694 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and brood, in one hive, and a frame 

 containing only honey, in another, 

 while the rest were left empty. In 

 the one in which I placed brood, I 

 had at night about a quart of bees 

 with queen-cells being started, show- 

 ing that I would have lost that many, 

 had I not experimented farther ; but 

 that farther experiment proved that 

 some of my former views had been 

 hastily drawn, for I happened near 

 the hive in which the frame of honey 

 was placed, about one hour after 

 placing it there, when, to my chagrin, 

 I saw bees going out of it loaded, and 

 I believed that robber bees were 

 carrying off the honey. 



I was about to seize the frame of 

 honey so as to prevent a general ex- 

 citement in the bee-yard, when I saw 

 a bee catch another which was flying 

 about the entrance, and treat it as a 

 robber. That caused me to think, so 

 I went immediately to the hive to 

 which this colony had been united 

 with, when I saw that my robber 

 bees, as I had supposed them, were 

 going into this hive with their loads 

 of honey. I left them, and at night I 

 found an empty comb in the empty 

 hive, with no bees, and a contented 

 hum at the entrance of the united 

 colony, as we hear when a colony has 

 been getting honey. In none of the 

 other empty hives did I find any bees, 

 and 1 was satisfied that all went back, 

 even if they did hover about the old 

 hive for an hour or so. The moral is 

 plain without my taking time to 

 draw it. 



SELF-UNITING COLONIES. 



Another observation is this : In 

 preparing for uniting I killed some of 

 my poor queens, so as to keep the 

 better queen in the united colony. 

 These queens were killed during the 

 middle of the day, preparatory to 

 uniting near sunset. One day after I 

 had killed several, it began to rain so 

 that I could not work at the bees to- 

 ward evening as I had proposed. Bad 

 weather continued for three or four 

 days, when the sun broke out warm 

 soon after noon. About 2 o'clock I 

 saw a commotion in the bee-yard, and 

 going out there I found that one of 

 these queenless colonies was swarm- 

 ing out slowly (as a swarm returns 

 where it is hived without a queen), 

 and going into another colony which 

 had a queen, setting up the usual 

 satisfied hum which all bees do 

 when a home is found. They were 

 received kindly, so I had one colony 

 united without any trouble. 



Thf above is an entirely new ex- 

 perience with me, of having a queen- 

 less colony swarm out and go in with 

 another ; and had I not seen it, when 

 I went to unite, I should have doubt- 

 less reported a case of robbing. As 

 additional light, I might say that 

 there was no brood in this hive, not 

 even eggs, and, although I carefully 

 watched on their next flight, not a 

 bee went back to hover around the 

 old hive, so I found that the bees' 

 plan of uniting was ahead of mine 

 after all. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



Pall Mall Bndeet. 



Canadian Honey ExMbit in EnElanfl. 



The exhibit of the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, both for quan- 

 tity and quality, it is probably the 

 most remarkable exhibit of honey 

 that has ever been displayed in this 

 country. It has come over in charge 

 of a deputation from the Association, 

 who are at present on a visit to this 

 country with a view to open the 

 English market to the best honey in 

 the world, as they constantly describe 

 the article which they have on view. 



It was with peculiar interest that 

 we bade Mr. Jones welcome as he en- 

 tered our office with two other repre- 

 sentatives of the Bee- Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation to give particulars concerning 

 bee-culture in Ontario. 



moderate computation. We have 

 10,000 bee-keepers in Ontario, owning, 

 on an average, 10 colonies each, or 

 100,000 together. The net annual 

 profit of each hive we estimate loosely 

 at a sovereign, although in many 

 cases this is very largely exceeded. 

 AVe reckon the yield of each hive— or 

 colony, as we call them in Canada — to 

 be about 30 pounds, taking good years 

 with bad. It is very common for a 

 colony in a good season to yield 100 

 pounds, and many produce 300, while 

 on one or two occasions it has been 

 known to produce 600 pounds, or 

 nearly a quarter of a ton of honey in 

 one season. Many have gone into 

 bee-keeping as a livelihood, and 'fol- 

 low it exclusively, as other men fol- 

 low the rearing of sheep. I have 

 eight apiaries with from 100 to 300 

 colonies in each . All together I have 

 1,000 colonies constantly on hand." 



" We claim to be located in the very 

 heart of the honey belt of the United 

 States," he said. "It is a remarkable 

 fact that the specific gravity and 

 flavor of the nectar of the flowers im- 

 proves as you go north, and attains 

 its maximum in the region where 

 while the winter is cold, the summer 

 is warm enough to produce an abund- 

 ance of flowers. That region is found 

 by experience to lie about the latitude 

 of the great lakes. If you draw a line 

 from the north of Lake Superior east- 

 ward and westward until it reaches 

 the Atlantic, and another line from 

 Lake Erie parallel to it, you will en- 

 close a tract of country which, in the 

 United States and Canada, is the 

 honey belt of the Continent ; that is 

 to say, there is more honey grown 

 there, for gathering, than anywhere 

 else in America. Ontario is situated, 

 as you will see, right in the heart of 

 this belt ; and there we have estab- 

 lished an industry which, although at 

 the present moment but in its in- 

 fancy, produces yearly a crop of honey 

 valued at £100,000. That is a very 



" How many bees do yon reckon 

 you have in each of your hives Vd 



"A good strong colony is from 

 30,000 to 40,000. Some will run as far 

 as 60,000, but if you average them all 

 at 30,000 you will not do badly. So- 

 that I have about 30,000,000 of bee& 

 constantly at work. The figure sounds 

 large, but considering that the bee 

 census returns of Ontario show a 

 population of 3.000,000.000, my stock 

 compared with that total is compara- 

 tively insignificant." 



" What special advantages have you 

 in Ontario beyond the United States?" 



"Chiefly in the linden trees. In 

 the honey belt of the United States 

 there is also less clover than we have, 

 and the lindens are scarcer. The 

 linden crop of honey is one of the 

 most important, tor linden honey is 

 invaluable in cases of consumption or 

 chest complaints. Our forests are 

 full of linden trees, and the yield of 

 honey is enormous. If you shake the 

 tree the honey drops upon you from 

 above. It keeps the bees very busy 

 all the time the linden is in flower." 



