Gleanings In Bee Culture 



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



H. H. Root, Assistant Editor E. R. Root, Editor A. L. BOYDEN, Advertising Manager 



A. I. Root, Editor Home Department J. T. CALVERT, Business Manatrer 



Kntered at the Postortice. Medioa Ohio, as Seconti-flass Mat" er. 



VOL. XXXVII 



JULY 1, 1909 



NO. 13 



Editorial 



By E. R. Root. 



I 



THE G. B. LEWIS CO. S FACTORY BURNED TO 

 THE GROUND. 



Just as we so to press we have the follow- 

 ing telea;ram Trom the G. B. Lewis Co., which 

 will explain itself: 



Factory totally destroyed by fire Sunday morning. 

 Waterto\\n, Wis., June 20. G. B. LEWIS Co. 



In the absence of any further details we as- 

 sume that their warehouses and lumber- 

 yards are still intact: and we also assume 

 that the company will begin immediately to 

 rebuild, although no statement to that effect 

 has yet been issued.. 



This fire comes at" an unfortunate time, as 

 nearly all the bee-hive factories are overrun 

 with orders. We ourselves have been run- 

 ning over time: and since this Lewis fire 

 conditions will not be in any way improved 

 for us. We extend to the Lewis company 

 our sincere sympathy, and if there is any 

 thing we can do to help, we shall only be 

 glad to do so. 



SEASON PROSPECTS. 



The reports in regard to the honey crop, as 

 they have come in up to this time, have been 

 (juite conflicting, due to the fact that in many 

 localities there is a great deal of white clover, 

 while in others there is practically none of 

 it. A trip of three hundred miles by road 

 through Southern Michigan and Northern 

 Ohio has reveal edthe fact ihat the c'over in 

 the sandy regions seems to have been killed 

 by the drouth last fall, while that in the clay 

 soil is doing well. .-^Isike clover, however, 

 is flourishing both in the clay and sand; in 

 fact, this seems to be the greatest year known 

 foralsikc clover. The bees are working on 

 it quite generally, although in one report 

 from New Jersey a large field of fine alsike 

 was mentioned to which the bees were pay- 

 ing no attention. 



A large number reported an unusually 

 good flow from fruit bloom. 



HOW TO GET GRANULATED HONEY OUT fF 

 EXTRACTING-COMBS. 



In the American Bee Journal, Dr. C. C. Mil- 

 ler, in his Questions and Answers depart- 

 ment, tells how this may be accomplislted 

 by simply spraying the combs and giving 

 them to the bees. When they are cleaned 



out dry, they are to be sprayed again until 

 all the granulated honey is removed. Where 

 there are no neighbors' bees he says it is a 

 quicker job to set the combs outdoors and 

 spray them, and let the bees rob them out, 

 and then spray again until they are clean. 



We might suggest, however, as a matter 

 of precaution, that such combs be placed 2G0 

 or ;-!00 yards from the apiary after the 1 ees 

 finally get started on them; for while tl.e 

 bees are robbing the combs out like this they 

 are apt to make things "interesting" in the 

 bee-yard for the time being. The fur. her 

 they can fly for stolen sweets the better it is 

 for the bees at home. 



the BEARING OF LOCALITY ON THE LENGTH 

 OF BEE FLIGHT. 



Referring to some recent discussions in 

 Gleanings, on pages 194 and 2^:6, in wh eh 

 Mr. G. M. Doolittle is quoted as saying bees 

 would fly from choice from 2 to 4 miles the 

 same writer in the American Bee Journal for 

 June gives a number of instances where, in 

 his own experience, they have flown any- 

 where from 2>2 to 4)4 miles. We gave it t;s 

 our own experience on page 286, May 1st is- 

 sue, that they will not go very much Leycnd 

 1 '2 miles in this locality, and this has been 

 confirmed by others in similar localities but 

 we also stated that, in a hilly country, ins 

 would go much further; that Mr. Alexant'er 

 showed how his bees had flown five miles to 

 different buckwheat-fields on hillsides It 

 is evident, as we have before stated, 11 ct 

 bees have telescopic vision; and when 11: cy 

 can see across a valley where there is a white 

 patch of something that indicates bloom they 

 will fly until they get to it. 



It is a well-known fact that basswccds in 

 New York bloom first in the valleys; then, 

 later on, on the hilltops. As the hills of > ew 

 York are small mountains as compared with 

 most of the hills of Northern Ohio, this ex- 

 plains the length of the honey-flow. 



Mr. Doolittle, in the above-menticn-^d arti- 

 cle in the American Bee Journal, shows hew 

 his bees would seek out the first-blcc mir.g 

 basswood in the valleys, and then, later on, 

 (i-o further up the hills for the later bloom, 

 fn the first case they went 2,'/2 miles, ?nd in 

 the latter they kept going on up the h Us un- 

 til he had traced them i'/z miles frcm his 

 home yard. 



Here we have a case where locality is a 

 marked factor in the length of bee flight. In 

 a comparatively flat country the bees can not 



