Gleanings In Bee Culture 



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



H. H. ROOT, Assistant Editor. 



A. I. ROOT, Editor Home Department 



E. R. ROOT, Editor. 

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



A. L. BOYDEN, Advertising Manager. 

 J. T. CALVERT, Business Manager. 



VOL. XXXVII 



MAY 1, 1909 



NO. 9 



Editorial 



By E. R. Root. 



THE INSIDE PAGES OF GLEANINGS COMING LOOSE. 



We have had a few complaints to the ei?ect that 

 the inside illustrated pages tear out from the wire 

 stitching. Possibly our readers have not noticed 

 that the form containing the half-tone cuts is 

 printed on a different kind of paper, known as 

 enameled book. It is made with the special view 

 of bringing out all the detail in the half-tone en- 

 gravings. While it gives beautiful effects because 

 its surface is enameled with a special coating, this 

 very fact makes the body that supports it weak. 

 We believe our readers would prefer to have an 

 insert sheet tear out occasionally, and secure finer 

 effects from the engravings, rather than have a 

 poorer quality of printing on a cheaper grade of 

 paper that would not pull loose from the stitches. 

 We are working to remedy the trouble, and hope 

 we may be able to do so later on. 



THE LACK OF NATURAL POLLEN AND THE NEED 

 OF AN ARTIFICIAL SUBSTITUTE SOME SPRINGS. 



The following letter, written by H. G. Quirin, 

 the queen-man, at Bellevue, O. , will explain itself: 



Mr. E. R. Root: — We notice your experience with the bees on 

 account of their eagerness for pollen, on p. 221. This is the first 

 spring since we kept bees when any of our yards really suffered 

 for pollen, and our experience extends over more than 20 years. 



As soon as the weather warmed up we visited all our yards, and 

 found that three of them were getting sufficient pollen for their 

 immediate needs, as these three are favorably located as to shel- 

 ter and forage; but our home yard, and another one just a mile 

 north, had scarcely a visible cell of pollen. We examined 

 twelve colonies at the yard a mile from home, and not a single 

 cell did we find in that number, yet there was lots of unsealed 

 brood. We noticed the bees were removing the honey from the 

 bottom parts of the combs and storing it wherever they found 

 room. We take it for granted that they were after the few cells 

 of pollen which they found there. 



We find colonies which were shaken the previous season are 

 leanest in pollen. At our home yard the bees took possession of 

 some old machinery, and went to digging of? the hardened oil 

 from the bearings. They also tried to clean out a spring wagon 

 which had coal dust in the bottom. They worked on the dust for 

 three or four days. 



For the past eight or ten years we have paid no attention to the 

 supplying of artificial pollen, as it occurred to us that the bees al- 

 ways store sufficient in the fall, and are able to get natural pol- 

 len in the spring in time, and in sufficient quantities, for all their 

 needs; but it does seem that in a spring like this, where the fall 

 was dry and the spring flowers late, there will be some yards 

 which require an artificial substitute for the natural pollen, or the 

 bees will sulTer, in a measure, as we have noticed that the lack 

 of pollen prevents the expanding of the brood-nest. 



All our bees wintered well. 



There is only about one year in eight or ten 

 when the bees seem to suffer for the want of an 

 artificial substitute for pollen, and the present 

 year is one of them It may be wise to have a 

 little rye meal scattered out every spring just be- 

 fore natural pollen comes into bloom to provide 

 against a possible dearth from natural sources. 

 But the trouble is, this artificial stuff is a very 



poor substitute; and if too much is fed, the bees 

 will be quite inclined to get too much of it 

 packed in the cells, which they can not remove. 

 We have seen combs so full of it that the only 

 thing to be done was to soak them in water for 

 two or three days, them throw out the pollen 

 with an extractor. In feeding this meal or other 

 substitute one must be careful not to give the 

 bees too much — certainly none after natural pol- 

 len comes in. 



CREDIT TO WHOM CREDIT IS DUE. 



Our attention is drawn to a booklet published 

 by the Frisbee Honey Co., of Denver, Colo., 

 using the matter from our honey-leaflet by Dr. 

 Miller. We gave them permission to use this, 

 providing they gave proper credit. This they 

 have hardly done — at least, no credit to The A. 

 I. Root Co. 



On the 18th page occurs a reproduction of a 

 photograph which we took at our Medina apiary, 

 showing Dr. E. F. Bigelow and his big class of 

 schoolteachers, each holding a frame of live bees. 

 They had come to Medina from the Wooster 

 summer school, in this State, 150 strong, to study 

 apiculture with Dr. Bigelow. This picture shows 

 a remarkable exhibit of a lot of men and women 

 who had Jicver before seen the inside of a bee-hi^e, 

 handling bees in an apiary where there were 400 

 colonies. In the background were the tall ever- 

 greens that surround the Root apiary, and at one 

 corner the edge of one of the Root factory build- 

 ings. We had not the slightest objection to the 

 use of this picture, but imagine our surprise to 

 find under it this title: "Group of students of 

 bee culture at the apiaries of the Frisbee Honey 

 Co." We immediately wrote, asking for an ex- 

 planation. The Frisbees replied, saying that 

 they were sorry, but it was an "error," and it 

 would be corrected in the next edition. Very re- 

 markable accident, this, that such a combination 

 of letters and words should get under this cut 

 purporting that the photo was taken "at the api- 

 aries of the Frisbee Honey Co." instead of at Me- 

 dina! 



By the way, one of our correspondents wants 

 to know where the " Frisbee apiaries " are, in 

 Colorado or elsewhere; he says he has not been 

 able to see or hear of them. We have no doubt 

 that the Frisbees can enlighten him unless this 

 also is an " error " or — a joke. 



That the Frisbees do an extensive bottling busi- 

 ness in Denver, and that they help bee-keepers to 

 dispose of a large amount of honey of good grade 

 and quality, is not denied; but they should see to 

 it that these " errors " or jokes do not occur in 

 the next edition of their booklet. And while 

 they are about it we would appreciate it if they 

 will leave out an old letter of ours, from which 



