624 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1917 



periment with the winter cases ; yet he does 

 feel as tho his own wintei'ing has been al- 

 most all he can desire. He has never had 

 any winter losses, and his colonies come 

 thru strong and vigorous in the spring. 

 I should like to hear from others in this 

 Dixie land on this most vital subject. May 

 we not have, as Mr. Webb suggests, a sort 

 of symposium of intelligent views? Tell us 

 what you have done toward protection in 

 past years, and with what result; and what 

 you plan to do this winter, and why and 



how. 



* * * 



These July days are hot out in the bee- 



yard, white linen being almost the only en- 

 durable dress. And I choose white or tan 

 hose and shoes over black. 



Way down south in Dixie, oh it's gettin' mighty drj-, 



Sun gets hot and hotter as it creeps across the sky ; 



Clover heads turn brown and browner — dry almost 

 as dust — 



And I reckon Dixie bees will quit, and give up in 

 disgust. 



May be, tho, they won't stay quit ; some merry sum- 

 mer day 



A certain " sweet secretion " will too likely drop this 

 way. 



Honey-dew (alluring name!) will tempt our down- 

 cast bees, 



And then — will M. A. O. ship down some quoted 

 language, please ? 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



]. L. Byer, Marlcham, Ont. 



EVER,Y sea- 

 s o n has 

 some peculi- 

 arities ; but 1917 

 so far seems to be out of the oi'dinary as it 

 has consisted entirely of " peculiarities " so 

 far, A very cold and long-continued winter 

 caused would-be weather prophets to pre- 

 dict an early warm spring. As we all know 

 now, the spring was very backward, and late 

 and cold. Then we were told that summer 

 would be earlier and warmer than usual — 

 result, June was the coldest on record. And 

 so it has continued, and clover is the latest 

 in bloom that many of us have ever experi- 

 enced. The first nectar to amount to any- 

 thing from this source came in on July 5. 

 The ground is saturated with moisture ; and 

 clover, altho backward earlier on, is now 

 rank in growth, and heavy rains are falling 

 as I write, July 7. With heat following, it 

 is hard to understand how clover can fail 

 to yield nectar; but then we may not get the 

 heat if previous months of this peculiar sea- 

 son is a sample to judge from. 



However, prospects at this date for a 

 crop from clover ard buckwheat are good, 

 if, as already intimated, we get warm weath- 

 er — something that we generally get in July 

 in this part of the country. 

 * # * 



In connection with the sale of honey this 

 season, that I refer to in another paragraph, 

 never before have we received so many 

 orders in advance for honey, provided we 

 have a crop. It is a common thing to get 

 orders from individuals for 100 or 150 

 pounds of honey; and in almost every case 

 they will stipulate that they are willing to 

 pay whatever is the ruling price when honey 

 was ready. Honey got a great boost last 

 season because of its excellent qiiality, and it 

 is to be hoped tliat any harv-ested this year 



will not disap- 

 point consumers 

 tliat are sure to 

 look for a high 

 standard of quality. Little has been said 

 as to quality having a great deal to do with 

 possible prices; but no one will deny that 

 it is one of the prime factors in deciding 



the question. 



* * * 



While clover is late this year, a big 

 acreage of buckwheat has been sown at the 

 usual time. While we are always glad to 

 see fields of buckwheat, this year we are 

 filled with mixed emotions when we see 

 buckwheat up two inches or more at a 

 time when clover is just starting to yield. 

 Judging by other seasons, we may e.vpeet 

 buckwheat to be in bloom at the time clover 

 should be yielding its best. 



* * * 



It is possible to have colonies too strong 

 at the opening of the clover flow — page 

 nil, June issue. Possibly; but who would 

 not take all chances in that line rather than 

 have them too weak? At our north yard 

 the bees build up much faster than they do 

 here in York Co., for some reason ; and the 

 sirongest colonies, if left alone, will break 

 up at the opening of the flow from clover 

 if not earlier. It is conmion for us to have 

 three full-dejith brood-bodies occuj^ied by 

 the qreGu quite early in the season; and the 

 only way to hold them back is practically to 

 fti'ip them of brood at the opening of clover. 

 With an immense force of bees at that time, 

 a crop is sure to be gathered if there is any 

 nectar going. At the opening of the flow 

 the queens are confined to an eight-frame L. 

 body; and the queens soon occupy that 

 amount of room, which means a good colony 

 for later work in season. While we like to 

 see these big rousing colonies, yet if left 



