164 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Notes from Canada 



J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Out. 



Normal winter weather here in Ontario 

 since last Notes were sent in; and to-day, 

 Feb. 10, we have about 6 inches of snow 

 covering- the clover that we hojie to get some 

 honey from next year. We had much more 

 snow, but the rains took it away. Bees are 

 wintering nicely so far — last flight Nov. 23. 

 » * » 



THE SHORT COURSE AT GUELPH. 



The writer spent two days at Guelph 

 during the " Short Course " in apiculture. 

 As I fully expected would be the case, there 

 was a bumper attendance — probably about 

 100 in steady attendance for the different 

 sessions. One of the best things in connec- 

 tion with the different lectures was a series 

 of demonstrations on queen-rearing by Mr. 

 J. A. McKinnon, of St. Eugene, Out. Mr. 

 McKinnon is more at home in the real woi'k 

 of producing good queens than he is before 

 a big crowd of students, but nevertheless 

 anybody could see that he was thoroughly 

 practical and fully understood this v^ery 

 important part of beekeeping. Mr. McKin- 

 non is one of our younger men in the busi- 

 ness, and one of the very few who make a 

 specialty of raising good queens for sale 

 here in Ontario. 



* * * 



DIFFERENCE IN VARIOUS STRAINS OF BEES IN 

 RESPECT TO CAPPING HONEY. 



Dr. Miller speaks in last Gleanings 

 about Italians for capping comb honey, and 

 says that his compare favorably with other 

 breeds in that respect. Certainly there is a 

 wonderful difference in strains of this breed 

 so far as capping goes, as one good breed- 

 er, so far as his stock is concerned in other 

 respects, has Italians that would not do for 

 comb honey at all, if fancy sections were 

 to be produced. Invariably, when bringing 

 in combs to be extracted, the helpers in the 

 honey-house notice the dark-looking cap- 

 pings and say, " Some more honey from 



Mr. s' bees." However, as a rule theso 



bees are good stock, and for extracted-honev 

 production their habit of placing capping? 

 so close to the honey makes no difference. 



* * « 



CO-OPERATION ; THE TRUTH IN REGARD TO THE 



COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ADVISE ON 



PRICES OF HONEY. 



Much is being written on co-operation, 

 and just at present, no doubt, many are 

 wishing that we had some good system in 

 operation. The writer has always been i.i 



favor of the principle of co-operation, but 

 he is not even yet convinced that we can 

 successfully operate such a system when we 

 have so many difficulties to overcome. Bee- 

 keepers are so widely scattered over the 

 country, so differently situated in the matter 

 of being large or small producers, and there 

 are so many different qualities of honey 

 produced, etc., that the more I consider the 

 subject the more herculean the task seems 

 when we try to devise ways and means of 

 forming a co-operative association. One of 

 the serious questions in a matter of this 

 kind is the financing of such a project to 

 start witli ; but one of the most serious ob- 

 stacles of all, as I see it, is the fact that 

 among beekeepers, as in other callings, there 

 are always a lot who are selfish and unrea- 

 sonable. This leads me to remark that I 

 had not much thought of co-operation in 

 mind when I started to write this note, only 

 in so far as a matter of comparison as to 

 what we might expect if we were trying to 

 run a co-operative society. 

 « « » 



PARCEL POST IN CANADA, 



To-day, Feb. 10, Canada at last starts out 

 in giving us a parcel-post system. A glance 

 over the proposed system as now in force 

 seems to suggest that there is lots of room 

 for improvement before it will interfere 

 much with tJie express companies which 

 have things pretty much their own way at 

 present. As in tlie United States, the zone 

 system is used ; but the regulations now in 

 force, e:cept in a very few instances, are 

 not nearly as liberal as those across the line. 

 The worst feai ui'e is that the first zone takes 

 Ml a distance of only 20 miles. For that 

 distance the ficst pound is 5 cts., each addi- 

 tional pound,] cent extra. The second zone 

 lakes in the limits of any one province in 

 the Dominion, and the rates are about dou- 

 ble those of the first zone. In other words, 

 it would cost rne as much to send a parcel 

 to Toronto, wldcli is 22 miles from my home, 

 as it would to send one to Port Arthur, on 

 the north shore of Lake Superior. How- 

 ever, we are now committed to the principle 

 of parcel post, and with lots of judicious 

 kicking, we shall get something that will 

 make the ex])ress companies take notice. 



All together, six zones arc arranged for, 

 and for the longer distances small parcels 

 can be sent quite a bit cheaper than by ex- 

 press. One of the first changes that will be 

 sure to be asked for is that tlie first zone be 

 extended to iV) miles at least. 



