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



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



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



Entered at the Postofflce, Medina, Ohio, as Second-class Matter 



VOL. XL 



MARCH 15, 1912 



NO. 6 



dloi^cDfPDaiD 



Mb. Wesley Foster, in this issue, has a 

 very fair article on honey-crop reports that 

 is well worth reading. 



E. R. Root left for Bradentown, Fla., 

 March 4, and expects to return to his office 

 on the 29th of the same month. This will 

 explain why the answer to some of his let- 

 ters may be delayed until his return. 



THAT TOBACCO ARTICLE 



In publishing the tobacco article as given 

 on page 162 of this issue, it is not our pur- 

 pose to boom or sanction an industry which 

 we do not approve, but to show how bees 

 pollinate the plant. In doing this we mere- 

 ly wish to show that if bees can pollinate 

 what we consider to be of no real economic 

 benefit to man they can also pollinate a 

 plant that gives real life and health to both 

 men and women. 



EXTRA-LARGE EDITION OF OUR HORTICUL- 

 TURAL NUMBER 



We are printing an extra-large edition 

 of this special number on "Bees and Fruit;" 

 and if beekeepers will send us a list of the 

 names of fruit men in their vicinity who 

 might be helped by the educational ar- 

 ticles on fruitgrowing published in this 

 number, we shall be very glad to send them 

 a copy without charge. In this way we 

 hope to help the beekeepers themselves as 

 well as the fruit men. 



THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR BEES IN OR- 

 CHARDS 



Elsewhere in this issue Prof. H . A. Sur- 

 face, Economic Zoologist, Harrisburg, calls 

 attention to the fact that there is an increas- 

 ing number of orchardists who are asking 

 to have bees located among their trees. Mr. 

 N. E. France, General ISIanager of the Na- 

 tional Beekeepers' Association, who has 

 traveled extensively, finds that the fruit- 

 growers over the country are either buying 

 bees and putting them in their orchards, or 

 are offering the free use of their orchards to 

 beekeepers if they will only put their bees 

 there. In most cases beekeepers will do 

 well to hunt up the fruitgrowers and inform 

 them of the important work performed by 

 bees in pollinating their trees. This should 



be done at once. By so doing good locations 

 may be secured free of cost. 



SEASON PROSPECTS 



It is still too early to give any thing like 

 a definite summary of the few reports on 

 wintering that have come in. However, at 

 this time it seems safe to say that the colo- 

 nies in the northern States that were in 

 good condition in the fall, and that were 

 packed well out of doors, or wintered in good 

 cellars, will come through without much 

 loss. In those j^arts of the country where 

 the winters are not usually sev^ere, there 

 seems to be quite a heavy loss, owing to the 

 beekeepers having been taken unawares by 

 the extreme cold. We may be mistaken; 

 but at this date, March 11, it looks as though 

 there might be a somewhat greater mortali- 

 ty, the country over, than usual. 



The rain, so long delayed in California, 

 came at last; but the general feeling is that 

 the prospect of a honey crop is very doubt- 

 ful outside of the irrigated districts, on ac- 

 count of the fact that sage and other honey- 

 producing plants have made no growth ow- 

 ing to the very severe drouth. 



In the South, the conditions in general 

 seem to be normal, although in the south- 

 western part of Florida one-half to two- 

 thirds of the colonies are dead. In the east- 

 ern and central part of the State, conditions 

 are much better. Those in Georgia and 

 tho.se throughout the cotton belt, in fact, 

 are in fine order; but those in other parts of 

 the South, not near the cotton belt, are in 

 rather poor condition, owing to the drouth 

 during the latter part of the summer. In 

 the clover regions of Mississippi and Ala- 

 bama the bees are in good condition. Re- 

 ports from the Carolinas indicate that there 

 has been no more loss than usual. 



Most of the few reports that we have from 

 Illinois indicate rather heavy losses, al- 

 though when the full returns are in, a sum- 

 mary of the whole state may not reveal se- 

 rious losses. Scattering reports from other 

 parts of the country do not show any thing 

 very definite as yet. This winter has em- 

 phasized most plainly the importance of 

 having the colonies headed by young, vig- 

 orous queens that will make certain a good 

 proportion of young bees in the fall. 



