202 



June, 1909. 



American l^ee Journal 



doesn't appear to be over-abundant. 

 Will it yield when it does bloom? 



Left with Farm and Bees. 



Dear Miss Wilsox: — Two years ago God 

 called my husband home, and I was left with 

 the care and responsibility of a farm. In 

 connection with the farm I have my poultry 

 and bees. This spring I have 32 colonies. 

 I have been very much interested in them, 

 and love them. I commenced with one col- 

 ony. Sometimes when I read the glowing 

 accounts of some of the bee-keepers and re- 

 sults, my experience would be very tame in 

 comparison, for I am a learner. In this lo- 

 cality we have to keep our bees in the cellar 

 so long. Mine winter well, and I guess T 

 have more colonies than any other in this 

 vicinity. I enjoy the American B°e Jour- 

 nal, and think I know many of its cor- 

 respondents, and am proud of our bee-people, 



who exemplify so many of the characteristics 

 of our fellow-worker. The Bee. 



Emma S. Lane. 

 Newport, Vt., April 22. 



Most bee-keepers have years of suc- 

 cess, years of partial failure, and some- 

 times years of total failure, when the 

 bees must be fed to keep them alive. 

 Very likely your experience is much like 

 the rest, and so not so very tame, after 

 all. We all like to report our suc- 

 cesses, and are not so anxious to tell 

 about our failures, but they are usually 

 there, just the same. However, bee- 

 keepers, as a class are a bright, enthu- 

 siastic lot, failures are taken philo- 

 sophically, and they get ready for and 

 expect a big crop next time. 



tm,,l: 



<:anadiai 

 -Beedom 



^^o 



Conductedbv J. L. BYER. 



Backward Spring — AVillow Bloom. 



The prediction of many that we would 

 Iiave a very cold, backward spring, af- 

 ter such a mild winter, has been ful- 

 filled with a vengeance. Three late 

 springs now in succession, and the pres- 

 ent one leads in that respect. May 26th, 

 and no apple blossom out yet, and dan- 

 delion just at its best. However, the 

 bees are not touching the dandelion 

 during the past few days, because, for- 

 sooth, a more profuse secreter of nec- 

 tar is in bloom — the large willows. 



Speaking of this tree, reminds me to 

 say that I know of no other source of 

 nectar that a bee-keeper can provide 

 for his bees in so short a time. The 

 willow is a wonderful grower, and in 

 a few years after being planted, it will 

 Ijloom and yield nectar every day it is 

 in bloom, provided the weather is warm 

 enough for the bees to fly. It is a 

 Zi'oiidcrful yielder of nectar too, and 

 while the honey does not come as a 

 surplus, yet it is of immense value in 

 helping to build up the bees for a later 

 flow. 



Today I have been clipping queens 

 at one of the yards, and the combs 

 were simply crowded with fresh nectar 

 to such an extent that it will be neces- 

 sary to super a great many colonies for 

 the apple-blossom, should the weather 

 be fine. However, it is not apt to be 

 fine, as we usually get rain about this 

 time of the year, more or less — generally 

 more. 



For some reason — probably because of 

 a very cold spell in latter part of April, 

 as well as a shortage of pollen in the 

 hive.s — brood-rearing came practically to 

 a stop about April 30th, or a little earlier 

 than that date. This was discovered 

 when we started to clip some of the 

 queens about 21 days after that date, 

 and in going through 60 colonies not a 

 single bee was seen emerging from the 



cells, although a lot of brood in the 

 egg and larval stage w-as present. Bees 

 generally are in good condition after 

 all, and as the clover is late, the chances 

 are that they will come into the harvest 

 in grand condition. Some have report- 

 ed shortage of stores, but in this sec- 

 tion tlie opposite is the rule, and in my 

 own yards I have not found a single 

 colony that would not have had enough 

 to carry tliem to the first of June, even 

 though nothing came in from the fields. 



Opposed to Karly Spring Feeding in 

 Cold Climate. 



As most of the readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal are aware, the writer 

 of these notes is opposed to early feed- 

 ing in our cold climate, and the experi- 

 ence of anotlier bad spring has made 

 me more decided than ever on the ques- 

 tion. Just at present I am asking my- 

 self what could Iiave been gained by 

 feeding even if it would have acted as a 

 stimulant to brood-rearing, as the weath- 

 er has been so cold that our main con- 

 cern has been to see the bees kept in the 

 hives as much as possible, and feeding 

 certainly has a tendency to bring about 

 tlie opposite to that. Then with abund- 

 ance of good stores in the hive the bees 

 simply turned a great quantity of lioney 

 into brood, and at this date, although 

 the bees have liad but a few days to 

 gather pollen and honey, yet as has al- 

 ready been intimated, the majority of 

 the colonies will need supers for the 

 .ipple- blossom yet to come, in fact, some 

 Iiave supers on now and are crowded 

 with bees. Some of these hives, by the 

 wa}', are equal to about 15 Langstroth 

 frames ; and, strange to say, they are 

 ready for the supers before the few 8- 

 frame Langstroth hives are, that I have 

 in the yard. 



Clover is still looking fine as it was 



when I reported last month, so, as a 

 consequence, the spirits of the bee-keep- 

 ers are higher than is the case some 

 years at this time. ]May we have no 

 reason to get gloomy later on, is the 

 wish of the writer. 



Ontario Bee-Keeping Making- 

 Progress. 



Tlie interest that is being taken in 

 bee-keeping here in Ontario, is well seen 

 by the growth of the local county as- 

 sociations, of which there are a num- 

 ber in the Province. The Department 

 of Agriculture is giving more encour- 

 agement to the industry than heretofore, 

 and the bee-keepers are appreciative, as 

 is shown by the number of resolutions 

 passed this spring by these associations, 

 thanking the Department for its good 

 work. 



It is noticeable, too, that the work 

 of the Committees to gather statistics 

 and suggest prices for the honey, is also 

 coming in for a good deal of praise 

 from the same source, and there is no 

 question but that it is well deserved, 

 as no other single factor has done more 

 for the industry during the past few 

 years than has this same Committee. 

 This organization, as most readers will 

 know, is a product of the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, and if that body 

 had never done any other good act, 

 it certainly is to be commended for this 

 one. No question but that it has meant 

 thousands of dollars to the bee-keepers 

 of Ontario, in the matter of getting 

 better prices — prices that are no more 

 than just — for their honey. 



Spring Loss of Bees by Outdoor 

 Feeding. 



Yesterday I was inspecting a yard of 

 bees that are to be sold, and I was 

 struck at finding them in a very weak 

 condition — this in a season when there 

 is almost universal good wintering. 

 What puzzled me most, was that the 

 hives were all clean, without a mark 

 of dysentery, and there were no dead 

 bees on the bottom-boards. This proved 

 to me that the loss had not been in the 

 winter, and yet they were all dwindled 

 down to mere nuclei, the most of them 

 not having over 3 frames of brood. 



Xaturally I began to inquire far the 

 reason of their bad condition, and I 

 could form no conclusion one way or 

 the other, until one of the household 

 remarked that they could not under- 

 stand it, ''because they had fed the bees 

 honey outdoors ever since the snow 

 went away, so that they would not 

 starve." There I had the solution in a 

 nutshell, for the bees had simply been 

 enticed outdoors all this cold spring, 

 only to perish, and, as result, all the old 

 bees were gone, leaving only a few 

 babies in the hives. 



Long Cellar-AVintering. 



Three different bee-keepers in On- 

 tario have written me that they did not 

 take their bees out of the cellar till 

 May 5th, after having been inside for 

 about 6 months. That is a long time 

 for bees to be shut in, and as all of 



