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 PostofBce. Medina. Ohio, as Second-class Matter. 



VOL. XXXVIII 



MARCH 15, 1910 



NO. 6 



EDITORIAL 



By E. R. Root. 



PROSPECTS FOR MOUNTATN-SAGE HONEY UN- 

 FAVORABLE. 



Mr. L. E. Merckr, one of the prominent 

 bee-keepers of Ventura, Cal., referring to 

 the prospects for California s-ge honey for 

 the year 1910, writes: "The sage is growing 

 very slowly, and every one says no honey 

 this year. Of course it is too early yet to 

 tell to any certainty, but it doesn't look good 

 to me." 



One or two other reports have been to the 

 same effect. 



THE PREVALENCE OF HONEY-DEW DURING THE 

 YEAR 1910. 



The following letter from Dr. E. F. Phil- 

 lips, of the Bureau of Entomology, will ex- 

 plain: 



Dear Mr. Root:— Since honey-dew was so abundant 

 in many parts of the eastern United States during the 

 past season, it would be well for the bee-keeping in- 

 dustry to know, if possible, what conditions brought 

 this on. I should very much appreciate it if the read- 

 ers of Gleanings who had honey-dew last year would 

 answer the following questions, and in addition give 

 any facts which might help in solving this problem. 



Was there any honey-flow from flowers? 



Did bees work on honey-dew and flowers at the 

 same time? 



What was the average amount of honey-dew per 

 colony? 



On what kind of tree or trees were the insects which 

 produced the honey-dew? 



Give dates showing the duration of the honey-dew 

 yield. 



Was much honey-dew used for winter stores? 



Is the mortality of colonies up to the present date 

 greater than usual among your own and neighboring 

 bees? 



What information have you as to the extent of terri- 

 tory in which honey-dew was abundant? 



Replies may be directed to the Bureau of Entomolo- 

 gy, Washington, D. C. E. F Phillips, 

 In Charge of Apiculture. 



Washington, D. C, Feb. 19. 1910. 



CORRUGATED - PAPER SHIPPING - CASES FOR 

 COMB HONEY. 



In this issue, in his department. "Bee- 

 Keeping in the Southwest," Mr. Scholl men- 

 tions a lot of honey that was badly damaged 

 in the corrugated - paper shipping- cases, 

 while that in the same shipment in ordinary 

 wooden cases came through with little in- 

 jury. Mr. J. E. Crane, on the other hand, 

 continues to ship his honey in the paper 



cases, and has no fault to find with them, 

 his buyers even paying him more for honey 

 in the paper cases than in wooden ones. If 

 we are not mistaken Mr. Crane encloses 

 each section in a carton before putting it 

 into the case, so that there is an additional 

 cushion, so to speak, besides the regular 

 corrugated partitions that divide each row 

 of sections both ways of the case. In giving 

 reports of the results of shipments sent in 

 paper cases we believe that it should be 

 stated whether cartons are used for each 

 section, and also whether cases are used 

 made like those advocated by Mr. Crane. If 

 breakage occurs, the paper case should not 

 necessarily be blamed unless Mr. Crane's di- 

 rections have been followed to the letter. 

 We do not know whether cartons were used 

 for the honey referred to by Mr. Scholl, and 

 we are not sure that their use would have 

 resulted in the safe arrival of the honey; but 

 the construction of the case may have had 

 something to do with the breakage. Since 

 Mr. Crane apparently has no breakage, it 

 would be well to make sure that every de- 

 tail is as recommended by him. 



WINTERING OF BEES UP TO THIS DATE. 



We have just looked over quite a number 

 of our colonies at the home yaid, wintered 

 on their summer stands in double-walled 

 packed hives. After the severe cold of the 

 winter that has continued for these many 

 days without a flight since the first of De- 

 cember (and our bees have not had a flight 

 yet) , we naturally expected to find a good 

 many dead colonies, and the strong ones 

 weak and suffering from dvsentery. But we 

 are happily surprised. We never saw bees 

 in better condition than they are this 26th 

 day of February. All colonies, bolh under 

 sealed covers and absorbing cushions, are in 

 fine order — exceptionally so. Not a single 

 colony thus far has been lost, and in our pre- 

 liminary examination we picked out all the 

 weak ones, and those that were made up 

 and fed late. All of them, strong and weak, 

 were in excellent condition; and unless we 

 have a very late spring, with warm days al- 

 ternating with chilly, cold, and snowy days, 

 there will be very li ttle loss worth speaking of. 



Reports from Michigan indicate excellent 

 wintering, and a few scattering reports from 

 Wisconsin show the same condition. A few 

 stray reports from Pennsylvaniaandjndiana 

 indicate a few winter losses. 



