Published by The A. I. Root Co., Medina, 0. 



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 Postoffice, Medina, O., as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XLI. 



APRIL 15, 1913 



NO. 8 



Editorial 



OUR COVER PICTURE. 



The view seen on our cover for this issue 

 shows a part of the apiary of August de 

 Malachowski, whose illustrated article ap- 

 pears on another page. In the foreground 

 is shown the old model of the hive " Elita," 

 as it appeared in 1909. The brick tenement 

 hives are also shown, each of which con- 

 tains four colonies. 



" A BATTLE WITH BEES." 



An article under the above heading ap- 

 pears in the December issue of the Wide 

 World Magazine. The story was told orig- 

 inally by Mr. Philip J. Baldensperger, an 

 apiarist in the Holy Land, and reported by 

 Frederick Lees. The article is intensely 

 interesting, and any of our readers who 

 have an opportunity to get a copy of this 

 magazine will make no mistake in reading it. 

 The article is illustrated by some beautiful 

 engravings of colonies of bees loaded on 

 camels, of Mr. Baldensperger's apiary, etc. 



WHY A LIGHT MOTOR TRUCK FOR OUTYARDS. 



We recently purchased a small motor 

 truck capable of carrying 1000 lbs. to be 

 used in connection with our system of out- 

 a2:)iaries. The reasons we use a compara- 

 tively small machine are, low first cost, low 

 upkeep, quick trips, and often. A large 

 truck carrying two or tlu-ee thousand pounds 

 would be heavy and unwieldy. It would 

 cut deep into meadows and fields where the 

 apiaries are located. A light truck will 

 carry as much aggi'egate weight in a day or 

 a week, because it will go oftener. This is 

 important, because the men should keep in 

 close touch with the yards. Our general 

 plan is to have a crew of two or thi-ee men 

 take care of all the yards. If time is mon- 

 ey it is important that these men be trans- 

 ported to their work as quickly as possible. 

 During the height of the season a motor 

 cycle in addition to the truck will carry a 

 man from one yard to another to look after 



swarms, cells, or other work of that nature, 

 in a very short time. 



We are just now distributing our 600 

 colonies around in fruit-orchards. The 

 fruit-men are asldng us to put bees on their 

 ranches ; and, of course, it is to our interest 

 to put them there. Our plans are now to 

 have seven or eight yards — possibly more; 

 and the advantage of a small truck capable 

 of carrying 25 colonies at a time is that it 

 can move the bees at any time to pastures 

 new. In one particular case we expect to 

 move 100 colonies to a fruit-ranch of be- 

 tween sixty and seventy acres of fruit-trees 

 ten luiles distant. There is little or no clo- 

 ver in that locality. When the season of 

 fruit-bloom is over it is our intention to 

 move to where much alsike is grown. Four 

 trips will move the whole yard of 100 colo- 

 nies in less time than it takes to move with 

 a two-horse team, because the distance will 

 be great. Our experience is that a team, 

 driver, and ajjiarist, will take about a whole 

 day and sometimes into the night to go 

 after a yard of forty colonies eight miles 

 away, and bring them back home and put 

 them in the cellar. That same bunch of 

 forty colonies could easily be moved with a 

 motor truck capable of carrying a thousand 

 pounds on two trips in less than half the 

 time; and, what is more, it is sting-proof. 



We have studied this question from a 

 good many different angles; and the more 

 we study it, the more we believe a light truck 

 ,will be much better than a heavy one that 

 will tear up the soil in getting to and from 

 the yard. 



A CAUTION ABOUT SENDING HONEY OR PACK- 

 AGES OF BEES BY PARCEL POST. 



The Rocky Mountain Bee Co., in this 

 issue, asks for information on how to send 

 honey by parcel post. The matter is of 

 such importance that we thought best to 

 give our reply here. While it is i^erfectly 

 practicable to send eggs, comb honey, and 

 other fragile articles for a short distance, 

 say for rural delivery, we doubt whether it 

 is ad^dsable to try to send such articles any 



