1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1235 



hibition, including honey. The Canadian 

 staff of officers are, Messrs. W. A. Burns, T. 

 H. Race, R. L. Broadbent, A. W. Depart, H. 

 C. Knowlton. 



Let us not be unjust enough to put on the 

 same level the one who extracts honey nec- 

 tar (may 1 coin the appropriate term?) and 

 then artificially ripens — no, thickens — it, and 

 the one who extracts the product of the hive 

 at the same time, and without evaporation 

 puts it upon the market. The former action 

 is much to be preferred. 

 .^ 



The weather in the United States, like 

 that in Ontario, has been peculiar — all the 

 year, seasons of extremes. The rain has 

 again and again fallen in the same section, 

 leaving others close by without. In a few 

 sections there has been a full ci'op; but in 

 the majority of places a very light crop, 

 poor in quality. Quebec has also a light 

 crop, but has done better than Ontario. 

 These two provinces are at present the lead- 

 ing honey-producers, although bee-keeping 

 in other portions of Canada is on the in- 

 crease. 



On page 440 is illustrated a hive-carrier as 

 used by G. C. Greiner. It was necessary to 

 look for the author's name before feeling as- 

 sured that it was not an illustration of the 

 one we use. Ours, however, has the hind 

 legs several inches .shorter than the front, 

 more readily to prevent them from striking 

 the stairway steps when going down cellar. 

 We also have the bottom of the legs padded 

 with felt. The same is done with the wood 

 edges upon which the hive rests. This pi'e- 

 vents jaiTing the hive. Make such a hive- 

 carrier if you have to take bees down into a 

 cellar. 



So far as my experience goes in Canada, 

 there is no blossom like goldenrod, which 

 yields a product, through the nectar-glands, 

 which varies so much in flavor between the 

 time when it is first stored in the cell by the 

 bee and the time when, by means of a proc- 

 ess through which it is put by the bees, it is 

 capped and ripened. In the first case the 

 flavor is almost offensive; in the second case 

 it has a flavor which many prefer to white 

 or ]>uckwheat honey. During the time of 

 ripening, the apiary has the same ofl'ensive 

 smell. Do not the bees in ripening expel a 

 portion of the essential and somewhat vola- 

 tile oil? Let our experiment stations be in a 

 position to answer such questions. 



The next annual meeting of the fruit, flow- 

 er, and honey show will probably be held 

 the second week in November. The place 

 selected is Ma.ssey Hall, Toronto, Ontario. 

 There will be a departure from the usual 

 prize list, and the Ontario Bee-keepei's' As- 

 sociation will make one large display, asking 

 its members to contribute suitable comb and 

 extracted honey, for which the association 

 will pay market price. It is decided to have 



demonstrations, and to distribute literature 

 relative to the uses of honey. Members 

 should encourage this work. If you have 

 any thing suitable, write the secretary, Wm. 

 Couse, Streetsville, Ontario, before you part 

 with it. Messrs. H. Sibbald, R. H. Smith, 

 and E. Grainger are the committee to take 

 charge of the exhibit. 



Why not have a judging contest in con- 

 nection with the show and Ontario Bee- 

 keepers' Association convention, which takes 

 place at the same time and place? Let, say, 

 six samples each of clover, linden, and iDuck- 

 wheat honey be taken. Let these be judged 

 by points and score-card, and the same be 

 filled out by those competing: then let the 

 same be changed about and judged again, 

 and the prizes be given for those doing the 

 most accurate and correct judging, giving 

 reasons for the decision. An hour or two of 

 the convention time taken up in this way 

 would be an educator of value. 



On page 951 W. W. Case gives buckwheat 

 honey credit for curing foul brood, and says 

 that this honey is death to the germ. Mr. 

 Case proljably gives too much credit to the 

 properties of the honey, and yet he brings 

 out a very important fact. For years I no- 

 ticed that, when the bees stung during the 

 l)uckvvheat flow, the sting gave greater pain 

 than when working on other blossoms in the 

 locality. I judged that, at that time, more 

 formic acid was secreted. Upon sending 

 samples for analysis to the Ontario Agricul- 

 tural College it was found that this honey 

 had double the percentage of formic acid 

 that clover honey had. Some experiments 

 since made in Europe have confirmed this. 



There has been a good deal of discussion 

 as to the merits of nectar gathered by the 

 bees and stored by them, and extracted when 

 still pai'tially nectar, and then artificially 

 thickened, and extracting the honey and 

 then sealing in vessels. There is no perad- 

 venture about it. The bees chemically change 

 the nectar they gather before it is sealed. 

 We also know that, the more the bees ' ' ma- 

 nipulate " the honey, the greater the change 

 made in it until all is inverted. If this in- 

 version (predigestion) is of any value, then 

 artificial nectar partially converted into hon- 

 ey can not be as good to the eater thereof as 

 honey, even if it for the time or for all time 

 fills our pocketbook to the same extent. 



If Dr. Miller has any corns, let him look 

 out: for 1 want to stand i;pon the ground he 

 does in connection with the hearing of bees. 

 Even if bees have no ears, they can hear. 

 Even if we have found no organ which may 

 register the vibrations of the air, as the or- 

 gans of hearing do. they can hear. The all- 

 wise Ci'eator did not give to the bees the 

 power to make the varied notes they do, 

 without a use. We might as well have 

 tongues without having ears. If bees can 

 not hear, why should the young virgin queen 



