594 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Oct. 



hand has hardlv got over it yet. Of couvf5P, 

 I becan to look around me : for it has al- 

 wavs been one of my peculiarities to want 

 to know where I am, and to see what everv 

 thinj? looks like. Very likely our l)lue-evpd 

 baby at home came Verv naturally bv his 

 disposition to twist his head and roll his 

 eves in every conceivable direction to see 

 what is p:oing on, and what there is new un- 

 der the sun. T very soon srot my pves on a 

 full-lenp:th life-size portrait of a beautifi.l 

 woman standing at the head of the room in 

 which we were congresrated. A beautiful 

 woman isalwavsa nice thintrto have around. 

 But. why did these Canadian people have 

 one in such a conspicuous place as this, in 

 one of their public buildinsTS? Pretty soon 

 it slowly dawned unon my understandiusr. 

 and I said to myself, " Why, you blessed 

 piece of old stupidity! can't you scrape up 

 sense enousjh yet to know that that 'woman' 

 is none other than Queen Victoria?" 



Before we left. I found mv eyes wander- 

 ing toward her as the convention progressed, 

 and cauffht myself savinar. nipntally. a grpat 

 many times, " God save the Queen !" The 

 room they had given us was none other than 

 the council chamber of the city of Toronto. 

 It was furnished free of charge, — gas-lights, 

 ianitnr. and all. — and, what is still more. 

 His Honor the Mayor of Toronto came be- 

 fore us and acave us a short address of wel- 

 come. Well. I fpll you, frie'ids. somehow it 

 made the whole thing pass off very njeasant- 

 Iv. After one of the sturdy sons of Canada, 

 Mr. McKm'fjht. had stood up aud sriven us a 

 little speech of welcome.! began to feel that 

 I really loved old Fnfrland and all her sons. 

 I need not mention her daughters here, be- 

 cause I commenced lovine one of them a 

 srreat many years as^o; and as the investment 

 has turned out well, T do not believe T am 

 going to stop now. even if I nm toward fifty. 



Well. T should like it if T could tell you all 

 that I learned here ; but I do not know how 

 I can, unless T wait till something draws it 

 out. and so you may expect to hear me say, 

 for tbe next vear or two, every little while, 

 " When T was in Canada." Our friend D. 

 A. Jones was D. A. Jones still, just as he 

 always has been — a natural born leader, 

 and a man kind and liberal to a fault. He 

 was the acknowledged leader and father of 

 apiculture in Canada, as he always has been. 

 It was D. A. Jones who secured tVie beauti- 

 ful buildinsr on the fair-grounds; it was D. 

 A. Jones who taught Canadian peonle that 

 they could raise honey, and thev bid fair to 

 beat the world (by the way). It was D. A. 

 Jones with his great influence who brouarht 

 the convention to Canada, and it is still D. 

 A. Jones whom the city of Toronto delights 

 to honor; and if he has ever asked for any 

 thing he did not get. without any trouble, it 

 is something that I have not yet heard of. 

 He is in every respect a large man ; and al- 

 though some few friends do take exceptions 

 to the at times reckless wavin which he acts 

 and speaks, I am sure that those who know 

 him will see clearly the amount of business 

 our good friend has to look after, and let a 

 broad charity cover and excuse all his little 

 sins of omission and commission, if any 

 such do exist ; and if there were none, he 



would be more than human. Prof. Cook 

 and his twin brother (?) C. C. Miller were 

 there. Friend Langstroth came in a little 

 time after I arrived. C. F. Muth told us 

 about buying and selling honey. Key. W. 

 F. Clarke had wandered from away un 

 north, to come down among the bee-friends 

 again . Vanderyort and Pelham were there 

 with their samples of comb foundation, and 

 mills too, I presume, although there was so 

 much to see that I did not see them. Friend 

 Poppleton, of Iowa, and Judce Andrews, of 

 Texas, were there, and Mr. House, of New 

 York Htate, and IMr. Hart, of Florida, and 

 many more whom I can not now remember. 



CANADA-THISTLE nONEY. 



One of the funny surprises was to find 

 tons upon tons of the most beautiful white 

 honey, both comb and extracted, that it has 

 ever been my good fortune to taste, all made 

 from the Canada thistle. The flavor is so 

 much like basswood that I insisted that 

 some late-blossoming basswood-trees had 

 yielded enough to give it a flavor, although 

 mv Canadian friends think I am mistaken. 

 Friend .Tones thinks that a great part of the 

 wonderful yields that they have had in Can- 

 ada have been from this same Canada this- 

 tle ; but as there is a law against raising it 

 in this country (and a risrht good law it is, 

 by t>ie wav), I presume we shall have to let: 

 the Canadians hold the laurel on this sort of 

 honev. For whiteness, transparency, and 

 beauty of flavor. I have never met any thing 

 anywhere like it. and I must doubt if the 

 world has ever before seen any such magnifi- 

 cent display of beautiful honey as the con- 

 vention gave. I have remarked elsewhere 

 that the i^-xhibitors sold honey at wholesale 

 and retail all along through the whole exhi- 

 bition, and it seems to me that this is really 

 a wonderful advancement in the matter of 

 making fairs a success. The bee-keeper 

 who gets the money is paid, and the purchas- 

 er who has come out with his family for a 

 holiday, and takes home a good big pail of 

 honey,' is also happy. Why,T feel ashamed 

 of mvself, as I think it all over, to consider 

 how little I knew about the honev industry 

 before I set foot on the Canadian shores! 



The first business of the convention was 

 delegates' reports. Our friend C C. Miller 

 reported a crop rather unfavorable in Illi- 

 nois ; but as he made something like 60 lbs. 

 per colony of comb honey from liis entire 

 large apiary, I told him I thou£cht his report 

 was one he ought to thank God for. Dr. J . 

 P. II. Mrown reports Georgia as quite un- 

 favorable — not over 20 lbs. per colony, on 

 an average. Judge Andrews, of Texas, gave 

 their crop as very light, although the honey 

 was of a very superior quality. He thinks 

 10 lbs. per colony would be about right. 

 Ilorsemintso far has been a failure. Friend 

 Popnleton, of Iowa, reports the white-clover 

 yield as heavy : but after that was gone, he 

 says they had the worst season for honey he 

 ever knew. Friend Hart, of FlorHa, reports 

 the crop as an average one. They have 

 swarrning as early as the middle of February. 

 Along the coast counties they get large 

 quantities of honey from the black mangrove, 

 which, although rather dark in color, is ex- 



