JANUARY 1, 1916 



bald uses 70 lbs. The former, at least, says 

 he i:)refers honey to syrup. Good extracted 

 honey in Ontario sells at about 10 cts., and 

 according- to that it costs between four and 

 seven dollars for stores to carry Ontario 

 colonies thru winter. This does not include 

 the cost of the investment, winter cases, 

 and putting bees into winter quarters and 

 the labor of unpacking. Does not Mr. Byer 

 make some mistake? The cost of between 

 five and eight dollars for winter stores 

 would seem to be an excessive burden on 

 the business. No wonder some of the bee- 

 keepers of Ontario are thinking that it 

 would be cheajDer to brimstone in the fall, 

 and buy bees in pound packages from the 

 southern states. It certainly would, at this 

 rate. 



Mr. Byer by inference made a statement 

 (see p. 905, Nov. 1) that too much pack- 

 ing during winter was too much of a good 

 thing. Is it not true that he and some of 

 his fellow beekeepers would save stores by 

 using more packing instead of less? 



Do Bees Perish During Winter when 

 their Hives are Completely Covered 

 with Snow for Long Periods of Time? 



In the same department Mr. Byer takes 

 issue with our statement made to a corre- 

 spondent, " Wlien hives are comj^letely cov- 

 ered with snow for several montlis it is 

 enough to kill any bees." He said he used 

 to think that way; but he has changed his 

 mind. Some of his bees at the north yard 

 he declares remain covered with snow foi" 

 three months or more, and yet he has had 

 perfect wintering. At this yard he used 

 upward absorbents — no sealed cover. 



Mr. Byer has two conditions that contrib- 

 ute to good wintering in his yard — namely 

 (1), a cold atmosphere during which the 

 snow does not melt as it does in Ohio, run 

 in at the entrance, and then freeze; and (2) 

 upward ventilation. We have a great many 

 thaws in our climate. The snow becomes 

 dense and soggy, and sometimes the ice 

 hermetically seals the entrances. We use 

 on the hives thin boards that are not sealed 

 down. As others in our climate have simi- 

 lar conditions it would be a little dangerous 

 to allow the statement to go out that bees 

 in hives completely covered with snow are 

 always safe. That depends on the climate 

 and conditions. We have had many reports 

 showing where colonies buried under snow 

 died because either the entrances were seal- 

 ed with ice or banked up with snow that 

 had partially melted and frozen. 



We have been in Canada during mid- 



winter, and found the atmosphere is decid- 

 edly colder and dryer than south of the 

 Great Lakes — at least south of Lake Erie. 

 The snow is light and fluffy in northern 

 Ontario, and such snow can cover hives to 

 the depth of a foot or more, providing the 

 the climate is dry and cold. 



A Look into 1916 



This is not an ad. The advertisement 

 appeal's on the back inside cover page; but 

 by these paragraphs we hope to make a few 

 further suggestions from an editorial point 

 of view regarding our special numbers for 

 1916. Curiously coincident with the editors 

 of a number of other magazines, we decided 

 this year to give the main attention to mat- 

 ters commercial rather than professional. 

 We are going to talk a lot about selling. 



The first July issue is the special on 

 advertising. We are gratified to announce 

 that we have secured the promise of an 

 article or articles from a man who is possi- 

 bly the best authority on advertising hon- 

 ey in this country. He is the head of an 

 advertising agency distinguished by unique 

 achievement and unusual growth. Altho he 

 has had charge of the only national adver- 

 tising campaign ever carried out for honey, 

 probably few beekeepers know him, simply 

 because his attention has been toward sell- 

 ing and not producing. We allude to Mr. 

 W. C. D'Arcy. 



We shall also present articles on exhibits 

 at fairs and food shows, newspaper and di- 

 rect by mail advertising, and other means 

 of publicity. We hope for this issue, as 

 well as all the others, that honey-producers 

 who have had experience with advertising 

 in any form will state it for the benefit of 

 their fellow beekeepers. 



The marketing-honey number, the first 

 August issue, will deal with matters of a 

 similar nature, with the emphasis upon 

 selling. From a dollars-and-cents point of 

 view we hope to make this the most prac- 

 tical in 1916. We look for articles on local 

 sales, whether by canvassers or thru stores, 

 and distribution by jobbers. We expect to 

 have some straight talk on co-operation as 

 well. 



The March 1 buildings number is sure to 

 interest everybody. Send in the plan of 

 your extracting-liouse or workshop, with a 

 description accompanied by specifications 

 and photographs, if possible. Labor-saving 

 arrangements of equipment will be especial- 

 ly interesting. 



The first May number is the special on 

 out-apiaries. Large-scale beekeeping has 



