GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



783 



lainly there is none in the t'oiinties adjacent 

 to Toronto. 



A lot of honey is being phioed on the 

 market this year which is no credit to the 

 Iiusiness, and cannot have anything but a 

 bad effect on future sales of honey. A few 

 days ago while at one of our large depart- 

 ment stores I sampled honey in glass of 

 this year's production that was as thin as 

 syrup, and already fermenting. The man- 

 ager told me it was from a western pro- 

 ducer, but I did not ask his name. How- 

 ever, I have reason to believe there was no 

 l)uckwheat in his locality; and if this was 

 the case there was no excuse of putting such 

 unripe honey on the market. Personally 

 we extracted some honey this year that we 

 w^ere ashamed of. Fields of buckwheat 

 were in full bloom; and with five yards we 

 simply did not know what to do, as we 

 naturally wished to get off some light honey 

 before buckwheat started to yield ; but at 

 the same time, for some reason I cannot 

 understand, the honey was thin, and the 

 bees refused to cap it over. Suffice to say 

 that a ton was taken off at one yard, and, 

 as already intimated, we were sorry for it 

 afterward. ' While it did not actually fer- 

 ment, yet it was thin and had a peculiar 

 acid taste to it that seems common to all the 

 light honey I have tasted around here this 

 year. I had many chances to sell it for 

 local US9, and could have sold it as well for 

 store trade, but I would not place it on the 

 market and have to dread hearing about it 

 afterward. It was disposed of after fur- 

 nishing a liberal sample to the dealer at 

 a price considerably below what good honey 

 should bring, with the understanding that 

 it would go for baking and other like in- 

 terests. But in future, buckwheat or no 

 buckwheat, no green honey will be taken off 

 if it possibly can be avoided, as it does 

 not pay, no matter what view one takes of 

 it, either in dollars or satisfaction. 



On page 07(5, Sei)l('niber, 1 am made to 

 say that " I often Avork alone in the apiary, 

 taking in honey and bringing back empty 

 combs and accounting for 2500 or more 

 pounds of honey in a day." This, of 

 course, refers to the yard work only, as 

 two were inside running the extractor and 

 doing the uncapping. If not mistaken, 

 the copy said, " I have often worked " in- 

 stead of " I often work," for, let me whis- 

 per, as I get older and lazier I do not work 

 alone in the yard any more during extract- 

 ing, except at times when help is real scarce. 

 * * * 



A good friend in Texas writes ma lately 

 of the terrible drouth they had in his sec- 

 tion, and among other things says that he 

 lost 300 colonies of b?es and many nuclei — 

 some loss, surely, and it made me think that, 

 even if things were none too glowing here 

 in Ontario this year from the beekeeper's 

 standpoint, yet after all it might be much 

 Avorse. While the crop is light, yet prices 

 are good; and Avith the continued damp 

 Aveather, in our section at least, the cloA-er 

 prospects are excellent for another year: 

 and " prospects," as Ave all knoAv, make up 

 fully half of the beekeeper's expectations, 

 and considerably more than that of his reali- 

 zations." 



Mr. Baldwin, page 706, September, refers 

 in a cheerful Avay to the characteristic un- 

 certainty of beekeeping, and advises us to 

 " never say die " " until the white asters bid 

 the closing year adieu." Just now the ad- 

 vice is particularly appropriate for " yours 

 truly," for at tliis date the big apiary up 

 north is match in need of Avinter stores. 

 Acres and acres of asters and other fall 

 floAAiers are in bloom, but unseasonably cool 

 Aveather means no nectar. Here's hoping 

 that old Sol comes to his oAvn for the next 

 two Aveeks, and that a big feeding-bill will 

 be avoided." 



FLORIDA SUNSHINE 



E. G. Baldwin, Deland, Fla. 



TH E season 

 in most of 

 the state 

 has been unusu- 

 ally poor, and the resulting condition tells 

 on the colonies themselves, as Avell as on 

 the output. In the high pine lands the 

 partridge ]>ea Avas in bloom in August, and 

 reports shoAved that bees Avere gathering 

 slowly from that source. They never gath- 

 er very rapidly from this plant, but its 

 long blooming j^eriod often results in a 

 fair crop. Rains have been plentiful, thus 



far, and t he 

 yield ought to be 

 good. While it 

 is dark honeA', it 



is still honey. Bees are in fair condition 

 generally. 



The appearance of American foul brood, 

 on the East Coast, is a menace to that sec- 

 tion. The aid of the Apicultural Depart- 

 ment at Washington has been invoked to 

 .stamp out the pest promptly. It remains 

 to be seen Avhether Dr. Phillips and his staff 

 can find tiine to co-operate directly in the 



