^bantup m iin Culture 



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



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



A.' I. Root, Editor Home Department J. T. Calvert, Business ]\Ianager 



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



VOL. XXXVIII 



NOVEMBER 1, 1910- 



NO. 21 



Editorial 



The new revised "Advanced Bee Cul- 

 ture," by W. Z. Hutchinson, will be worth 

 reading. It will contain some of the author's 

 very latest ideas on bee culture. 



Dr. Miller's Stray Straws will be con- 

 spicuous by their absence in this issue. At 

 this writing they have not yet arrived. 

 Whether the mails are at fault or Dr. Miller 

 is sick we can not say. 



WHAT TO DO WITH BROKEN OR OTHERWISE 

 UNSALABLE COMB HONEY. 



Those who do a business of putting up 

 honey in tumblers or large-mouthed bottles 

 will find it will pay them well to take all 

 their broken or unsalable comb honey, cut 

 it up into suitable-sized chunks, and put 

 them in tumblers of nice extracted honey. 

 There was a time when the public was a lit- 

 tle suspicious of honey in this form; but 

 since the national pure-food laws have gone 

 into elTect, the bottler will find a ready sale 

 for chunk honey in tumblers. 



A BEE-BOOK FOR FARMERS. 



The second edition of the " Pearce Meth- 

 od of Bee-keeping," by .Joseph A. Pearce, of 

 Grand Rapids, ilich., has been issued. The 

 price is not stated, but we should judge it is 

 25 ets. The Pearce method is a plan for the 

 production of either comb or extracted hon- 

 ey for the farmer, professional man, or any 

 other man who has not time to look after 

 swarming or to fuss with the bees. We be- 

 lieve the general details of the plan are good. 

 Further particulars can be obtained by writ- 

 ing to the author. Send orders to Mr. Pearce 

 and not to us. 



THE NATIONAL CONVENTION AT ALBANY. 



From the report in this issue on page 697, 

 given by our special representative, Mr. W. 

 A. Selser, at the National convention at Al- 

 bany, we judge there was not only a good 

 attendance but a good meeting. We regret 

 very much that it was impossible for a 

 member of our editorial staff to be present 

 to enjoy the feast of good things that were 

 evidently spread before the bee-keepers. 



We expect to show a large photo, in our 

 next issue, of the whole convention assem- 

 bled on the steps of the capitol building. 

 There are some faces in it that some of our 

 convention-goers will, perhaps, recognize. 



PROPER ARRANGEMENT OF THE COMBS 

 FORMING THE WINTER-NEST. 



Each spring brings its list of letters from 

 bee-keepers whose bees died, leaving plenty 

 of honey in the hives. There are many rea- 

 sons for this; for instance, the honey may 

 not be in the right place as far as the loca- 

 tion of the cluster is concerned. Mr. Bain 

 has been going through our yards, making 

 sure that the winter-ne.t is arranged right. 

 A honey-producer who has not handled his 

 combs very much through the season is not 

 likely to find that the bees have arranged 

 their nest wrong, and it is likely that feed- 

 ing will be all that his colonies will need if 

 there are not stores enough. If the combs 

 have been handled considerably, however, 

 so that they are disarranged, it will be nec- 

 essary to look them over to be sure that they 

 are in the right place. The combs in the 

 central part of the cluster should contain 

 some honey in the upper part, but should 

 not be filled solid. On either side there 

 should be enough full combs of honey to 

 last the bees through the winter. Care 

 should be taken to see that no empty comb 

 separates the honey from the cluster. The 

 only colony that Mr. Bain lost in the home 

 yard, last year, was one where he had over- 

 looked a frame of foundation that separated 

 the honey from the bees. On account of 

 the continued cold the bees really starved 

 because they could not go around that foun- 

 dation to get the honey on the other side. 



If feeding be done in September, especial- 

 ly with an Alexander feeder, the bees ar- 

 range the honey in a way that can not be 

 improved upon. It is a good plan to feed in 

 the fall when colonies are short of stores, 

 reserving the combs of honey that may be 

 on hand to use in the spring. Ordinarily, 

 the beginner had better not feed syrup in 

 the spring except under special circum- 

 stances, but combs of honey are always safe. 



WHY WE ARE OPTIMISTIC. 



We ought to be thankful this year that 

 we have no honey-dew in the hives for this 

 winter. Last year there was a large amount 

 of honey-dew to fear for this winter. A 



