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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J, L, Byer, 



Notes fmom Canada 



Bees have wintered well in Ontario so far 

 as I have learned from the reports sent me. 

 Although the weather, as I have mentioned, 

 has been generally cool, yet the bees seem 

 to have built up nicely so far. On the 7th 

 of May, toward evening, I noticed two 

 colonies at the home yard with small clus- 

 ters outside of the packing-cases. Early in 

 the day they had been working on pussy 

 Avillows. These were two eight-frame L. 

 hives heavily fed last winter; and as they 

 were strong colonies with young queens, no 

 doubt the smaller hives explain the crowd- 

 ing outside. Clustering so early is unusual 

 in my experience; and, needless to say, 

 those two colonies will need attention as 

 soon as any nectar comes in. 



At this date. May 11, hard maple and 

 willows are just opening, and dandelion is 

 making quite a showing on protected south- 

 ern slopes, so in spite of the cool weather 

 we had earlier, the spring is about on nor- 

 mal time so far as vegetation is concerned. 

 So far, bees have had very few days to 

 gather pollen; for, although we have had 

 little freezing for some time, cool weather 

 has been therule. In the May 1st issue it 

 is stated editorially that there has been a 

 heavy precipitation of snow and rain almost 

 all over the United States and Canada; but 

 that certainly does not apply to our section 

 in the vicinity of Toronto. We had very 

 little snow all winter, and this spring we 

 have not had a real rain yet. Around Lon- 

 don and other western Ontario points I 

 understand they have had heavy rains, so 

 it looks as though that section will be fa- 

 vored again for another season. But we 

 may all get all the rain we need yet; and 

 instead of looking for a drouth, as the 

 editor mentions, we are rather expecting 

 wet weather, as one extreme generally fol- 

 lows another. 



* « « 



Judging from the heavy correspondence 

 I have received in connection with an arti- 

 cle written in another journal, regarding 

 the question of overproduction, there is no 

 question in my mind but that the great 

 majority of the large producers (people 

 who depend upon beekeeping for a living) 

 honestly think that such a thing is not only 

 possible but probable in the near future. 

 Looking at the question in an unprejudiced 

 way, I think it must be admitted that bee- 

 keepers are often too anxious to tell of 

 their successes, when, on the other hand, we 



do not hear of the failures so frequently. 

 A number have written me, suggesting that 

 it would be a good thing for all concerned, 

 for both producers and prospective bee- 

 keepers, if the occasional large crops pro- 

 duced were never published in the journals. 

 There may be something in this, as there is 

 no question but that some see "easy money" 

 in these big reports, only to find out later 

 that they have overlooked the reports of 

 total failures that go with the calling just 

 as surely as an occasional big yield. 



CRUSTED SNOVSr DOES NO HARM IF THERE IS 



VENTILATION AT THE TOP THROUGH 



THE PACKING. 



Some time ago I drove eight miles to the 

 Altona apiary to bring home three barrels 

 of cappings to be melted up. At this yard the 

 snow always drifts over the hives more than 

 at any of our other apiaries, owing to the 

 hives being in an orchard surrounded on 

 three sides by high evergi-eens. These trees 

 catch the snow just enough to drop it over 

 the hives when it is blown in the orchard, 

 and as a rule the hives will have lots of the 

 beautiful around and over them, when there 

 will be little at the other places. On this 

 trip I found conditions as described. As we 

 had a heavy shower the night before the 

 trip, followed by a cold snap, of course the 

 snow had a very heavy crust over it. Just 

 for curiosity I got a shovel and dug down to 

 the entrances of four colonies, the snow 

 being about on a level with the cases — some 

 .30 inches deep. In front of each entrance 

 there was a hole in the snow as large as my 

 head, it having been melted away by the 

 heat from the bees. I carefully lifted off 

 the top of one case, turned back the pack- 

 ing, and rolled up one corner of the quilt. 

 The bees were very quiet, so I left snow 

 around the other cases, believing the bees 

 were in better condition than they would be 

 if I dug away all that snow with the crust 

 on, for, no matter how careful I would have 

 been, there would have been more or less 

 disturbance, and bees would have left the 

 hives, as the sun was shining brightly. But 

 please bear in mind these colonies all have 

 quilts over the frames, and there is an air- 

 space between the packing and the tops of 

 the outside cases. If sealed covers were over 

 the bees, I should be afraid of snow over 

 them; but with the other plan, it is an alto- 

 gether different proposition. 



