DECEMBER 1, 1916 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



J. L. Byer, Markham, Ont. 



Regarding the matter of packing 

 for out-door colonies, page 1010, 

 Nov. 1, is it practical or possible 

 to give enough packing to keep 

 the bees warm enough to permit 

 them to throw out all dead bees 

 during long spells of weather away 

 below zero ? The most of us up here in our 

 " Lady of the Snows " will not debate that 

 question very much, but will almost unani- 

 mously say that it is not necessary any way, 

 when one considers that good wintering can 

 be accomplished without going to so much 

 trouble to make such large eases as that pro- 

 cedure would entail. 



* * * 



Gleanings to be a monthly ! It is up to 

 the editor to change some subscribers' feel- 

 ings on this question ; for after speaking 

 to a number of friends who take the paper 

 they unanimously have said, " Sorry we 

 shall get it only once a month from now on." 

 But on reading the first editorial page, Nov. 

 1, it looks like a sure thing that all these 

 subscribers will feel quite sure that the 

 change has been made for the best. Quite 

 a few thousand regular readers of Glean- 

 ings will await with no small amount of 

 eagej'ness to see the initial number on Jan. 

 1. May their fondest desires as well as 

 those of the publishers be realized. 



In the north location, which is mainly 

 a hay-growing country, the alsike in the 

 old meadows seems to be all right. Here 

 at home, alsike is strictly a biennial; but 

 at the north location all agree that the plant 

 will live on for three years. In other words, 

 plants that came up in 1915 blossomed in 

 1916, and are alive this fall with good pros- 

 pects of wintering, and again blossoming 

 next year. While I am not prepared to be 

 positive as to the correctness of this claim, 

 yet circumstances seem to prove that it is 

 right. Will some seedsman give us positive 

 information on this point? Previous to the 

 past three or four years I have always 

 claimed that it is strictly a biennial. If I 

 am wrong in changing that view I want to 



know it. 



« « * 



SOLID BROOD-COMBS OP HONEY. 



Reading Allen Latham's article on page 

 973, Oct. 15, I am reminded of a practice 

 followed by the late Mr. McEvoy in the 

 spring of the year when he wished to give 

 his colonies encouragement. He kept over 



a number of full sealed combs of honey; 

 and in the spring, after thoroly warming 

 these combs he would place one flatwise 

 right on top of the brood-combs of each 

 colony, and then cover all up with packing 

 again. Allen Latham recommends warm* 

 ing combs to give to the bees in the spring; 

 and there is no doubt but that it would 

 have a good effect. Whether enough help 

 would be given to pay for all the work is 

 another question. While temperature, as 

 a matter of course, has much to do with 

 reg-ulatiug the amount of bi'ood-rearing, 

 yet there are cases that seem to disprove a 

 few of the claims of friend Latham. 



Referring to his flow from goldenrod, 

 aster, etc., this fall, he says that the brood- 

 nests are fast disappearing, and the brood- 

 eonibs are becoming solid slabs of honey. 

 This he ascribes altogether to temperature, 

 the nights being cool, and also to the reduc- 

 ed number of bees in each colony at this 

 season of the year. In the early fall of 

 1913 we had the only flow of aster honey 

 that ever came our way — this was ujd north 

 at the Lovering yard. Bees were abnormal- 

 ly strong for the time of the year, the 

 whole fronts of the hives with supers on 

 being covered each night. It is needless 

 to say the weather was also abnormally hot 

 for the time of the year as well. Compar- 

 atively little honey was stored in the 

 supers, altho the supers were crowded all 

 the time; but in the 13 days of the flow, 

 about all brood was crowded out of the 

 hives, and, as in friend Latham's ease, the 

 brood-combs became solid slabs of honey. 

 We came to the conclusion that the time 

 for the queens to lay was past for the 

 season, for all queens, whether young or 

 old, acted the same. 



This year, as already stated, the clover 

 flow was good, and lasted longer than usual. 

 With hardly any swarming, colonies were 

 very populous right thru the clover flow. 

 But during the last ten days or so, practi- 

 cally all queens stopped laying, or at least 

 allowed the bees to pack the brood-nests 

 with honey, and fliis at a time wlicn tlie 

 thermometer was up around the 100 mark 

 each day. This condition was relieved in 

 many colonies later on in buckwheat flow, 

 but the majority of colonies go into winter 

 quarters with a lot of clover honey. In 

 this case temperature had nothing to do 

 with it, and I surmise that the queens were 

 simply taking a rest after a long period 

 of continuous brood-rearing. 



