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



H H ROOT \ssistant Editor E. R- Root, Editor A. L. Boyden, Advertising Manager 



A.' I. root, Editor Home Department J- T. Calveht, Business Manager 



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



VOL. XXXVIII 



MAY 1, 1910 



NO. 9 



EDITORIAL 



By E. R. root 



The Ohio foul-brood bill is now on the 

 calendar for vote in the senate. Write your 

 senator at once, urging his support. 



io^f7-.— The bill has now passed both 

 houses. 



D. M. Macdon.^jld makes a strong plea in 

 this issue, page 296, for the much condemn- 

 ed black bees. The article is ably written 

 and very fair. It is worthy of careful reading. 



The chilly weather of the last two weeks, 

 that seems to be almost universal over the 

 Northern States, will doubtless cause a 

 great deal of chilled brood. Do not jump at 

 the conclusion that vou have foul brood. 



OLD OR NEW FOrNDATION. 



Attention is called to a Straw of Dr. 

 Miller's in this issue, on the relative merits 

 of fresh and old foundation in sections. 

 The doctor takes the ground, it will be no- 

 ticed, that the bees will work on the one as 

 well as the other. We shall be glad to get 

 the experience of others who have tried it. 



parcels post. 



We have not said much lately about par- 

 cels jiost. It is a strategic time now for bee- 

 keepers to write their Senators and Repre- 

 sentatives, urging their support of this need- 

 ed legislation. The following, from the 

 Ohio Farmer, shows the benefits that would 

 accrue from a parcels-post system. It will 

 be especially valuable to bee-keepers: 



The first postal need of to-day is a rural service on 

 a paying basis with the elimination of the postal 

 deficit. A cheap general parcels post will quickly 

 follow. The posting of one five-cent packet each 

 week by the average farmer to and from the town 

 where he sells his produce and buys his supplies 

 will insure a postal income of 810.00 a week per av- 

 erage route, or 820,000,000 a year for the entire ser- 

 vice. The wants of the hundred families on the av- 

 erage route surely warrant the expectation of a 

 business of at least one ten-cent packet a week to 

 and from the fanner's market and his home, with 

 a resulting rural income of over 840,000,000. Even 

 this business Implies a constant load by the carrier 

 of less than 18 packets weighing, possibly, 300 lbs. 



The establishment of a dally service of two vehi- 

 cles going in opposite directions over the same 

 course will .soon be needed: and cutting down the 

 haul of all matter one-half will at once quadruple 

 the capacity and the efficiency of the service. W^e 

 are assured by the highest authority that there are 

 several routes where this proposed service will be a 



success from the start. Its trial will prove a won- 

 derful object-les.son as to the benefit of good roads 

 and of machinery adapted thereto. We pray the 

 financial and personal aid of all the friends of post- 

 al progresfs. and especially the aid of the press, in 

 arousing the public opinion needed to secure the 

 needed legislation. J. L. Cowle.s, 



Secretary-Treasurer of the Postal Progress League, 

 361 Broadway. Neic York. 



No one is fighting the parcels-post system 

 except the small country storekeej^er and 

 the express companies. It has been a suc- 

 cess for many years in Euroi)e, and we should 

 have had it long before this had it not been 

 for the Cannons and Aldriches in Congress. 



Later. — See Colorado department. 



"bee-keepers' legal rights." 

 The new edition of "Bee-keepers' Legal 

 Rights," by the National Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation, has just been issued from the 

 press. Like the old edition it contains cojjies 

 of laws and court decisions relating to bee 

 culture. Besides that, it has a long array 

 of testimony showing the valuable service 

 l)erformed by the bees in pollinating fruit- 

 trees. The last few pages are devoted to 

 copies of the various foul-brood laws as they 

 stand on the statute books in the several 

 States to-day. 



Every member of the National will doubt- 

 less have a copy, and every one who has not 

 would find thisbook, "Legal Rights of Bee- 

 keepers," worth the dollar membership fee 

 alone. He should be familiar with its con- 

 tents, so that when trouble arises he can 

 meet the enemy with hard cold facts, both 

 in and out of the covirt-room. This is a case 

 where knowledge is i)ower. 



See what General Manager France says 

 about it in another column. Of course, it is 

 understood that no one can get a cojiy un- 

 less he is a member or is enrolled as such, 

 as the book is not for sale. 



NON-SWARMING BROOD-CHAMBERS. 



In this issue, pages 295 and 299, we show 

 illustrations of two different styles of anti- 

 swarming devices. As we understand it, 

 these have not been tried very extensively. 

 The basic principle seems to rest in having 

 a large clustering-space either beneath or in 

 front of the brood-chamber, but such clus- 

 tering-space so arranged that no comb can 

 be built in it. The idea seems to be an 

 adaptation of the Aspinwall principle of 

 furnishing a clustering-space; but instead 

 of placing that space between the frames, as 

 does Mr. Aspinwall, these other people would 

 place it in front of or under the brood- 

 chaiuber. 



