266 



August, 1909. 



American H^ee Journal j 



The Youngest Lady Bee-Keeper Driving Bees. 



greased with butter or oil. Divide in- 

 to squares before too cold. 



As a matter of taste or economy 

 there may be added, a few minutes be- 

 fore the pouring, 10 ounces of thick 

 tapioca, warm, and cooked separately, 

 stirring in with the whole. In that 

 case increase the amount of chocolate 

 to 6 ounces, and the almonds to 1 

 pound. — L'Apiculteur (French). 



Youngest English Lady Bee-Keeper 



In this country tlic women folk seem 

 generally to be somewhat in advance 

 of their sisters in other parts of the 

 world in almost everything pertaining 

 to the matter of securing an independ- 

 ent living. But for some reason, if one 

 can judge from what can be gleaned 

 from the bee-journals — perhaps one 

 better say from the Bee Journals, 



British and American — in England the 

 sisters more generally take a part in 

 bee-keeping than in this country. Even 

 the little chicks sometimes have a part, 

 and in. a very public way. In the 

 British Bee Journal appears a picture 

 of a 7-year-old lassie driving bees, ac- 

 companied by the following note from 

 her grandmother: 



Our Youngest Lady Bee-Keeper. 



I have pleasure in sending you a photo- 

 graph of one of the youngest bee keepers in 

 tlie world, my grandchild. Ethel Grace Sea- 

 don, who is in her 8th year. .She goes into 

 the bee-tent with her father and drives the 

 bees while he gives his lecture, and is quite 

 as skillful as a grown-up person in managing 

 her little pets. She is to assist her father 

 at the Beckenham Flower Show this sum- 

 mer, and her presence in the bee-tent, fear- 

 lessly handling the " dangerous insects " (as 

 some people think them), is quite an object- 

 lesson to spectators as showing how harm- 

 less bees are when properly managed. 



Bromley. Kent. Mrs. Seadon. 



C^anadian 



^. 



Conducted bv J. L. BYER, ilount Joy. Ont. 



Introducing Queens. 



In speaking of introducing a queen to 

 the colony that had its own queen ac- 

 cidentally killed, I am made to say in 

 the last issue of the Journal, that the 

 queen was introduced inside of 9 hours 

 after the old queen was killed. Instead 

 of 9 hours, it should read 2 hours, and 

 I am pleased to report that the queen 

 was safely introduced as surmised, and 

 the colony stored 180 pounds of clover 

 honey during a flow that lasted less than 

 two weeks. 



Please do not jump to the conclusion 

 that we have had a great big crop from 

 the clover, as such has not been the case, 

 — but the colony in question was a little 

 out of the ordinary, being so strong 

 when the clover came into bloom, that 

 the equivalent of 30 Langstroth combs 



were fully occupied with bees, brood and 

 honey. Because of the colony being 

 such an extra-good one, was all the 

 more reason for my reproaching myself 

 for my bungling accident with the qiieen. 



Ontario's Clover Honey Crop. 



From reports to date, Ontario will 

 have a medium crop of clover honey of 

 very line quality. In my own case, at 

 least, the quality is better than usual, 

 and the honey is so thick that it is a lot 

 of work to get it out of the combs, and 

 as for getting it through cheese cloth — 

 it is a slow process indeed. 



Prospects were good for an immense 

 crop from clover with us early in the 

 season, but a very severe drouth liter- 

 ally dried the clover up, and all our 



honey came in, in about 10 days. Start- 

 ing on June 18 (very early when com- 

 pared with our abnormally late spring), 

 the clover flow was phenomenal for 6 

 days, and then the dry weather with no 

 dews at night, seemed to stop all nectar- 

 secretion. After about 10 days of this 

 dearth of honey, we had a light shower 

 just when we had given up hope of any 

 more honey for the clover, and then 

 again for 4 days the honey came in with 

 a rush. Strong colonies, with an almost 

 total lack of swarming, enabled us to 

 obtain a medium crop of honey, and at 

 present the bees are immensely strong 

 and ready for any flow that may come 

 along. 



Basswood, what little we have, is open- 

 ing to-day (July 19), but there is no 

 nectar in sight yet from that source, and 

 we are not any too hopeful of getting 

 any honey from it, as for some 7 years 

 now in succession it has disappointed 

 us. While the trees are comparatively 

 scarce, as to what was the case some 

 years ago, yet I am convinced that what 

 we have do not yield nectar, and so it 

 would be no different if the trees were 

 more numerous. Aside from any pos- 

 sible yield from the basswood, buck- 

 wheat is all we can look for to yield any 

 honey in the way of surplus after the 

 clov.er is over, in our locality. 



Buckwlieat Honey in Ontario. 



Speaking of buckwheat, I am remind- 

 ed of the old saying, "All things come 

 to those who wait," and I believe it is 

 as true in the matter of bee-forage as in 

 some other matters. This year I have 

 been amazed in visiting some localities 

 to find there, hundreds of acres of alsike 

 being grown for seed, when only a few 

 years ago not an acre of ground was de- 

 voted to that purpose. Here in our sec- 

 tion where the clover has been grown so 

 long a time, the tendency now is rather 

 towards a restriction of acreage instead 

 of an increase, this because of some 

 weed seeds getting in the land, that is 

 hard to clean out of the alsike, thus 

 lowering the price of the seed so infec- 

 ted. Less than five years ago, I was 

 moving my bees from the home apiary 

 in the fall so that they might get a bit 

 of buckwheat — this year there are 200 

 acres of buckwheat within 2 miles around 

 this same apiary. 



The presence of Russian thistle and 

 quack grass in the land explains the 

 growing of buckwheat in our rich farm- 

 ing land, as the farmers find the buck- 

 wheat a good thing to hold back these 

 pests. The land is well worked till about 

 the first or second week in July, and 

 then the buckwheat is sown. The plant 

 makes such a rapid growth that the 

 remnant of the weeds that may be alive 

 do not make much headway. 



While the buckwheat does not yield 

 honey with us as it does in some other 

 localities, yet, one year with another it 

 will more than furnish enough for win- 

 ter stores, and naturally it is apprecia- 

 ted by most of the bee-keepers. Some, 

 though, on account the liability of the 

 buckwheat honey crowding close on the 

 clover flow in some seasons, wish there 

 was no buckwheat grown ; but. personal- 

 Iv, I count the growing of the plant a 

 blessing to us, as during the pa?t t, poor 



