98 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 15 



For the reader's present information we 

 would advii-ehimnot to buy some new make 

 simply because the price is low. Th ere are 

 several standard makes that have been on 

 the market for years, first class in every re- 

 sp« ct, that can be bought for $500 and under. 

 Then if one knows how to make the selec- 

 tion he can purchase a number of second- 

 hand automobiles, practically as good as 

 new, for from $175 to $250. But to make the 

 horseless carriage a success the owner must 

 learn to be his own chauffeur: must under- 

 stand something of the general principles of 

 a gas engine, and employ a little automobile 

 sense if not horse sense. More anon. 



LOOKING backward; a. I. ROOTS EARLY BEE- 

 KEEPING EXPERIFNCFS; THE BREAD THAT 

 WAS CAST UPON THE WATERS COM- 

 ING BACK TO-DAY. 



The reader will, perhaps, be interested in 

 the discussion between F. Dundas Todd and 

 the editor in this issue, on page 122. No won- 

 der Mr. Todd could find nothing in any of 

 our current literature on the subject of giv- 

 ing bees meal or flour candy direct. After 

 reading his article we recalled some of A. I. 

 Root's early experiments away back in the 

 70's — how he tested this and that kind of 

 candy; how he mixed flour and meal of vari- 

 ous sorts into the candy; how he "scorched " 

 his syrup and killed his bees. The result of 

 all these experiments was given in this jour- 

 nal at the time. All this took place when 

 the present editor, though a lad, was learn- 

 ing nis A B C's. 



A. I. Root, during the early 70's, could 

 think of nothing but bees. His business of 

 manufacturing jewelry had reached such 

 proportions that he found it necessary to 

 seek rest and recreation outdoors. Well do 

 we remember how, as a boy, we went to 

 Cleveland with him to look up books on bees; 

 how we followed him on bee hunting expe- 

 ditions; on tramps across the fields to see 

 what the bees were working on. 



Langstroth paid him a number of visits at 

 Medina, and well do we recall the interest- 

 ing chats A. I. Root had with that father of 

 American bee keeping. Langstroth was a 

 charming conversationalist, and we could 

 have sat at the feet of this Gamaliel hour aft- 

 er hour. We have wondered many times 

 since what it would be worth to-day if we 

 could have had ttiese talks taken down in 

 shorthand, because Langstroth drew on his 

 rich and varied experience in bee cul'ure 

 when he was developing and perfecting the 

 hive and system that revolutionized bee cul- 

 ture throughout the world. 



Then there used to come to our home such 

 men as Dr. C. C. Miller, Mr. G. M. Doolittle, 

 Prof. A. J. Cook, and other celebrities. At 

 the table, almost the entire conversation was 

 bees — bees for breakfast, bees for dinner, 

 bees for supper, bees everywhere and all ihe 

 time except when A. I. Root was attending 

 to the jewelry business up town; but his 

 heart was elsewhere. 



He took nothing for granted, but tested 



every thing in the yard. No worder his ad- 

 vice was eagerly sought, because durii'g the 

 few years that he gave a larye part of his 

 time to his bees he exploited almost eveiy 

 new field. 



He made the first perfect honey-extractor 

 that had ever been sold. You should have 

 seen the first machine. It was a rare com 

 bination of a tin can. wooden cross-arms, and 

 an old apple-paring machine for gearwork. 

 Later was developed the beautiful all-meial 

 Novice extractor of to day. 



He was one of the first to see that Lang- 

 stroth had blazed the way for the entire 

 world. He adopted the Langstro'h hive and 

 dimensions after having tested every form of 

 frame and hive. He was the first to bring 

 out the one-pound section honey-box. He 

 tried indoor and outdoor wintering. Oi e 

 winter he covered every hive with a big pile 

 of manure. It was not altogether a success. 

 Another winter he packed the hives with 

 straw; later on he began to follow J. H. 

 Townley, of chaff-hive fame. 



Along in the early days news came across 

 the water of the invention of comb founda- 

 tion. A. I. Root was convinced that th s was 

 a great step forward. He could hardly eat 

 or sleep, so eager was he to get up a machine 

 by which he c< 'uld make what we thf n called 

 "artificial foundations." He employed Alva 

 A. Washburn, an expert machinist, to make 

 him dies. In the mean time Mr. Root tried 

 flat plates, small ones at first, and then larg- 

 er ones. He had type faces made, and began 

 the work of setting up the type and locking 

 it up in forms. He tested every scheme 

 then known of making comb foundation. 

 He was the first to make foundation with a 

 paper midrib. Later he tried thin veneer 

 wood, and, last of all, wire. Mr. Washburn 

 finally brought out an embossed pair of rolls 

 that were almost as perfect as those made to- 

 day. 



It was during this period that A. I. Root 

 built a double-walled bee-house, walls 12 

 inches thick, filled with sawdust. During 

 the summer he used this for extracting, and 

 during cold weather for winte ring bees. But 

 his indoor scheme was not altogether a suc- 

 cess. When he adopted the J. H. Townley 

 method of wintering in chaff he adopted 

 what is in use to day, so successful all over 

 the United States. 



As we go back to those early days we think 

 of the long series of experiments conducted 

 by A. I. Root in trying to winter bees in a 

 greenhouse. His plan was to "educate" 

 his pets to fly out inside the greenhouse 

 and go back into the hive. He put out rye 

 meal, and partially succeeded in getting the 

 bees to take it and return to the hives; but 

 hundreds, yes, thousands of them, bumped 

 their heads against the glass in the vain ef- 

 fort to escape, and the majority of them 

 never returned. But he did succeed to 

 some extent in getting them to visit the 

 flowers that he had out, and go back to the 

 hives. 



We also recall how, in these early days, he 

 tried wintering in a house-apiary. He con- 



