688 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



timber color and all. I had put clean bottom- 

 boards under them, and you would be sur- 

 prised to see the number of bees that went 

 down with the candy. 



■ In the next issue I saw a picture showing 

 how a man wintered bees on loaf sugar. I 

 went to the village and bought all the loaf 

 sugar the store had — 25 lbs. I thought the 

 bees could not get their feet tangled with 

 that, as it was very hard and coarse. I got 



the kettle out again and put half a gallon of 

 extracted honey in it. I heated it hot, put 

 in some of the loaf sugar, stirred it around, 

 then skimmed it out to drain, but it did not 

 drain. What honey was on it went into the 

 hives. It seems to me it will make an excel- 

 lent bee-feed. However, if it does not feed 

 them it will not kill them. 

 Lee Valley, Ont., Can. 



SUNDRY ITEMS 



The Detection 



De swarmmg 



se , 

 ster§ on 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



On page 574, under the heading " Notes 

 from Canada," our old friend Mr. Byer 

 touches upon the detection of the swarming 

 impulse ; but he does not leave us any wiser 

 as to how to detect from outside appearance 

 the swarming impulse. Others have claimed 

 their ability to do this, but thus far no one 

 has told me in a satisfactory way how it is 

 done. How? I still doubt the possibility 

 of doing this in a well-managed apiary. 



Then in connection with this subject he 

 states, " I rough it alone mostly." Now, 

 friend Byer, is that not a little hard on that 

 son of yours? yes, and on your other family 

 help? In my own apiarian work until last 

 year I have quite decidedly set the pace for 

 my help, and did more than any one else 

 during the season. For the past two seasons 

 I have taken an unusual number of students 

 because I have had what appeared to be an 

 abundance of good material to pick from, 

 and this season being an off season, I have 

 not done so much; in fact I could have got 

 along nicely with half the amount of help. 

 Yes, we did look at every colony once a 

 week for four weeks (June 12 to July 12). 

 Generally the time covered by this inspec- 

 tion is six weeks. In future, however, I 

 may try to examine colonies for the swarm- 

 ing impulse, according to Dr. Miller's sug- 

 gestion, every ten days. However, the eighth 

 day gives us always a second chance to 

 detect queen-cells before the young queen 

 hatches. With the ten-day system there is 

 only one chance. 



* * * 



THE 1915 SEASON. 



I quite agree with Mr. Byer that the 

 outlook for 1915 for this province (Ontario) 

 is none too good. Most, if not all, of the 

 young clover in my section has been killed 

 by dry weather. Last night, Aug. 10, we 



had the first good shower we have had for 

 a long time. Now will be the proper time 

 to publish widely the returns to be obtained 

 from keeping bees in Ontario ; but just now 

 those who have been sc zealous in supplying 

 items for the press as to the profits in bee- 

 keeping appear to be busy with other mat- 

 ters. Perhaps they are dodging about to 

 keep their heads from being struck by 

 brickbats from the hands of people who 

 started beekeeping on the credit system. 



CROP REPORTS. 



Since sending a report of the honey crop 

 for Ontario July 10, the basswood flow has 

 come and gone. The bees have, where 

 opportunity was offered them, drawn on 

 the supers to feed the immature brood and 

 themselves, this being necessary owing to 

 the complete cessation of nectar gathering 

 that has reduced the expected surplus. 

 Again, some were over-sang-uine when they 

 reported, as now the surplus in Ontario will 

 average per colony, not 30 lbs., but nearer 

 15 lbs. 



Then there is the winter feeding to be 

 done. I have 150 colonies marked as re- 

 quiring immediate feeding, and let me whis- 

 per to you I have had one twelve-frame 

 Langstroth starve to death already. So 

 much for the amount of honey a good queen 

 allows the bees to store in a twelve-frame 

 brood-chamber, I expect to use 150 bags of 

 sugar for winter feed. 



WHY PAINT BLISTERS ON THE HIVE. 



I feel quite sure it is possible for moisture 

 to pass from the inside of a hive through 

 the board, and collect in a blister between 

 the i)aint and the board separating the two. 



