GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1917 



winter jjacking in this climate?" Now he 

 kindly writes about his first experiment 

 with packing, made last winter. It was 

 with packed supeis and paper only, the 

 paper being spread directly over the inner 

 covers, and allowed to hang down to the 

 bottom-boards, and securely fastened; over 

 this were laid several folded fertilizer-sacks; 

 next a super of leaves; and then the eight- 

 inch telescope cover. The enti'ance was con- 

 tracted, and protected from mice. 



Mr. Parks summarizes as follows : "On 

 the first day of April there were from 

 three to six times as many bees issuing from 

 tlie packed hives as from the unpacked. 

 They stayed in the hives better in the win- 

 ter, and were not out robbing and meddling 

 with other colonies. The unpacked were 

 robbing and nosing around, even when it 

 was spitting snow." Not having extracted 

 at the time of writing, he could not report 

 as to the difference in yield. 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



|. L. Byer, Markham, Ont. 



AT this date, 

 Aug. 7, the 

 season s o 

 far as white 

 honey is concerned can safely be considered 

 over for this part of the country. Locally, 

 at least, the crop has been very disappoint- 

 ing. After the abundance of rain that fell 

 thru June and the first part of July, insur- 

 ing a rank growth of clover, we all felt that 

 warm weather was all that was needed to 

 give us a crop. Then the heat came; and, 

 altho the weather seemed ideal for nectar 

 secretion, clover yielded very little. In our 

 own five yards we have not a pound of 

 honey that will grade as No. 1 dover, and 

 the yield of the five yards varies from 30 to 

 50 pounds per colony. At the Simeoe Coun- 

 ty apiary things are better, but by no means 

 have we a big crop — -probably 75 pounds 

 per colony. And all this is on the hives yet, 

 for tliere is no buckwheat to force us to 

 rush it off earlier. Honey there is flavored 

 with sumac — the first of that flavor I have 

 ever tasted in Ontario. I like the flavor 

 very much myself, yet I have no idea how 

 the public will take to something so unusual 

 in this country. Basswood looked well also, 

 but turned out in the same way as clover, 

 and we did not get a whiff of the well-known 

 odor when extracting. Buckwheat looks the 

 best in years, and we are yet hoping for a 

 crop from that source to balance up feed- 

 bills and possibly leave a small margin as 

 well. 



DISAPPEARING DISEASE APPEARS. 



We are asked to report if this "disappear- 

 ing disease" or "Isle of Wight disease," as 

 it is called in the old country, has ever 

 shown up in our locality. Assuredly it visited 

 us this year and killed thousancls of bees 

 just at a time when they were needed for 

 the har-\'est. It made its appearance here 

 late in June, when clover was just opening, 

 and it was at its worst during the ten days 

 in early July when we had dull cloudy 

 weather or rain about every day. Each 



morning the bees 

 would pour out 

 of the hives by 

 hundreds ; and 

 when once on the grass they would rush 

 at full speed seemingly with a desire 

 to get somewhere, but in a measure 

 the movements were not altogether vol- 

 untary, for in yards that had any hol- 

 lows in the ground, the ailing bees would 

 gravitate there and die to such an extent 

 that they would be piled two or three inches 

 deep. They were not old worn-out bees by 

 any means, for examination showed all to 

 have perfect wings, altho they had no use 

 for them. Many drones were also on the 

 ground acting just the same but not travel- 

 ing quite so fast. Italians were much more 

 affected than dark bees; for while our home 

 yard, which contains nearly all Italians, Avas 

 badly affected, my neighbors' 90 colonies of 

 mostly dark bees showed little of the ail- 

 ment. As soon as settled warm weatlier 

 came along with sunshine, the trouble 

 ceased. But before this the colonies had 

 been so depleted that supers formerly boil- 

 ing over with bees then had but half or more 

 of the combs occupied. Combs were simply 

 jammed with brood at all times, and no 

 brood troubles were noticeable at any time. 

 The home yard and one at Markham, both 

 mostly Italians, were the worst affected. 

 The three other yards with more dark bees 

 showed much less of the trouble. The big 

 apiary in Simeoe County was in bad shape 

 for but two or three days, and then the 

 trouble disappeared. It is on a dry rocky 

 location which may have made the differ- 

 ence. It certainly is a serious proposition 

 when it hits as hard as it did this year; but, 

 of course, with clover yielding but little the 

 loss Avas not as great as it would have been 

 had a good floAV followed the attack. At 

 this date, Aug. 7, colonies seem all right 

 but not as populous by any means as they 

 would have been if this great loss had not 

 occurred. I have no idea as to what the 



