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



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



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



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



VOL. XLIII. 



JULY 1, 1915 



NO. 13 



EDITORIAL 



Honey Crop Conditions; A Queer Season 



The severe and prolonged drouth in 

 southern Texas, cold chilly weather in the 

 first part of the season in California, frost 

 and freezing, and backward weather in Col- 

 orado and the mountain districts; too much 

 rain and cold over a large part of the clover 

 districts in the north central states where 

 elo^■er was promising; drouth in New York 

 and parts of Pennsylvania, and unfavorable 

 weather in the East, have had a tendency to 

 put a damper on the hopes of beekeepers 

 over all the country. In the mean time, 

 conditions have improved in California, and 

 some beekeepers have already secured a 

 crop. 



Up to as late as the 24th of June we have 

 been having cold nights and cold, windy, 

 sunless days. Clover was abundant in 

 patches; but the temperature was too low 

 for the proper secretion of nectar. Precise- 

 ly the same conditions prevailed in many 

 other localities where clover w'as promising. 

 But now, fortunately, the continued spell of 

 cold has been broken, and good honey 

 weather is now on, and it looks and feels as 

 if it would stay on. Our bees have taken a 

 new start, and there is just a chance for iis 

 to secure some honey, as basswood was 

 never more promising. In Michigan, Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, Canada, northern New 

 York, and the New England states, this 

 warm weather will probably come soon 

 enough to catch all the honey that there may 

 be in clover. In the clover districts further 

 south clover has been out for two weeks, 

 and there are good chances of a light crop, 

 as there are at least ten days more of clover, 

 with splendid prospects for bassAvood where 

 there is any. 



Taking it all in all, it is impossible to 

 predict what the clover crop will be, al- 

 though it is safe to say it will not be large, 

 except, perhaps, in the more northern states. 



Many reports speak of the immense 

 amount of clover in bloom, while others say 

 that it is very scarce. 



We hope our readers, as soon as they 

 read this, will continue to send in their 

 postal-card reports. They are mighty help- 

 ful in making up these honey reports. 



Prices should have an upward trend on 

 all grades of honey, particularly on south- 

 ern honey, which has been a failure in many 

 parts of the South. 



Those Patches of Yellow Sweet Clover 

 Next to the Home Apiary 



When we let loose our carload of bees 

 from Texas (referred to elsewhere) there 

 Avas a perfect roar on the yellow sweet clo- 

 ver; and notwithstanding white clover and 

 alsike were out abundantly, the bees seemed 

 to prefer the yellow blossoms, although they 

 worked on both. 



Yesterday, June 22, the temperature was 

 down to 60, with a cold northwest wind. It 

 was cold this morning, the 23d, down to 55, 

 and yet there was a sprinkling of bees on 

 the sweet clover and alsike, but by no 

 means as many as there were the day before 

 when the temperature was up to 70; and 

 when it is really hot there is a perfect 

 swarm of bees going back and forth, for 

 the yard is only a few rods away. 



Fearing that we had overstocked the home 

 apiary with a whole carload (there were 

 already 150 colonies there) we moved 150 

 of the strongest to the outyards. Notwith- 

 standing the home yard was apparently 

 overstocked, we found that the outyard bees, 

 when the weather was cold, were getting 

 almost nothing, while the home bees that 

 had this sweet clover were storing some 

 honey. 



As explained elsewhere the Texas bees 

 arrived at Medina short of stores. At least 

 half of them had only a dozen cells of hon- 

 ey when they arrived at Medina; and you 

 just ought to have seen the way they jump- 

 ed into this yellow sweet clover. When we 

 moved the Texas boes to the outyards, away 

 from the yellow sweet clover, they were 

 down to the verge of starvation ; while those 



