1176 



banquet was served by The A. I. Root 

 Company, of Medina, Ohio, and M. H. 

 Hunt & Son, of Lansing, Michigan. This 

 was served at the Baptist church. About 

 150 were present. Among those who re- 

 sponded to toasts were President Francis 

 Jager, Chief of the Division of Bee Cul- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ture. Department of Agriculture, University 

 of Minnesota, St. Paul ; Mr. F. Eric Millen, 

 formerly foul-brood inspector for Michi- 

 gan; Mr. B. F. Kindig, and Mr. Morris. 



Numerous prizes were offered for best 

 displays of honey. At this writing we 

 have not received a list of the winners. 



LETTING THE BEES FASTEN THE FOUNDATION 



BY M. JOHNSTONE 



Enclosed find an illustration of a method 

 of fastening full sheets of foundation witli- 

 out using the groove or wedge. The method 

 permits the u.=;e of a shallow top-bar. This 

 is exiDeriment number twelve, issued by the 

 Apicultural Department of the Ontario Ag- 

 ricultural College, and originates with Pro- 

 fessor Pettit. 



As seen in the illu.stration the wiring dif- 

 fers from the ordinary in that the top wire 

 is comparatively close to tlie top-bar (one- 

 half inch), and is fastened in the center of 

 the top-bar by a small staple. The wire 

 otherwise is used as in the ordinary method 

 with the precaution that it must be drawn 



The foundation is placed in position on a 

 board the size of the inside dimension of the 

 frame used. The wired frame is then laid 

 on top, the sheet of foundation being press- 

 ed firmly against the top-bar; and while in 

 this position it is imbedded firmly. 



For some time I have felt the inconven- 

 ience of the wedge-and-gi'oove system for 

 extracted honey. The weoges are difficult 

 to drive in firmly, and the sheet of founda- 

 tion is likely to buckle in putting in the 



groove, especially when one is hurried so 

 that it is a relief to turn to this method and 

 fasten so firmly and neatly. Of course the 

 bees do the fastening, perfect combs being 

 obtained in the brood-chamber as well as in 

 the supers. These were obtained the last 

 season in a good flow, which likely would be 

 one requirement. 



The method has an added advantage in 

 that broken combs may be replaced without 

 the necessity of digging out the grooves or 

 removing the wedge. The shallow frame 

 also gives the use of two more rows of cells 

 ordinarily occupied by the deeper bar. 



Cayuga, Ont. 



STATISTICS FOR ONTARIO 



BY J. L. BYER 



Tn an article in a recent issue of the 

 American Bee Journal Mr. Geo. Ivingsmill, 

 of Guelph, gives some startling figures as 

 to the honey production of Ontario this 

 past season. He states it is estimated that 

 there are 10,000 beekeepers in Ontario keep- 

 ing an average of 30 colonies each — a grand 

 total of 300,000 colonies. With this year's 

 estimated average of 89.6 pounds per col- 

 ony, that would mean 25,880,000 pounds 

 of honey — I figure it out at 26,880,000 

 pounds; but a million is not much one way 

 or the other in dealing with figures of 

 this magnitude. He goes on to say that 

 it would take between eight and nine trains 



of 50 or 60 cars each to carry the crop if 

 all were marketed. Here I again figure 

 that, counting cars of 25,000 pounds each, 

 it would take 1075 cars to hold the honey, 

 and that would take about 20 trains, each 

 of 50 cars, to handle the jDroduct. 



But my pur]iose in making these comments 

 on friend Kingsmill's article was not pri- 

 marily to try to " figure " differently, but 

 to confess honestly that I was amazed at 

 the magnitude of honey production in 

 Ontario, assuming that the figures are any- 

 where near correct. Personally I think the 

 estimate too high; for among thousands and 

 thousands of colonies not reported, but 



