(Gleanniinigg ini Bee Cuilltiare 



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



A. I. Hoot, Editor Home Dcpiirtnient .', '1'. Caia-kut. Business Manager 



H. H. Root, Managing P^ditor E. R. Root, Editor A. L. Bovden, Advertising Manager. 



Entered at the Postoffice, Medina, Ohio, as second-class matter 



VOL. XLITI. 



JANTJARY 1, 1915 



NO. 1 



EDITORIAL 



In our last issue, page 968, under the 

 general headinu- of " Retrospect," and re- 

 ferring to tho particular work done by the 

 Agn'icultural College at Guelph, Ontario, 

 we inadvertently made the statement thai, 

 said station was in cliarge of S. T. Pet tit 

 when we should have said Morley Pettit, a 

 son of the former, who died a few years ago. 



Our Cover Picture 



Except that the hives are a little different 

 ill sliape from most hives used in this eoun- 

 trj' it is hard to imagine that the view 

 shown on our cover is not an apiary situated 

 in a young apple-orchard in some one of 

 our northern States. As a matter of fact 

 it is a picture of an apiary in Taquary, 

 Brazil, sent us by Emil Shenk who, for 

 the last three or four yeai'S, has been 

 " ambulant " teacher of bee culture of the 

 agricultural department of the federal 

 government. Mr. Shenk writes that Brazil- 

 ian bee culture is developing very nicely, 

 but saj-s he regrets that so little is said in 

 regard to that country in Gleanings. He 

 expects to send from time to time an article 

 regarding conditions there. 



The Bees at the Dignial Swamp 



According to the last report, these were 

 coming on very nicely. While it was se- 

 verely cold in and about Medina, the bees 

 were flying at our Dismal SwamjD yards. 



The Virginia bees will be matched up 

 against the bees in cellars and winter cases. 

 If we can make a fair increase in the Vir- 

 ginia colonies that are too weak to winter 

 at Medina, we shall feel abundantly satis- 

 fied. In this connection we may state that 

 !!r. it is not our intention to go in for as heavy 

 ^increase as we did in Florida last winter, 

 ~ for we shall do considerable in queen-rear- 

 ing during March and April in the Dismal 

 ' ' Swamp. 



r) The editor of Gleanings expects to make 

 :^ a trip to the Dismal Swamp about the 15th 

 C of January. On his return he will give a 



report of what he finds from a direct in- 

 spection of every colony wintered ; and 

 when we say colony we mean hives with 

 bees in them. These hives, when they went 

 doAvn originally, had only two, three, four, 

 or five frames of bees — bees that had been 

 used for supplying pound packages up to 

 the very last minute at Medina, and which 

 were in no condition to wintex', either in- 

 doors or outdoors. We have always ob- 

 sei'ved that colonies that have been used for 

 filling orders for nuclei or queens clear up 

 to the time of going into winter quarters 

 are either very weak in the spring or die 

 outright. Our Dismal Swamp experiments 

 are to determine whether we can utilize 

 these cripples, so to speak, and make some- 

 thing useful out of them next spring. 



A Propoged StaHe-wkle Foul-Iirood 



As a general thing a county foul-brood 

 law, while it is better than notliing by a 

 long way, comes far shoi't of a State law 

 for getting the best results. In every State 

 where a county law is in effect the defects 

 of the system have been so marked that, so 

 far as we know, these county laws have 

 either been replaced by laws State-wide in 

 their application or are on their way to 

 such replacement. 



Idaho has probably the best county law 

 of any of the States in the Union; but its 

 defects have been already noticed; and the 

 Idaho Honey-producers' Association, the 

 most influential organization in the State, 

 with its headquarters at Idaho Falls, Ida., 

 expects to present to the Idaho legislature a 

 draft of a new State-wide bill that incor- 

 porates some of till' best features in other 

 foul-brood laws adopted by the various 

 States. 



There are fair prospects that this bill 

 can be passed; but it will need the united 

 support of all the beekeepei's of Idaho. 

 Those of our subscribers who desire to co- 

 operate are requested to get in touch with 



