374 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



November 



1910. He has been very successful 

 in developing all phases of his work 

 about to the limit to which it can be 



developed in a State which doi 



contain very much more beekeeping 

 territory than one of the larger coun- 

 ties of Ontario. He is an active and 

 tireless nd, to use his own 



phrase, he "knows every gate-po»i in 

 the State." 



Dr. Gates is a prominent figure in 

 United States beekeeping, 1" 

 past president of the National Bee- 

 keeper's Association. Xor is he un- 

 known to Ontario beekeepers, as he 

 has assisted the writer in short 

 courses at the Ontario Agricultural 

 College on different occasions. 



When the development of the Pet- 

 tit apiaries reached the stage that it 

 seemed advisable for me to resign 

 from the provincial work he came 

 first to mind as a desirable succes- 

 sor ; but he was not available at that 

 time, and arrangements were made 

 with a recent graduate of the O. A. 

 C, who is doing excellent work in 

 another of the United States col- 

 leges, to come on at once and avoid 

 any break in the continuity of the 

 work. The delays of red tape lost us 

 the opportunity, however, and Dr. 

 Gates was approached. 



It is understood that he is to be 

 Professor of Apiculture and Provin- 

 cial Apiarist, and that an option in 

 beekeeping is to be established in the 

 fourth year of the course at the O. A. 

 C. This will enable young men who 

 are beekeepers or who become inter- 

 ested in beekeeping during the first 

 year lectures on this subject to con- 

 tinue the subject during the second 

 and third years and specialize in it 

 for graduation. If this plan is car- 

 ried out it will put beekeeping on a 

 more equal footing with other 

 branches of agriculture at the college. 

 This is what the writer strove for 

 with but scant recognition during his 

 term of office. Many reforms only 

 come by revolution. 



Opportunities for beekeeping spe- 

 cialists were never better anywhere 

 than in Ontario at present. While 

 there is much yet to learn, the knowl- 

 edge necessary to overcome the three 

 greatest handicaps, swarming, win- 

 tering and disease, is available. Henry 

 Ford and good roads have made the 

 management of chains of apiaries 

 under one expert profitable. People 



are going to try to keep bees. As a 

 war measure, at least, they should 

 keep them. Whether they keep them 

 well and profitably or ill and as a 

 menace to established beekeepers de- 

 pends largely on the recognition the 

 subject receives at the source of ag- 

 ricultural knowledge. 



The new Provincial Apiarist is to 

 commence his duties shortly, and 

 we bespeak for him the hearty co- 

 operation of all with whom he will 

 have to do. 



Georgetown, Ont. 



If our people were very selfish, they 

 might regret that as good a man as 

 Friend Gates should be induced to 

 take his services across the line. But 

 we cannot be sorry, and there are 

 two reasons for it. First, Canada is 

 so close to us and so fraternal that 

 we cannot realize the difference of 

 government until we meet between us 

 that decadent institution of a more 

 or less prohibitive tariff. The second 

 reason is that if they take good men 

 away from us, we in our turn obtain 

 some excellent workers from across 

 the line; witness the acquisition by 

 the Iowa College at Ames of that ex- 

 cellent teacher, F. Eric Millen. There 

 should be no more jealousy between 

 the States and the Dominion than be- 

 tween our own States. We believe 

 the great majority of our readers will 

 sustain us in this, especially in view 

 of President Wilson's desire of a fed- 

 eration of nations, or as Upton Sin- 

 clair suggests, of an "Internation."— 

 Editor. 



The High Prices of Honey in France 



From the "Petit Parisien," July 16, 

 1918 



RECENTLY Mr. A. Caillet, Vice- 

 President of the Grocers' Syn- 

 dicate of France, aroused by 

 the stupendous increase in the price 

 of honey, which has reached, this 

 year, the rates of 735 to 800 francs 

 per kilo., while it sold in 1914 at 

 only 140 to 180 francs, advised the 

 grocers to abstain from purchasing, 

 without having previously called 



upon these prices the attention of 

 the authorities and requested regula- 

 tions from the Food Ministry upon 

 the price of honey. 



On the other hand, the Prefecture 

 of Police has mentioned this raise of 

 prices to the Minister in charge. 

 But, with the desire of clearing 

 themselves of any suspicion of specu- 

 lation, the wholesale dealers in 

 -honey assert that they are in no way 

 responsible for this advance. 



In fact, at their meeting of June 

 last, the beekeepers of Gatinais 

 agreed to double the prices of last 

 year, fixing them at 7 francs per 

 kilo, wholesale. This decision was 

 announced in the columns of "L'Api- 

 culteur." In consequence, the deal- 

 ers find themselves compelled to sell 

 at an average price of 735 francs per 

 100 kilos. 



But the beekeepers are protesting 

 against the proposal of regulating 

 the price of honey. They assert that 

 there is neither abuse nor specula- 

 tion in their decision, but only a 

 grievous concourse of circumstances, 

 which render the precious product 

 much more valuable because of the 

 scarcity of sugar. They assert that 

 60 per cent of the colonies of bees in 

 France have disappeared and that 

 many of the beekeepers of the center 

 will not secure, this year, the half 

 of a normal crop. 



They call attention upon the price 

 of labor and ask that the beekeepers 

 of the late draft be given furloughs, 

 like the farmers, since men cannot 

 be found to take their place. 



In regard to the consumers, who 

 are the victims of any increase, 

 whether justified or not, they can 

 only make known their dissatisfac- 

 tion before an increase which pre- 

 vents people of small means from 

 purchasing the precious product, for 

 sweetening teas or for infant food. 

 They take note of the fact that, 

 while the country people ask 10 

 francs for their honey, numerous 

 sales have been made in Corsica 

 lately for 5 francs. 



(A kilo, is 2.2 pounds. At the regu- 

 lar rates of exchange, 735 francs 

 represents 63J4 cents per pound. But 

 European exchange is depreciated, 

 at present, and the war exchange 

 rates would bring the value down to 

 a trifle less than 61 cents per pound. 

 The above clipping from the "Petit 

 Parisien" was sent to us by a French 

 apiarist of note, with the letter 

 which follows. — Editor.) 



Letter of a French Apiarist 

 "You have probably read in the 

 May-June number of "L'Apiculteur" 

 that the Honey Producers' meeting 

 decided to fix the price of Gatinais 

 honey at 700 francs, and at 600 francs 

 the value of average white honey. 

 In ordinary times, the prices fixed 

 by this association were fictitious, 

 for honey really sold below the 

 prices fixed, but this suited the deal- 

 ers, who thus appeared to have re- 

 duced the price. The Vice-President 

 of the Grocers' Syndicate has asked 

 the State to regulate the price of 

 honey and urged upon the grocers 

 a boycott of the beekeepers. He for- 

 gets, of course, that, in 1917, the 

 grocers bought the honey at 250 to 



