May, 1017 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



379 



territory is destined, in my humble opinion, 

 to be tine place for the greatest expansion 

 of the bee industry in Ontario in the near 

 future. If 1 were 20 years younger nothing 

 Avould please me better than to take a 

 plunge into this great north land, for as- 

 suredly there are possibilities there un- 

 equaled or unexcelled, at least in the older 

 ])arts of the province. 



As to eo-operation, desirable as it may be, 

 (he plain unvarnished fact is that such a 

 move lias never been successfully accom- 

 plished until the people directly concerned 

 were almost if not actually forced by cir- 

 cumstances to organize. Generally speak- 

 ing, then, the time is not yet ripe for such 

 a move to be successfully launched here in 



Ontario. 



* * * 



The question as to how far be s will fly, 

 discussed by Mr. Doolittle ar.d the editor 

 in the Dec. 1st number, is something that 



will never be settled to suit all conditions 

 and localities. As mentioned before, for 

 a number of years we had buckwheat a 

 little over three miles from our home api- 

 ary ; and while the bees near these buck- 

 wheat fields stored surplus our bees gath- 

 ered never a drop. On the other hand we 

 saw thousands of our bees working more 

 than three miles from the apiary a few 

 years ago at the Lovering yard; and on 

 another occasion, when all clover was kill- 

 ed with drouth on our side of the bay, the 

 bees Hew two miles to the water and then 

 across another two miles to the opposite 

 side. This last stunt would not be expect- 

 ed to be pi-ofitable; but the bees cei-tainly 

 flew the four miles. After all is said and 

 done on this question, tho, very few bee- 

 keepers indeed would care to locate an api- 

 ary where the bees had to depend on their 

 main source of nectar located two miles or 

 more away. 



LESS talk is 

 linear d now 

 of the pros- 

 pective honey 



crop and the price to be obtained than of the 

 tremendous increase in the price of cans. 

 Already the reports indicate that it may be 

 impossible to get tin containers at any price 

 later on. It would seem that the beekeep- 

 ers should be interesting themselves in the 

 possibility of wooden containers. It is very 

 interesting to note that the beekeepers of 

 California have already decided to use bar- 

 rels, and market large orders of honey. 



* * * 



There has been some little discussion of 

 late in the state papers about the best 

 method of transferring bees. Each writer 

 presents a different plan, and any one of 

 those given should be successful if the 

 directions are followed carefully. The 

 good that may come from these sugges- 

 tions is the getting of more bees out of 

 gums and into modern movable-frame hives. 

 In so doing tlie beekeeper will be com- 

 plying with the foul-brood law, and, at 

 the same time, placing his bees in position 

 to make him due returns for his invest- 

 ment. The one marvel of beekeepers who 

 have transferred is the great amount of 

 honey that can be made from a colony of 



bees. 



* * * 



It is to be regretted that the regular 

 session of the legislature adjourned Avith- 

 out passing the experimental-apiary bill. 



IN TEXAS 



By F. B. Paddock, State Entomologist 



This bill carried 

 a great future 

 for the beekeep- 

 ing industry of 

 this state, but jierhaps another concerted 

 action will be made at the next legislature 



for such a bill. 



* * * 



Messrs. Lutcher Stark and R. L. Lester, 

 of Orange, Texas, were visitors at the Ex- 

 periment Station Apiary. These gentle- 

 men came from a section of the state that 

 is neglected from the standpoint of bee- 

 keeping. They are enthusiastic over the 

 possibilities of their isecitaon, and |it is 

 certain that their methods will surely bring 



results. 



» « * 



With us the spring has been extremely 

 dry, which makes vei^y trying conditions 

 after a very dry winter. The cold wave 

 did not hit so hard in this section, and 

 the bees were hardly kept from flying. The 

 bees seem to be gathering pollen and honey 

 every day. The pears were in full bloom 

 on March 15; on the 18th the bees were 

 working on the oak blooms, and from the 

 20th to the 30th the willows were in bloom. 

 By careful attention our bees have built u]i 

 eight frames of brood and will be ready to 

 divide in a few days. 



* * * 



Distressing reports have come from bee- 

 keepers in one of the fruit sections that 

 the fruit-gTowers were spraying their trees 

 while in full bloom, with the result that the 



