Gleanings In Bee Culture 



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



H. H. ROOT. Assistant Editor E. R. ROOT, Editor A. L. BOYDE»J, Advertising Manager 



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



Kntered at the Postofflce, Medina. Ohio, as Second-claBS Matter. 



VOL. XXXVII 



AUGUST 15, 1909 



NO. 16 



Editorial 



By E. R. Root. 



Be sure to read our honey-crop report on 

 page 508 of this issue. If there are any in- 

 accuracies we shall be glad to be advised of 

 it. 



HONEY CROP IN CALIFORNIA LARGER THAN AT 

 FIRST REPORTED. 



The following letter from one of our Cali- 

 fornia subscribers will speak for itself: 



Mr. Root.— I note what you say relative to the Cali- 

 fornia crop. You may be right, but there must be a 

 good deal of honey somewhere around here, because I 

 am buying nice amber comb honey at one of the two 

 best stores in Oakland at 10 cts. per square, and have 

 noticed it for sale in the windows of two other stores 

 at the same price; also fancy white at 15 cts.; but at our 

 house, where there are four children, we think the am- 

 ber honey just as good as the white. Certainly they 

 both go equally fast. I also notice that over 10 cts. the 

 sale of comb honey is very slow. It seems to take a 

 ten-cent price to move it freely. W. H. Pearson. 



South Berkeley. Cal., July 23. 



We should be glad to have other bee-keep- 

 ers of that State advise us of the conditions. 

 We bee-keepers of the East are very much 

 interested to know just how much of a crop 

 has been secured in that State. 



WHAT TO DO WITH DARK OR UNPALATABLE 

 HONEY-DEW. 



From reports of the honey-yield on pages 

 508 to 511, it is apparent that a large amount 

 of unpalatable honey-dew has been gathered. 

 What to do with it is a serious problem. It 

 can not be sold in the open market as table 

 honev, except in cities where the foreign 

 population largely predominates; and even 

 then it can not be disposed of except as a 

 honey-dew honev. It is, however, very sat- 

 isfactory for baKing purposes, and where 

 one has a considerable quantity of it he will 

 do well to correspond with the National Bis- 

 cuit Co. 



Where one has only a small quantity he 

 had better feed it out for brood-rearing ear- 

 ly this fall if possible. We certainly would 

 not advise letting the bees have it for a win- 

 ter food; that is, if it is almost all honeydew. 

 A little of it in white honey will do no harm. 



"I TOLD YOU so." 



It will be remembered that on page 86 of 



our issue for Febuary 1st, our friend Virgil 



Weaver predicted that there would "not be 



ten per cent of a white-clover crop east cf 



the Mississippi River." He based this con- 

 clusion on the severe drouth of last fall. 

 While his prophecy for all the territory 

 named did not come true by considerable, 

 yet in some sections of the country, at least, 

 it is very apparent that the drouth of last 

 fall did curtail or cut down the clover yield. 

 Possibly our friend will now say, "I told 

 you so." 



If it had not been for the mixture of 

 honey-dew in the clover honey that was 

 gathered, the clover crop for the territory 

 east of the Mississipi would run from one- 

 third to one-half of a normal crop. 



On the other hand there is no denying the 

 fact that Mr. Weaver, on page 86, put forth 

 some general propositions that have come 

 awfully near being true for many sections 

 of the country. 



FOUL-BROOD BILL TO BE PRESENTED TO THE 

 SOUTH DAKOTA LEGISLATURE. 



The bee-keepers of South Dakota have or- 

 ganized what is called the South Dakota 

 Bee-keepers' Association, the first meeting 

 being held at Sioux Falls. The first action 

 taken was to draft a bill to submit to the leg- 

 islature, providing for the appointment of a 

 foul-brood inspector for the State. While 

 the meeting was not a large one, the charac- 

 ter of the men back of it is such as to insure 

 its success. 



Foul-brood laws should he enacted in ev- 

 ery State in the Union. A preliminary and 

 a necessary step as well is to form a State 

 bee-keepers' association, for an organization 

 of that kind has far more influence with the 

 State legislature than a body of some three or 

 four men who appear to be lobbying single- 

 handed, and with the apparent purpose of 

 securing a State job for some one as foul- 

 brood inspector. 



SWEET CLOVER SHOULD NOT BE LEGISLATED 

 AGAINST. 



Our agricultural papers are coming moi e 

 and more to recognize sweet clover as a 

 good fodder plant; and yet in spite of that 

 tact, and the further fact that it is one of the 

 most valuable honey-plants we have, coming 

 on after white clover and basswood, many 

 of our State legislatures have outlawed it, 

 requiring it to be cut down, while the oxeye 

 daisy, the wild carrot, and the Canada thistle 

 are " allowed to grow unmolested. Sweet 

 clover grows on land that will produce noth- 

 ing else. Cultivation always kills it out, so it 



