750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



j.L.Byer, I NOTES FROM CaNADA h'^'J^y^^"^' 



Page 571, Aui;-. 1, the claim is made that 

 boneset honey is bitter and Avill spoil buck- 

 wheat honey" for table use. Is this an es- 

 tablished fact"? If so, it surely must be a 

 matter of " locality." 1 know of a few sec- 

 tions in Ontario where this plant grows in 

 abundance around marshy places; and wdiile 

 these same localities produce lots of buck- 

 wheat honey I have never yet noticed this 

 bitter taste, even if the bees worked freely 

 on the boneset at the time buckwheat was 

 yielding. 



I am surprised that Mr. Chadwick made 

 that comparison on page 328, May 1, as to 

 the feeding- of hogs and bees. Please re- 

 member, friend C, that, if you gave a pen 

 of hogs all the feed they would need for 

 more than one meal, they would waste or 

 foul all they did not use at once. No matter 

 how much you feed the bees in the fall at 

 once, you can give no evidence to prove that 

 any of them' ever make " hog's " of them- 

 selves. I often like to differ with A. C. 

 Miller; but on this question of feeding' he 

 is " sound as a dollar " on general princi- 

 ples, even if he did advise a bit of overdose, 

 perhaps, in a late issue of Gleanings. 

 «- * * 



Just a word of explanation regarding 

 Mr. Holtermann's suggestion, p. 688, Sept. 

 1, that I am not doing my son justice when 

 I claim to ''rough it alone mostly" in so far 

 as the summer work in the apiaries is con- 

 cerned. My son is a faithful lad, and de- 

 serves all credit for the work he does; but 

 he has never spent a season in the yard 

 with me yet. When 16 he left school, and 

 in the summer looked after the yard I 

 bought 200 miles from home. The next year 

 he was there also, and during the busy time 

 of the last two seasons he has been at the 

 Lovering yard, 100 miles north. My wife 

 helps only with the extracting, sometimes 

 giving me a lift for a day or two during 

 queen-clipping in fruit-bloom. So, after 

 all, my statement as to "roughing it alone" 

 is correct in so far as the swarming is con- 

 cerned ; but there is no boast implied in the 

 statement, for many might think the "rough- 

 ing" was overdone. I am quite willing to 

 let my friend lift off supers of every colony 

 every week or oftener if he wishes; but I 

 frankly confess that, if I had to do that 

 work alone, I would go out of the business, 

 for it simply would be a physical impossi- 

 bility. My losses from swarms are extreme- 

 ly light — many seasons ])raclically nothing. 

 so I see no reason for trying In kill myself 



witli work when there is no ijrofit in it after 

 all. 



On page 657, Sept. 1, the editor states 

 that the smoke method of introduction is 

 proving uncertain in many eases. Per- 

 sonally 1 have lost two queens when using 

 this metliod ; and, judging by the editor's re- 

 marks, 1 guess I oversmoked the colony, as 

 it was a very vicious one. After killing two 

 queens, one was given in a cage with candy 

 for the bees to eat out, and in this case they 

 accepted her. Generally speaking, there is 

 no plan but will fail once in a while under 

 certain conditions, and it is a question of 

 choosing the simplest i)lan tliat will give 

 best uniform results. Said plan may prove 

 all right for me, but not for the other fel- 

 low. The moral is that, when you strike a 

 pla 111 hat gives you splendid success, stick 

 to it, or at least go slow in adopting another 

 [)lan that gives you si^lendid success, srick 

 but which may prove to be a poor substitute 

 in your own case. 



Another matter that is mighty uncertain 

 with many is the making of candy for 

 bee-feed. F. J. Lee, page 657, Sept. 1, tells 

 of his troubles in that line, and I happen to 

 know that many others have been just as 

 unfortunate. In fact, one lot I made myself 

 acted just as his did — ran all down among 

 the frames, and did more harm than good 

 to the bees. Some candy I made was in- 

 clined to be granular when finished; and, 

 although the bees worked it all right, yet 

 tliere was considerable waste. To the other 

 lot I added more honey, and the finished 

 product was hard and -glossy; but, as al- 

 ready stated, when placed over frames it 

 melted enough to run down among the 

 frames. I am inclined to think with some 

 other correspondents that a course in candy- 

 making is essential before one can be really 

 sure of getting a right article for the bees. 



Heat and moisture — surely a wonderfrl 

 combination to change the looks of the 

 country after a prolonged drouth lasting 

 the greater ]iart of the summer. About 

 August 10 bountiful rains fell, accompanied 

 with warm weather, lasting for two weeks. 

 As a result, prosjoeets for next year are 

 greatly improved, as wherever thei'e was a 

 bit of clover that has survived tlie drouth, 

 a splendi<l growth came on at once. While 

 tliere will not be very much alsike for next 

 season ill our locality, owing to so many 

 liehls being killed outright, yet we have a 

 Continued on ne.it page. 



