O5bantn0S tn iin (Slnltnxt 



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



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



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



Entered at the PostofiEice, Medina, 0., as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XLI. 



JULY 1, 1913 



NO. 13 



Editorial 



In a note just received from our Cali- 

 fornia correspondent, Mr. P. C. Chadwick, 

 we learn that the Governor failed to ap- 

 prove the new foul-brood law, so the long 

 fight that the California beekeepers have 

 been going through must be fought over 

 again in all probability. Further partic- 

 ulars will be given in our Jul}' loth issue. 



OUR COVER PICTURE. 



Appropriate to the general subject of 

 this special number is our cover picture 

 showing a lot of fancy and No. 1 sections. 

 At first sight one would be inclined to call 

 some of these No. 2's, judging from the 

 photograph; but it must be remembered 

 that a picture always shows comb hone}' 

 worse than it really is. 



HONEY-CROP conditions ; CLOVER ABUNDANT 

 AND indications POINT TO A RECORD- 

 BREAKING YIELD FROM IT. 



Reports in general would indicate that 

 this has been the greatest year for clover 

 honey we have had for many years; but 

 the frosty weather along in May and early 

 June nipped the clovers in spots. Drouth 

 has likewise checked the flow in localities 

 in Illinois and New York. The reports of 

 an excellent flow are iDarticularly numerous 

 from Ohio, and very good from Indiana, 

 Michigan, and Pennsylvania ; and in West 

 Virginia and Tennessee the reports are 

 from good to bad. In some localities the 

 drouth that threatened to stop the flow of 

 nectar altogether has been relieved by heavy- 

 rains. Good reports come from Southwest 

 Texas, from Missouri, particularly in the 

 Ozark region. Reports are fair from Iowa, 

 and in the New England States the yield 

 has been fair to excellent. In New York 

 it was feared the flow would be a failure 

 from drouth ; but later reports indicate that 

 the drouth has been broken, and that there 

 is some prosiDeet of honej' yet. Reports as 

 yet are meager from Minnesota and Wis- 

 consin. Similarly we have heard but little 



from the alfalfa irrigated regions. There 

 is nothing to indicate, however, that the 

 season will be below normal. Reports from 

 California indicate that the season has been 

 poor all over that State, with one exception, 

 and that is from Santa Barbara Co. 



Just now it appears as if this were going 

 to be a great clover year. It is too early 

 yet to make a positive statement; but con- 

 ditions now seem to indicate that there will 

 be a record yield from clover. 



HONEY PRODUCTION AT THE MEDINA APIARIES 



These are busy days at our Medina yard. 

 There has been a remarkable bloom of clo- 

 ver, and it is still on this 25th day of June. 

 Indeed, we do not remember a time when 

 clover seemed to have yielded by the tub- 

 fuls as it does this season, unless it was the 

 year when A. I. Root secured his enormous 

 yield of extracted honey in the early 70's. 

 It was at that time that he was proposing 

 to build a big cistern of 100 barrels capac- 

 ity for the storage of his extracted honey. 

 He borrowed all wash-boilers and tubs in 

 that section of the town, and had them all 

 full. Perhaps this dream of his early days 

 was a little wild ; but it will be remembered 

 he was only a novice then, and he continued 

 to be Novice for several j^ears, writing un- 

 der that nom de plume for the old Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. 



So heavy has been the honey-flow that 

 Mr. Pritchard has complained that the bees 

 would actually clean out his grafting-cups 

 and fill them with honey. Some one face- 

 tiously remarked that if a few tin cups 

 could be passed around in some of the su- 

 pers the bees would fill them with honey. 

 Great scheme ! 



Swarming has been going on at a furious 

 rate. Our auto truck with our gang of four 

 men has been kept busy going back and 

 forth putting on supers, the men shinning 

 up trees after swarms. Even the editorial 

 force has been called into the field. On 

 more than one occasion the editor could 

 have been seen up in a tree chasing after a 

 swarm. 



