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 Manager 



Entered at the I'ostottice. Medina. Ohio, as Seeond-elass Matter. 



VOL. XXXVII 



SEPTEMBER 15, 1909 



NO. 18 



Editorial 



By E. R. Root. 



We are conducting some quite elaborate 

 experiments in feedmg back to fill out the 

 combs. At first the results were not very 

 satisfactory. The indications are much more 

 favorable now, and a little later on we will 

 ijive our readers the result of these trials. 



NEW CORRUGATED-PAPER SHIPPING-CASES. 



It is about time now that we begin to get 

 reports from those who have tested the new 

 shipping-cases. Commission men and honey- 

 buyers generally ought by this time to know 

 something of the relative merits of the wood- 

 en and paper cases; and producers also will 

 begin to get reports from the buyers. 



A GOOD TENEMENT WINTER HIVE. 



Attention is drawn to the Bartlett tene- 

 ment hive, illustrated and described in this 

 issue by Mr. E. D. Townsnnd. If we may 

 judge on the principle that the " proof of the 

 pudding is in the eating," then the Bartlett 

 tenement or quadruple hive must be a good 

 one. Those who have no cellars, and who 

 live in cold climates, would do well to adopt 

 something of this sort. 



HONEY-CROP conditions. 



There is not much new to add to what we 

 have already given in these columns about 

 the honey situation for 1909. There is more 

 evidence to show that the eastern crop of 

 clear clover and basswood, that is, honey 

 free from honey-dew, will be very light. 

 The scarcity of eastern honey, however, will 

 be largely made up by western alfalfa and 

 California mountain sage. It is our opinion, 

 however, that the market for first-class hon- 

 ey should be firm, and prices should be 

 somewhat in advance over what they were a 

 year ago. 



OUTDOOR feeding VS. ARTIFICIAL PASTUR- 

 AGE. 



Some three of four years ago we practiced 

 considerable outdoor feeding, the purpose 

 of which was to stimulate orood-rearing, 

 during the off season of the year, to fill up 

 the hives for winter and to prevent robbers 

 from interfering with the various manipula- 

 tion.s in (jueen-rearing. 



While this accomplished its purpose ad- 

 mirably in all of these respects, we think 

 there is a better way. We are now working 

 a scheme of artificial pasturage; that is to 

 say, we are furnishing (as before stated in 

 these columns) buckwheat and alsike free 

 and at half price, depending upon the dis- 

 tance from our yards; and it is a noticeable 

 fact that, during the last year or so, our bees 

 are not nearly so much inclined to rob dur- 

 ing July and August as they formerly were. 

 At our south yard we have over 20 acres of 

 buckwheat within range of the bees. At the 

 north yard we have quite a quantity of al- 

 sike. The farmers have been putting this 

 in, to a considerable extent, in the vicinity 

 of all our yards. The last few years red 

 clover failed to do well, and the price for 

 seed has been exorbitant; and when they 

 could get alsike-clover seed at half price, 

 or furnished free if the field was near one 

 of the apiaries, it is not at all strange that 

 they should put in large acreages of it. 



This giving-away of seed has certainly sav- 

 ed us considerable in sugar; the bees are 

 much quieter than they used to be, and the 

 queens reared are of a higher quality. Any 

 queen-breeder knows that he can not get 

 first-class stock when the bees are inclined 

 to rob whenever a hive is opened. 



the folly of MIXED GRADING. 



In this issue, in Mr. J. E. Crane's depart- 

 ment of Siftings he speaks of the very im- 

 portant matter of putting each grade of hon- 

 ey by itself. In other words, he advises 

 grading honestly. While we believe that 

 bee keepers are as high a class as any peo- 

 ple in the world, yet it is nevertheless a fact 

 that a few, either through ignorance or mo- 

 tives of, shall we say, dishonesty, mix some 

 No. 2 with their No. 1 honey; and, worse yet, 

 nut the choicest and best of their No. 1 in 

 front of the glass, and the poorer sections in 

 the rear. There is nothing in the world that 

 will "queer" a producer in the mind of a 

 buyer more than this. He is rated as dis- 

 honest at once; and if the buyer has not paid 

 for the goods he will cut the whole shipment 

 down one or two cents a pound. In other 

 words, he is almost compelled to put the 

 grade no higher than the poorest sections in 

 each case or regrade the whole lot. If our 

 producer had in the first place done this 

 work properly, so there would be nothing 



