Published by The A: I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio 



H. ir. 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 Postofflce, Medina, Ohio, as Second-class Matter 



VOL. XL 



FEBRUARY 15, 1912 



NO. 4 



2)D°DaiU 



In our issue for Feb. 1, Stray Straws had 

 a corner cut out. The fact is, we did not 

 get our usual batch of Straws (or supposed 

 we didn't) and thereupon accused Dr. Mil- 

 ler of carrying them in his pocket instead of 

 mailing them. The "goak" is on the edi- 

 tor this time, for he found the missing 

 Straws under a pile of papers on his desk. 



ONE MORE OP THE PIONEERS GONE. 



We are sorry to announce the death of .J. 

 J. Ochsner, of Prairie du Sac, Wis. For a 

 great many years Mr. Ochsner was one of 

 the most extensive bee-keepers in his State, 

 at one time owning six apiaries. His death, 

 at the age of 88 years, which occurred .Janu- 

 ary 15, was quite sudden, as his health was 

 very good, owing to his firm belief in the 

 value of fresh air and exercise. On the 

 evening of .January 10 he was reading to his 

 wife, and had just finished reading our edi- 

 torial notice of the death of James Heddon 

 in the .January 1st issue, when he was taken 

 with a stroke of apoplexy, from which he 

 did not recover. 



Mr. Ochsner for a great miany years was 

 a reader of Gleanings, and we shall miss 

 him as one of our most loyal friends. 



honey STATISTICS, AGAIN; THE UNITED 

 STATES CENSUS RELATING TO THE BEE- 

 KEEPING INDUSTRY MISLEADING. 



We failed to observe in our comments on 

 the census returns, last issue, page 67, that 

 certain States had made a great increase in 

 the number of colonies over the previous dec- 

 ade. In this list we find Arizona, California, 

 Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, 

 and New Mexico. It will be observed that 

 this list comprises some of the V/estern 

 States where irrigation is being opened up 

 and alfalfa is being grown largely. In fact, 

 in nearly all other Statesof the Union there 

 has been a fallingoff in the number of col- 

 onies. Yet in spite of all these figures more 

 honey and beeswax have been produced in 

 the last decade than during the previous 

 period. This shows conclusively that the 

 business is going into the hands of the spe- 

 cialists, and that those specialists are secur- 

 ing larger returns per colony. While it is 

 true that producers in some of the irrigated 



regions are not making as large an average 

 as they did in the previous decade, owing to 

 overstocking, yet the box-hive bee-keeper 

 and the movable - frame bee-keepers who 

 don't read the bee- papers, and secured any- 

 where from five to ten pounds of box honey 

 have been eliminated, or almost entirely so. 

 The elimination of nearly a million of col- 

 onies with a very low average production in 

 the hands of such a class of bee-keepers nec- 

 essarily brings up the average of colonies in 

 the hands of the better class of producers. 

 It is a case of the survival of the fittest. 



PARCELS post. 



The following editorial from the Rural 

 New-Yorker for Feb. 3 is so much to the 

 point that we can not do better than to use 

 it, with the suggestion that every one of our 

 readers sit down at once and write to his 

 Senators and Representatives in Congress, 

 and do it soon. Here is the editorial in 

 question, from our esteemed contemporary: 



Next week we bepin the publication of the most 

 striking article yet printed on parcels post. Prof. 

 Price, of Ohio, is in Germany, and he will tell us in 

 a plain, practical way just how the German parcels 

 post is conducted and what it does for the German 

 people. The time is just ripe for this, for now is the 

 time to move upon Congress. There is a Presiden- 

 tial election this year. As they stand, both of the 

 old parties are discredited in the eyes of the public. 

 The leaders know this, no matter how they may 

 bluff and bluster, and one side will outbid the other 

 for popular favor if the demand can only be made 

 clear. Here then is the opportunity for parcels 

 post. If Congre.=s can let it die there Vv'ill be two or 

 four years more of inaction. Right now, at the 

 opening of this Presidential year, is the combina- 

 tion of time and the hour. Let every reader of the 

 Riu-ftl Xew- Yorker realize this. It is the time to 

 strike. Do not pass " resolutions " or sign petitions, 

 but spend 20 cents or more in postage stamps and 

 go right at the two Senators from your State and 

 the Congressman from your district and tell them 

 what you want. Do not threaten nor make any 

 promises. Treat them as men— a little more prom- 

 inent than you are, but still men with a good judg- 

 ment of human nature. They will know when you 

 mean business, or when you are chicken-hearted, 

 and they will eive you business or " tafTy "' as they 

 size you up. No one can win parcels post for you 

 without your aid. It will do little good to curse 

 these men at home or at the .store. Use the talking 

 tongue to stick a .stamp on a parcels-post letter. 



HOW THE BEES ARE WINTERING; WHY WE 

 ARE OPTIMISTIC. 



Some fears have been expressed by some 

 of our correspondents that the severe winter 

 we have been having may cause a heavy 



