season, is very hard on the vitality of 

 the bees raising said brood, and that is the 

 reason I have always been opi:)osed to the 

 policy of early spring feeding for stimula- 

 tive purposes. 



* * * 



OUTDOOR WINTERING MORE IN VOGUE IN 

 ONTARIO. 



Judging from what one reads in Glean- 

 ings lately, the indoor m.ethod of wintering 

 seems to be popular around Medina, 0. 

 This seems strange to us chaps away north 

 here in Ontario, as the present tendency is 

 more toward outdoor wintering all the time, 

 and I suppose the climate of Ohio is much 

 milder than with us — indeed, from the very 

 fact that we are so much further north we 

 no doubt have much colder Aveather than 

 they have down there. This fall I have re- 

 ceived letters from a number of beekeepers 

 who are north and east of me, and where 

 cellar wintering is mostly practiced, the 

 writers declaring their intention of trying 

 the outdoor plan next season. While I have 

 in every case advised caution in changing 

 from a plan that has given fair satisfaction 

 to that of a system in which they have had 

 no experience, yet I believe that the outdoor 

 plan can be safely followed in manj^ local- 

 ities where it is commonly thought to be 

 unsafe to try to winter outdoors. We have 



;;~"" cclcnics wintering outside exactly 100 

 miles straight north of Toronto; and while 

 this is but our second winter in that section, 

 I am not worrying much as to the outcome. 



* * * 



BEES AND FRUIT. 



This is an alluring combination that will 

 have a tendency to make many city dwellers 

 anxious to take a try at the " back to the 

 land" policy. In a small way, fruit-growing 

 goes nicely with commercial beekeeping; 

 but unless competent heljD can be obtained, 

 the specialist beekeeper is better to have 

 just enough of the smaller fruit for his own 

 use. They come in at the same time as the 

 honey harvest; and as many of as could say 

 from experience, we don't feel much like 

 picking fruit for market when the bees are 

 rushing us good and hard. 



Late apples, pears, etc., come on at a time 

 when they can be handled better by a bee- 

 keeper; but then the most of the commercial 

 beekeepers do not have a large acreage of 

 land to farm, so this line is out of the 

 ciuestion. However, " bees and fruit " ap- 

 peals strongly to this scribbler, and some 

 day I hope to be able to settle down with 

 one ajDiary and have the time and pleasure 

 of reveling among all the choicest kinds of 

 fiiiits that our climate will stand for. This 

 is one of my dreams. Whether I shall ever 

 be in position to realize its fulfillment or 

 not is another question. 



* * * 



BOATS FOR TRAVELING TO BEE-YARDS. 



What Mr. Scholl has to say in the D.ec. 

 loth issue about Grant Anderson, of Texas, 

 simply reaffirms what I stated some time 

 ago on the subject of motor boats. With- 

 out a doubt, if I were starting in beekeei^ing 

 again, and could find some locality suitable 

 for honey production that had a navigable 

 stream running through the country, that is 

 the place I would choose to establish a series 

 of out-apiaries. As mentioned before, we 

 liave a gasoline-launch at the yard north of 

 Toronto, 100 miles, and it is certainly the 

 ideal way to get around nicely and cheaply. 

 Unfortunately the river is not navigable far 

 enough for us to put any more apiaries on 

 its banks; but the boat has demonstrated its 

 usefulness along the lines indicated by Mr. 

 Scholl. No tire troubles annoy us, and no 

 bad roads stop you at any time in the season 

 when working with the bees. Then again, 

 the launch is not so expensive to buy or 

 maintain as is an automobile. But I am 

 sorry to say we have few locations around 



