72 



THE SMERICaH MMM J^^MMMLr, 



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CANADA. 



Annual meeting of the Ontario 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY E. F. HOLTERMANN. 



The Ontario Bee-Keeiiers' Associa- 

 tion met at Woodstock, Ont, on Jan. 

 10, 1888, at 2 p.m., the President, Mr. 

 S. T. Pettit, being in the chair. 



Mr. Malcohii read an essay entitled. 



The Production of Extracted Honer. 



Next to the movable frame no inven- 

 tion has done so much to increase the 

 production of honey as the extractor. 

 When it was found that combs could 

 be lifted from the hive, emptied of 

 their contents, replaced, and refilled, 

 a stimulus was given to bee-keeping 

 that the most enthusiastic never 

 dreamed of. But much of this en- 

 thusiasm was based on theorj'. How 

 simple it looked. Bees are easily win- 

 tered, honej' is easily gathered, and if 

 we can empty the combs just when we 

 please, what is to hinder any one from 

 making money by keeping bees. But 

 hundreds, and I may say thousands, 

 have found theoiy and practice two 

 verj- different things when applied to 

 bee-keeping. 



Still bee-keeping has a future, and 

 men and women will succeed in gath- 

 ering the sweets of nature in large 

 quantities to the benefit of themselves 

 and the good of the public, and from 

 anything we can see at present, honey 

 in the extracted form will take the lead 

 as regards the quantity-, by large pro- 

 portions. It is therefore important 

 that the producer should understand 

 the means of securing his crop in the 

 highest degree of perfection. 



As far as quantity is concerned, I am 

 at a loss to know what to advise, so 

 much depends upon the conditions, es- 

 pecially as regards the strength of the 

 colonies, favorable weather, and the 

 amount of nectar. Many of the most 

 experienced apiarists fail in regard to 

 the first, and the last two are bej'ond 

 human control. But with all these 

 conditions favorable, we do claim to 

 know something. In fact, I have said 

 in conversations and tlirough the press, 

 that if there was any one thing I knew, 

 if there was any one thing I could cor- 

 dially recommend, if there was one 

 item of advice I could give with pleas- 

 ure, it is, do not extract honey till it is 

 ripe. And j-et, strange as it maj" seem, 

 there are men who know much more 

 about bees than I do, who say this is 

 not necessary, that honey can be rip- 

 ened after it is extracted. I cannot 

 account for this except on the princi- 

 ple that some men lack the ability to 

 judge both flavor and texture. 



It is an admitted fact that some men 

 are color blind, but that is no proof 

 that there is not a great variety of 

 colors. So it is in judgin'g of the 

 quality of hone)-. Every one must 

 know for himself. Believing this to 

 be a matter of great importance, and 

 wishing to impress it upon the con- 

 vention, I would say that bees do not 

 gather honey, the_v gather nectar, and 

 from nectar produce honey. It is 

 therefore a process of manufacture, and 

 if it is removed from the bees before 

 that process is finished, man cannot 

 finish it. 



If asked what the bees do that man 

 canjiot, I say, I do not know. But I 

 do know, and many others know, that 

 there is a flavor and texture about 

 honey that has been thoroughlj' capped 

 that cannot be produced except by the 

 bees. Why is it that comb honey is so 

 much preferred to extracted ? Do peo- 

 ple give nearly double the price simplj- 

 because it is a fancy article ? No doubt 

 this accounts for part of the difl'erence, 

 but the principal reason is, the honey 

 is really finer than honey extracted be- 

 fore it was ripe. 



I believe it is unwise to extract from 

 the brood-nest and mix the honey with 

 what is intended for market ; with very 

 few exceptions can this be done with- 

 out injuring the flavor and color. I 

 believe in and practice taking all sur- 

 plus from a top super. What the best 

 size is for combs in the super, I do not 

 know, havingonly had experience with 

 combs the same size as those in the 

 brood-chambers. I believe that this is 

 the best practice, as it has several ad- 

 vantages that I need not here mention. 



I also believe in using a queen-ex- 

 cluding honej'-board, for by having the 

 queens below, a great deal of trouble 

 is saved while extracting. When the 

 queen leaves the brood-chamber, it 

 soon becomes a house in ruins. 



A difficulty arises sometimes during 

 a heavj- hone3'-flow, when everything 

 is full, but none of it ripe enough to 

 extract. In that case it is better to 

 put on a second super, on the tiering- 

 up system ; that is, putting the empty 

 one under the full one. The objection 

 to this is, that it is expensive. I have 

 tried with some degi-ee of success to 

 remedy the difficulty by only putting 

 in one-half of the super combs, when 

 the super was put on. The bees com- 

 mence to fill those, and just when they 

 are commencing to build new comb in 

 the emptj' half of the super, I fill it 

 with the remaining combs. Those 

 that were first \n\t in will be filled and 

 capped much sooner than if all had 

 been put in at once, and frequently 

 they may be taken out and extracted 

 a few days before the others are ready. 

 This is a kind of make-shift. The best 

 plan is a second super. F. Malcolm. 



In reply to a question, Mr. Malcolm 

 stated that he used a perforated metal 

 honej'-board. He could not say what 

 the comparative yield of comb and ex- 

 tracted honey would be. J. B. Aches, 

 M. S. Shell, J. B. Hall and others sus- 

 tained Mr. Malcolm in the statements 

 of his essay, esjjecially as to the neces- 

 sity of having the honey sealed before 

 extracting. Mr. A. Picket said he 

 thought that it could be taken from a 

 part of the bodj- of the hive by means 

 of perforated metal. The convention, 

 b}' a large majority, appeared to be in 

 favor of Mr. Malcolm's method. 



The Mayor of the city, at this stage 

 of the proceedings, gave an address of 

 welcome. 



J. E. Frith, of Princeton, whose bees 

 have the foul brood, on account of 

 careless and inexperienced neighbors, 

 thought that the extractor was often 

 dangerous in the hands of the inex- 

 perienced. W. F. Clarke, of Guelph, 

 condemned the honej-extractor, but 

 the members present however objected 

 to this, and thought if the extractor 

 is rightly used, it is a great acquisition. 



A discussion at this time took place 

 on the advisability of men commencing 

 bee-keeping without experience, and a 

 resolution was read as follows : 



Resolved, That whilst it is the in- 

 alienable right of every body to enter 

 bee-keeping, the same as any other 

 honest business, it is the sense of this 

 convention that it is unwise to do so 

 without adequate knowledge and due 

 qualification. 



A vote was taken upon the resolu- 

 tion, after an amendment was made, 

 allowing the purchase of a colony or 

 two, and to gain experience as one 

 went along from papers, books, and 

 bee-keepers ; 5 voted for the amend- 

 ment, 8 for the resolution, and a large 

 number did not vote all. 



A long discussion followed upon 

 "Cellar wintering of bees." The tem- 

 perature of J. B. Hall's cellar at pres- 

 ent is 54° ; of C. McNally's, 55° ; of 

 Jacob Alpaugh's, 50° ; and Martin 

 Emigh's, 50°. 



As to the qitestion of under-ground 

 ventilators or by air-pipes, the ma- 

 jority were in favor of discarding them, 

 among them being Messrs. J. B. Hall, 

 Emigh, and Alpaugh. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Mr. J. B. Hall read an essay upon 

 The Production of Comb Honey. 



I am requested to give an essay on 

 tlie best method of producing comb 

 honey. Allow me to state that any 

 method is but of little value unless in 

 conjunction with the following condi- 

 tions : 



1. Bee-pastiu'age in abundance, of 

 not more than two miles radius of the 

 apiary. 



