January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



47 



T 



C 



HE weath- 

 er to date, 

 Dee. 16, 

 has been fairly 

 cold with an ab- 

 sence of h i g h 

 winds. About 

 the middle of' 

 Nove m b e r we 

 had a cold snap, and on one day the ther- 

 mometer reached zero for a few hours. 

 Then the weather moderated until a few 

 days ago, and at the time of this writing 

 we have had a few degrees zero on two 

 mornings this week. 



* * * 



Bees had a partial flight one day late in 

 November, and on Dec. 8 they again flew a 

 little. Probably they will not have another 

 flight till some time lat-e in INIareh. The 

 stores in the hives are plentiful and appear 

 to be of good quality, but the clusters are 

 about the smallest on the average that we 

 have ever experienced. For the next four 

 months bees here in Ontario that are win- 

 tering outside are better off if let severely 

 alone, as nothing can be done now to make 

 up for any neglect earlier in the season. 

 While the beekeepers are resting up for 

 another year's labor, may the thousands and 

 thousands of colonies of bees also resting 

 come thru in real good shape and again 

 provide work, and a living as well, to their 

 many masters. 



The Ontario convention is again a thing 

 of the past. Space forbids me making 

 more than a passing mention of the meeting. 

 The attendance was good, but that is what 

 we always expect and generally obtain at 

 our meeting's. Visitors from " over the 

 line " included such well-known men as 

 E. R. Root, C. P. Dadant, W. D. Achord, 

 of Alabama, the well-known shipper of bees, 

 and David Running, former president of 

 the Michigan Association. 0. L. Hershiser, 

 of Buffalo, was with us of course; but Ihen 

 he is more a Canadian than anything else 

 — at least liis better half will qualify in 

 that way, even if he himself qualifies as an 

 American citizen. Reports from the mem- 

 bers universally showed that a good crop 

 had been harvested ; but close inquiry failed 

 to disclose any large amounts of honey still 

 in hands of the beekeepers). Prospects 

 for the province are not nearly as good as 

 last year, in so far as next season's crop 

 is concerned, altho many sections say that 

 clover is fair. 



The sessions were all well attended, and 

 the discussions were featured with more 

 than the usual amount of levity. Possibly 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



J. L. Byer 



LJ 



1 



^^^^^^^^ 



tlie feature that 

 was out of the 

 ordinary as 

 compared with 

 meetings ten or 

 more years ago 

 was the time 

 and interest tak- 

 en up with ques- 

 tions concerning transportation with autos, 

 auto trucks, etc. Judging by what one 

 would see at the convention in this line, 

 surely there are a lot of beekeepers in 

 Ontario operating machines just now. 



The officers elected for 1917 are the same 

 as for 1916, and there are only a few 

 changes in the directorate. Wliile this 

 meeting, in common with others like it, cer- 

 tainly is a source of information land 

 benefit to all concerned, tlie writer was im>- 

 pressed with the thought expressed by so 

 many that it is worth while attending such 

 meetings for the social side, even if every- 

 thing else were left out. We are inclined 

 to agree with this idea; for any man left 

 to himself, with no chance of interchanging 

 ideas with others, will become self-centered 

 and narrow. Meeting with othei-s from all 

 over the country from time to time is one 

 of the best antidotes I know of to help 

 overcome these infirmities. 

 * * * 



Interesting reading to me is that report 

 of the Illinois convention, page 1120, Dec. 

 1. Like the Dadants Ave use many large 

 hives — even larger than their " barn." But 

 when the statement is made that the ten- 

 frame Quinby is large enough to keep most 

 queens going, so that no excluder is neees- 

 saiy, then I dissent. Talking with Mr. 

 Dadant at Toronto I came to the conclusion 

 that it was a question of size of super that 

 made the difference. They, the Dadants, 

 use no excluders on their large hives, and 

 practically no queens go above. I use a 

 lot of still larger hives; and with no ex- 

 cluder 90 per cent or more of the queens 

 go above. They use shallow supers, while 

 I use deep supers — that must be the ex- 

 planation. How easy to question another 

 fellow's management and results, and then, 

 after all, not be fully informed as to all 

 details! I use li/2-inch spacing, and want 

 nothing closer; but honestly I had never 

 thought of this as being a help to prevent 

 swarming. As we usually have but little 

 swarming. I accept friend Latham's ideas 

 on the subject, with pleasure. Convenience 

 in handling frames, and better results in 

 wintering, have been my only arguments 

 in favor of the wider spacing; but now we 

 have another " talking-point." 



