Deckmukr, 1922 



a L !•: A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



791 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



exhibit of honey and general apiary prod- 

 ucts that added much to the success of this 

 feature of the State Fair, which is coming 

 more and more each year to prove especially 

 attractive to the many thousands of State 

 Fair visitors. W. J. Martin. 



Wilmington, N. C. 



In Porto Rico. -'^^^ paragraph by J. E. 

 Crane, October Glean- 

 ings, page 649, in reference to gentle bees, 

 interests me. This is nothing new for the 

 elder beekeepers to discover. Dr. Miller 

 joined this branch of beekeepers some years 

 before lie left us for good. Alley and Pratt 

 (better known by his nom de plume of 

 "Swarthmore") advocated this class of 

 bees 15 to 20 years ago. Not only did they 

 advocate gentle bees but they bred them, 

 and their joint strain is still in demand. 



The season in the hill districts of Porto 

 ico has been a very disappointing one. The 

 first part of the year we had far too little 

 rain, and the latter part, too much. It has 

 been raining almost daily over the central, 

 northern and eastern sections of the island, 

 with quite a bit of rain at the western side. 

 During the last week of September we had 

 over five inches in the Aibonito section. On 

 October 14 we had over three inches in less 

 than three hours. 



The honey is now being extracted in the 

 hill districts. In many apiaries all kinds of 

 robbing are taking place on account of the 

 method of extracting. It is not unusual for 

 the peons who do the work to take off two 

 or three thousand pounds, put it in the 

 extracting-house, and when the combs are 

 extracted put them right on the hives. This 

 naturally causes robbing. I have gone into 

 apiaries while extracting was being done 

 and seen from a pint to a quart or two of 

 bees in front of every hive, the apiary in an 

 uproar and much robbing going on. In the 

 apiaries operated by me we pursue a differ- 

 ent method. Daily six to eight hundred 

 pounds are removed early in the morning 

 before the bees are flying to any extent. We 

 do not remove the entire super — only take 

 out the combs to be extracted, shaking and 

 brushing off the bees and putting the combs 

 into covered carrying boxes. This honey is 

 extracted during the day, and at dusk the 

 combs are returned empty where they came 

 from. By the next morning all combs are 

 cleaned up and the bees have forgotten 

 about cleaning them up. Hence we have no 

 robbing. 



There is quite a bit of conjecture here as 

 to what effect the placing a tariff of 36c a 

 gallon on all honey imported into the United 

 States will have on the price of the Porto 

 Rican prndu'^t. Our honey has been sellinfc 

 for UTonths for less than crude sugar. It is 

 supposed by the beekeepers here that this 



new tariff will eliminate most of the South 

 American, Central American, Mexican and 

 West Indian honeys. If this is the case there 

 will likely be quite a shortage of the grades 

 of honey used by the bakers, confectioners 

 and manufacturers of remedies containing 

 honey. This will presumably run the price of 

 the cheaper grades to the point where the 

 invert sugar preparations, or some other 

 substitute will meet it and hold it station- 

 ary. 



Aibonito, Porto Rico. Penn G. Snyder. 

 * * » 



In. Ontario. J^^^ work for the season 



is at this date (November 

 6) practically over here in Ontario. Wliile 

 we often think that the South has many ad- 

 vantages over the North so far as beekeep- 

 ing is concerned, yet the advantages are 

 not all one way by any means. Our super 

 combs are now free from motli attacks till 

 next June at the earliest, and practically 

 nothing is needed in the way of caring for 

 the bees till next May. Of course this is 

 assuming that all necessary work has been 

 done this fall; and even if this work has 

 been neglected, nothing that we can do later 

 on will help matters much, unless it be in 

 the way of feeding early in the spring to 

 avoid having colonies starve. But that is a 

 condition to be avoided by all means, if pos- 

 sible, as a few experiences in that line have 

 fully proved to us in the past. 



Generally speaking now that conditions 

 are fully known, Ontario has been blessed 

 with a fine crop of honey for the season just 

 passed. Quality, as a rule, has been well up 

 to the usual standard of excellence that we 

 look for in Ontario honey. The market for 

 honey is still dull, but I look for an improve- 

 ment after the holidays Avhen fruit is com- 

 ing on the market in less quantities than at 

 present. 



Personally, we have sold out all our crop, 

 and our two grown-up boys are a^vTiy in the 

 northern woods for a two weeks' outing. 

 And I might as well confess that this is be- 

 ing written just a few hours prior to the 

 departure of the paterfamiliafi on a similar 

 expedition. As I have not been off on a 

 holiday of this nature for about 20 years, 

 this will be my exexise for once more lapsing 

 into a habit acquired in youth, but one in 

 which T have not gratified those tastes for 

 so a long a time. 



Soon after this is in print, the annual 

 convention of the Ontario Beekeepers' As- 

 sociation will be a thing of the past. While 

 T have not yet seen a program, there is all 

 likelihood of a bumper attendance as a good 

 season generally means a good turn-out at 

 the annual meeting. As a matter of fact, 

 whether crop is good or poor, we always 

 have a fine attendance, and this year is not 

 likely to be an exception to the rule. 



Markham. Ont. J. L. Byer. 



