NOVEMBER 1, 1914 



83d 



J»L»Byer, I NOTES FMOM CANADA MLjoy,OBL 



On page 745, Oct. 1, it is said that, witli 

 the exception of clover, the honey was about 

 the same as other years. This may be right 

 for Ontario; but please bear in mind that, 

 one year with another, clover is 90 per cent 

 at least of the total white-honey crop of 

 Ontario. This year the clover crop is a 

 total failure in most parts, so that places 

 our yield away down, taking Gleanings 

 figures for granted. 



« * * 



This year we have the unusual experioice 

 of a September flow of honey here in On- 

 tario, our north yard having stored consid- 

 erable from Sept. 11 till Sept. 23, when the 

 weather was so unusually warm for the time 

 of year. Brood-nests had been heavy pre- 

 vious to this flow, and at present the 250 

 colonies there are literally jammed to the 

 bottom-boards. Much of this late honey 

 came from a variety of asters growing on 

 high lands — having a purple-colored flower. 

 Aster honey has a bad reputation for win- 

 tering in northern latitudes, so we natural- 

 ly shall be a bit uneasy as to the results this 

 coming winter. The honey is light in color 

 and nice in flavor, but is usually a bit light 

 in body as well. What is in the hives seems 

 to be pretty well sealed over, so after all it 

 may do all right. At this late date it would 

 be a big undertaking to extract this honey 

 from tlie brood-nests and feed sugar, so we 

 are taking chances. As a result, some hun- 

 dreds of pounds of sugar that we had 

 shipped us was left on our hands; but 

 needless to say it will be easily disposed ot. 



As to robbing during feeding I have read 

 with some astonishment the item on p. 745, 

 Oct. 1, the experience of our friend in 

 Michigan. Candidly it is a mystery to me 

 why there should be any trouble when feed- 

 ing sugar syrup. This fall the bulk of our 

 feeding had to be done at the home yard, 

 so I arranged to feed at home in the fore- 

 noon and to go to an outyard in the after- 

 noon, alternating the different outyards 

 each afternoon. As already mentioned we 

 have had unusually warm bright weather 

 for the time of year, and bees were just as 

 active as in summer time. But for all this 

 I fed some hundreds of pounds of warm 

 syrup during the forenoons; and, barring 

 one rather amusing incident, I had not the 

 slightest bit of robbing; and although corn- 

 cutting and apple-picking were going on 

 all the time right near the apiary, not a 

 single person or horse was stung. Miller 

 feeders and pails were used, and the only 

 precaution taken was to see that no syrup 

 was spilled over the hives, and that all 



covers were securi' so that no bees could get 

 at feeders from above. The bees in this 

 yard are about 75 per cent Italians, the rest 

 Carniolans and hybrids. Entrances were 

 as they had been all summer; no weak colo- 

 nies were fed, as it does not pay to winter 

 weak colonies outdoors here, now and then 

 a few nuclei excepted. I have for years fed 

 the bees in just this way, and have yet to 

 have a genuine case of robbing by so doing. 

 Let me tell of the " amusing incident " 

 I'eferred to a moment ago. No. 8 is a strong 

 Italian colony at the east of the yard, while 

 No. 12 is a similar colony at the west end 

 of the apiary. No. 8 was fed heavily, and 

 a few days later No. 12 was given a large 

 Miller feeder with about 25 pounds of 

 syrup. The colony, while very strong in 

 bees, was one of the lightest in the yard, as 

 about all their honey was in the super. 

 Coming home the evening of the same day 

 this colony had been fed in the forenoon, I 

 noticed that the bees had got under the 

 telescoping gable roof at one corner and 

 were flying in and out freely. As it was 

 quite late in the day, and few bees were 

 flying, I soon found that the bees from No. 

 8 at the far side of the yard were the thieves. 

 By next morning the feeder on No. 12 was 

 about empty, so 1 removed it, thinking the 

 bees of No. 8 would get a hot reception if 

 they tried to get in at the entrance. Both 

 colonies were bright Italians. Imagine my 

 surprise when, going into the yard a few 

 hours later, I found that the bees from No. 

 8 were going in and out of the entrance of 

 No. 12, and no fighting whatever. No other 

 bees were in evidence at all, and there were 

 no cross bees — a case of peaceable robbing, 

 if you please. I promptly placed a large 

 feeder on No. 8, giving them more feed than 

 they could possibly store, and awaited re- 

 sults. Next day, imagine my surprise once 

 more to find the bees from No. 12 now 

 working just as hard at No. 8 as No. 8 had 

 been at their hive the day before. More 

 feed was given to No. 12, and for the last 

 week every thing has been quiet. Did the 

 bees from No. 8, when they gained an en- 

 trance to the feeder on top of No. 12 

 acquire the same " colony odor," or what is 

 the explanation? A good friend was pres- 

 ent, and can vouch for the truth of this 

 story; but for an explanation we shall have 

 to get some one else to furnish it. During 

 the few days of this mutual robbing, not a 

 cross bee was in evidence; and while I 

 watched carefully, not a single bee seemed 

 to gain entrance to either hive except the 

 ones directly interested in the matter. 



