C6bamtt00 in ^Bn (txAtnxt 



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



H. H. Root, Assistant Editor E. R. Root, Editor A. L. Boyi>kn, 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 



JUNE 1, 1912 



NO. 11 



d]B{l®[PDS]D 



LOSS OF 600 COLONIES OF BEES BY SMELTER 

 GAS. 



We have heard that there has been a loss 

 of <iOO colonies of bees within a radius of 

 three or four miles of a sMver-smelter locat- 

 ed at Smithville, Ontario, Canada. There 

 is some talk of bringing an action against 

 the smelter company; but whether any 

 thing of this kiod will be done or not we 

 are not advised. 



OUR COVER PICTURE. 



The front cover of this issue represents a 

 characteristic piece of raspberry bee pastur- 

 age in Northern Michigan. The photo was 

 made by the late W. Z. Hutchinson. Rasp- 

 berries do best away from cultivated land in 

 territory that has been lumbered over, with 

 a growth of small trees just high enough to 

 shade the bushes. Such pasturage unfor- 

 tunately is not permanent, because, as the 

 trees grow taller, they choke out the bushes, 

 and the first forest fire cleans them out en- 

 tirely. For that reason, two years ago many 

 beekeepers had to move their apiaries from 

 the raspberry to other territory that had not 

 been devastated by forest fires. 



Raspberry honey, by the way, is regarded 

 as one of the finest honeys in the world. 

 Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson had 'no trouble in 

 selling all he could produce of it at two or 

 three cents above the market price. 



bees for sale 

 In view of the severe winter losses, and 

 with a desire to help out those who wish to 

 make a start again, we promised to give a 

 list of those who have bees for sale. The 

 following have sent in their names: 



(ieo. E. Smith, Hampstead. Md.; S. W. Taylor, 

 Hliickshinny, I'a.; H. E. Zech, Seven Valleys, I'a.: 

 J. I. Elliel, Punxsutawney, Pa.; G. W. Strangways, 

 Creeli Bank, Out.; R. J. Smith, Ticonderoea. N. Y.: 

 J. H. Manchester, Preble, N. Y.; S. .1. Alexander. 

 Fisher, Ark.; Mrs. Almeda Ellis, Fremont, Mo.: 

 Frederick. 111.: T. E. Hudson. Norfolk, Va.; VernO. 

 Derby, AVileyville, West Va. 



The only caution we wish to enter is that 

 the purchaser make sure that the bees are 

 free from disease of any sort, and that he 

 give instructions to have the hives before 

 shipping screened at the top and bottom. 

 No very strong colony should be sent by 

 rail. The extra-strong ones should be di- 

 vided and put into separate hives. Frames 

 should be securely faslened, and combs, if 



not wired, should be well attached to the 

 top-bar and end-bars at least. 



Those in need of bees would do well to 

 write to the i)arties named; and do not for- 

 get that the express on small lots will be 

 one and one half times the ordinary rate. 



trouble in CALIFORNIA. 



Just as we go to press, information comes 

 to us that Prof. A. J. Cook, State Horticul- 

 fural Commissioner of California, is being 

 severely censured by the fruit-growers be- 

 cause he summarily removed Chief Deputy 

 Quarantine Officer Brenner, who has charge 

 of keeping fruit pests from being imjiorted 

 into California. 



And there seems to be also some trouble 

 over car load shipments of bees from Utah 

 and Nevada into California, on the ground 

 that they would be overloading territory 

 that is already overstocked, and of the dan- 

 ger of bringing bee disease. At this writing 

 we have insufficient data upon which to 

 base any judgment as to the merits of ei- 

 ther case. Our California editor, Mr. P. C. 

 Chadwick, will doubtless have something 

 to say on the matter later on. 



A remarkably successful shipment of 



500 THREE-FRAME NUCLEI FROM 

 FLORIDA TO OHIO. 



We sent our apiarist, Mr. J. E. Marchant, 

 early this spring down to his father's, in Su- 

 matra, Fla., after a carload of bees. We 

 had previously shipped down 500 three- 

 frame'nucleus hives in the flat. These were 

 nailed up and filled with bees, and started 

 northward May 6, arriving here on the 13th 

 in splendid order in spite of the extremely 

 hot weather at the time of starting, and 

 very cold and rainy weather, ending in a 

 snowstorm, just before they arrived at Me- 

 dina. So successful was the shipment that 

 Mr. Marchant has been sent down for an- 

 other carload, and we expect him to arrive 

 at Medina on the 3d of June. Full details, 

 with illustrations, will be given in our next 

 issue In the mean time we feel that we 

 have a fine lot of Italian bees from the ter- 

 ritory where foul brood was never known to 

 exist. In fact, so far as we know there is 

 no foul brood— either European or Ameri- 

 can— in all Florida at the present time. 

 Years ago a little was known on the eat-t 

 coast; but in the Appalachicola region of 



