FEBRUARY 1, 1916 



95 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



J. L. Byer, Markham, Out. 



See here, Dr. Miller; I am a bit 

 surprised at what you tell Grace 

 Allen as to amount of syrup 

 ecjuivalent to a pound of honey 

 sealed in the comb. I thought that 

 Willi pretty well settled some time 

 ago. Vp here 5/7 of a pound of 

 sugar will not equal a pound of sealed hon- 

 ey, and a general average of exj^eriments 

 has shown us that it takes a full jiouud of 

 sugar made into syrup to give the bees llie 

 equivalent of a pound of honey. This is 

 for winter stores. I have no data, and 

 know of no way of obtaining any to test 

 the matter for any other season of the year. 

 [See Dr. Miller's second "straw," this issue. 



—Ed.] 



* * * 



Here in this part of Ontario we have liad 

 a nice moderate winter to date, Jan. 10, 

 with but little snow. As beekeepers, if we 

 were looking for any cause to complain, the 

 lack of snow would be the only thing offer- 

 ing for an excuse, as we have had no ex- 

 treme Cdld yet, and bees appear to be win- 

 tering nicely. During the next four week? 

 we are apt to have our very cold weather : 

 and during that period we like to see a 

 good blanket of the " beautiful " over the 

 clover and around the hives. For our lati- 

 tude, abundance of snow is a normal condi- 

 tion for our winter season. When we lack 

 this covering of nature, something is bound 

 to suffer more or less. 



For a long time I have been of the opin- 

 ion that Wesley Foster was a i:)retty good 

 sort of chap, altho 1 never have had the 

 pleasure of meeting him. Just at present I 

 have a much higher opinion of him than I 

 have ever had before just because I read 

 that letter from his honored father on page 

 1044, Dec. 15, relative to the question of 

 taking human life, even as a matter of self- 

 defense. The sentiments expre sed in that 

 letter are exactly the views held by myself, 

 and I never l^ave been able lo reconcile the 

 teachings of Jesus Christ as given in the 

 Sermon on the Mount and in many other 

 places with the view taken by thousands of 

 his professed followers, that under certain 

 conditions we may kill our fellow-men. 



While on this topic I wish to give my 

 hearty approval of an extract from the 

 sermon ^jrinted on page 1043, relative to 

 the claim made by some that the present 

 war shows the collapse of Christianity. "It 



is not tlie collapse of tlie Christianity that 

 Jesus taught, bat it is the collapse of the 

 Christianity that the church has taught." 



* * * 



In the matter of advertising honey, and 

 especially in getting it placed in liigh-class 

 hotels and other like places, I called the 

 attention a short time ago to the fact that 

 honey is not poj^ular because so many 

 people actually do not know how to handle 

 honey at the table. Just a short time agD I 

 was talking to the manager of one of our 

 best hotels in Toronto, and he mentioned 

 this matter, saying that honey would be 

 unpopular in the high-class hotels until 

 some plan could be devised to give an indi- 

 vidual service. At present nearly all pre- 

 serves, jams, etc., as well as the soft vari- 

 eties of cheese, are served in this manner, 

 small jars with large necks being used, the 

 manufacturers of the different foods put- 

 ting it up at their factories. It seems to 

 me that the cost of putting up honey in 

 this way would be prohibitive for hotel use, 

 altho it could, no doubt, be arranged for 

 dining-car service where -such high prices 

 are charged the patrons. It is a problem 

 worth investigating, for one who travels 

 much knows that very few menus of our 

 good hotels include honey. 

 -* * * 



RABBET SPACING. 



As the editor says on page 1098, self- 

 spacing by hive-rabbets was tried many 

 years ago. One of the first movable-frame 

 hives sold here in Ontario, and called the 

 " Thomas " hive, had this feature. But 

 very few are in use today by the large 

 producers. A notable exception to this, 

 however, was the late Wm. McEvoy, who, if 

 I am correct, used rabbets for self-spacing, 

 and doubtless his sons who now run the 

 business use the same style of hive. Judg- 

 ing by all the hives of this pattern that I 

 came across while at inspection work, there 

 would not be much danger of the frames 

 jumijing out of these rabbets of the hives if 

 they were being moved, as they wei'e mostly 

 glued good and tight with propolis. But 

 this would not be the ease in Mr. ]\IcEvoy's 

 apiaries, as they are very particular in their 

 beeAVork, and all excess of propolis would 

 be removed. From the fact that so good 

 an apiarist as Mr. MeEvoy used these hives 

 altogether, jjerhaps the principle of rabbet 

 spacing has some virtues that have been 

 overlooked by others w-lio have tried them. 



