Gleanings In Bee Culture 



Published by The A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio 



H. H. Root, Assistant Editor E. R. ROOT, Editor A. L. Boyden, Advertising Manager 



A. I. Root-, Editor Home Department J. T. Calvert, Business Manager 



Entered at the PostoflBce, Medina. Ohio, as Second-class Matter. 



VOL. XXXVIII 



MARCH 1, 1910 



NO. 5 



EDITORIAL 



By E. R. Root. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WINTER NEST. 



One of our subscribers, Mr. R. C. Hugen- 

 tobler. of Miami, Ohio, has this to say of the 

 importance of a winter nest: 



As I have supplied many colonies with sealed stores, 

 and taken many observations, I find that what you 

 say in regard to the winter nest is true. I have found 

 that colonies supplied with sealed stores are invaria- 

 bly not clustered on them, but hang to the dry empty 

 combs, and starve, sometimes, when in touch with the 

 sealed stores. These observations prove conclusively 

 to my mind the great importance of a winter nest in 

 outdoor wintering. 



PRICES ON Hr>NEY NOT KEEPING PACE WITH 

 OTHER FOOD PRODUCTS. 



In looking over the back volumes of 

 GLEANINGS for 1877, we noticed how Adam 

 Grimm reported that he was getting 25 and 

 30 cents a pound for his extracted honey; 

 that he thought 25 cents was low enough. 

 This makes rather interesting reading when 

 we consider the present price of extracted 

 honey, and that all other articles of food 

 have advanced. The reader, in this issue, 

 will be interested to follow the discussion of 

 this question by Mr. 0. L. Hershiser, on 

 page 140. 



DANGER FROM DEAD BEE-CLOSED ENTRANCES. 



At this time of the year, especially after a 

 very severe winter such as we are now hav- 

 ing, it will be very important to see that 

 dead bees accumulating in the entrances of 

 outdoor- wintered colonies be raked out. An 

 entrance closed with dead bees, snow, and 

 ice usually means death to a colony. There 

 is great danger that hundreds of colonies in 

 otherwise good condition may be lost through 

 a lack of attention at this season of the year. 

 If the outdoor-wintered bees have absorbing 

 cushions the results will not be as fatal; and 

 that, by the way, is one thing in favor of that 

 kind of wintering. 



WINTER LOSSES. 



It begins to look now as if there would be 

 heavy losses of bees in some sections. The 

 winter thus far has been one of the old- 

 fashioned kind, with almost continuous cold 

 without any flying days This, for'our lo- 

 cality, is something unusual. While our 

 bees are wintering nicely because we fed a 

 large amount of sugar syrup, we have been 

 a little fearful that the large ^amount of 



honey- dew, where no syrup was fed, togeth- 

 er with the extremely cold weather, was go- 

 ing to have a bad effect upon other bees. 



AMERICAN HONEY REFUSED ADMISSION IN 

 SOUTH AFRICA. 



The following letter, received from the 

 Bureau of Entomology, will explain itself: 

 United States Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Entomology, 



Washington, D. CJan. 3. 



Mr. E. R. Root.— It has come to the notice of this Bu- 

 reau that certain shipments of honey from California, 

 which were sent to England and there bottled and 

 shipped to the Cape of Good Hope, have been refused 

 admission to that colony under Proclamation No. 394 

 of 1908 of the Governor of the colony. This proclama- 

 tion states that, since "the disease known as 'foul 

 brood ' exists or is supposed to exist among bees in 

 Australia, New Zealand, the Continent of North Amer- 

 ca and the Continent of Europe, including the United 

 Kingdom and Ireland," the importation of honey from 

 these countries is prohibited "except under written 

 permit previously obtained from the Secretary for 

 Agriculture, under such restrictions and safeguards 

 as may seem to him expedient or necessary." 



This proclamation, therefore, prohibits the export- 

 ing of all American honeys to the Cape of Good Hope, 

 whether or not either of the diseases of the brood ex- 

 ists in the apiary or apiaries from which the honey is 

 obtained. Steps are now being taken to obtain per- 

 mission from the Secretary for Agriculture to allow 

 shipments of honey from healthy apiaries to be admit- 

 ted to this colony when proper proof is presented that 

 no disease exists. The form of permit or certificate 

 must be determined by the officers of the colony. 

 This proclamation puts a stop to the sale of consider- 

 able quantities of American honey which has former- 

 ly been sent to the Cape of Good Hope until some ar- 

 rangement can be made with the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture. L. O. Howard, Chief of Bureau. 



SOME OLD PATENTS BEARING ON SOME SCHEME 

 FOR PREVENTING FOUNDATION STRETCHING. 



In our last issue, page 99, reference was 

 made to the fact that an inventor had lately 

 patented a scheme for using paper in the 

 midrib of foundation to prevent its sagging 

 while being drawn out by bees. Having oc- 

 casion to go over our file of patents relating 

 to apicultural inventions, we ran across a pat- 

 tent issued to J. Y. Detwiler, May 13 1879, 

 covering the use of perforated tinfoil in the 

 midrib to prevent stretching. On Aug. 13, 

 1878, M. Metcalf took out. a patent for the 

 use of cloth dipped in melted wax and run 

 through foundation-rolls or flat dies, fl 'j 



It was about this same time that A. I. Root 

 used quite extensively paper in the midrib 

 of his foundation sheets, and while he did 

 not patent the same he wrote it up in Glean- 

 ings. He found that the bees, during a dull 

 season, would discover the paper in the 

 combs, when they would immediately begin 

 to tear it out. They seemed to think it 



