21 

 PART II. 



FAILURES AND THEIR CAUSE 



During the summer of 1311 the inspectors spent fully five months in the 

 field working among the beekeepers in their respective districts. Mr. 

 Harris covered thoroughly the territory east and south of Lytton. Mr. 

 Todd worked west of Lytton, spending the months of May, June and half 

 of July with the beekeepers between Mission and the mountains; from 

 the middle of July to the middle of August was devoted to those in the 

 Gulf Islands and from Ladysmith north to Comox. A second trip through 

 the localities on the mainland first visited wound up the season's work. 



In covering districts thoroughly the inspectors had every opportunity to 

 get acquainted with the beekeepers, to comprehend their everyday working 

 conditions, to size up the possibilities of each district from the standpoint 

 of honey production by making notes of every plant on .which bees were 

 eeen to work, and by actual tabulation of the honey crop secured by each 

 beekeeper; and, not the least important, they had the chance to learn the 

 kind of appliances in general use, and the methods that were followed. 



As a general rule the inspector on calling at a ranch would find the bee- 

 keeper busy at work in the field, so the first duty was to go for him. On 

 the way back there was a good opportunity to learn about the troubles and 

 annoyances that accompany unskilled beekeeping. The story was almost 

 invariably the same a friend had given him a swarm, or he had bought 

 a hive at some sale, as he wanted a little honey for home use; all he- 

 wanted was about 25 pounds a season, but though he had now half a dozen 

 hives all he got for the money invested was the annoyance of being called 

 in from his work to hive swarms when minutes were precious. Now would 1 

 the inspector just tell him offhand how to prevent swarming, and so save 

 him time, temper and trouble. A little questioning too often showed that 

 Mr. Beekeeper had not read the chapter on swarming in Bulletin No. 30 

 issued by the Department of Agriculture, because he had no time. But 

 right in the middle of the day, when time was specially valuable, and when 

 a stoppage of labor meant a couple of idle horses as well, these very men 

 would again and again drop the task on hand to hive a swarm. Yet five 

 minutes spent in close reading of the chapter on swarming would have- 

 taught him how to prevent at least three-fourths of the swarms that did 

 come out, and, better still, have secured for him a fair crop of honey. The 

 big honey crop is got from the strong colony that does not swarm. 

 The first swarm" when skilfully managed may produce surplus honey. The- 

 second and following swarms rarely yield surplus honey, and this is nearly 

 always true of the old hive from which the swarms issued. 



THE PURPOSE OF THIS BULLETIN. 



The aim of this bulletin then is above all things concerned with the pre- 

 vention of swarming, secondly with such mistakes in management by bee- 

 keepers as were found to absolutely prevent any possibility of the storage 

 of surplus honey even where the bees were in splendid condition to gather 

 a crop, and nectar was in plenty. 



Let us first look a few facts in the face. In 1911 the largest apiary be- 

 tween Lytton and Lillooet yielded almost 100 pounds extracted honey to- 

 the hive; in the Chilliwack district the best harvest was 66 pounds per hive 

 in an apiary of 50 colonies; Nanaimo shows a crop of 50 pounds on ait 



