(illMmttp t« 1^^ Culture 



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

 E. R. Root, Editor. 



H. II. R OT, Assistant Editor. 



A. I. Root. Editor Home Department. 



Entered at the Postoffir-e, Meiliu 



A. L. BOYDEN. Advertising Manager. 

 J. T. Calvekt, Business Manager. 

 O.. as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XL 



JULY 1, 1912 



NO. 13 



d]Dil®D°Da]D 



Ple.\se send in postal-card reports, of 

 one or two sentences, telling what the pros- 

 pects for honey are this season in order 

 that we may make up a general report for 

 the entire country. 



Our cover picture for this special issue 

 represents an extracting apiarj- toward the 

 close of the honey-flow, with the full supers 

 stacked up four and five high. Talk about 

 a refreshing sight for tired eyes ! Is there 

 any sight that is grander, to a beekeeper, 

 than a nicely kept apiary of "sky-scraper 

 hives"? This picture was made from one 

 of Mr. Hutchinson's old negatives. We 

 have now used ten of them in all, as cover 

 pictures for the following numbers — De- 

 cember l,"), January 15, February 1, Feb- 

 ruary 15, March 1, March 15, April 15, 

 May 15, June 1, and July 1. 



PROSPECTS FOR THE HOXET CROP THIS 

 SEASOX. 



If it had not been for the terrible losses 

 of the bees over the country last winter and 

 spring, indications are that tliis would have 

 been one of the best honey years ever 

 known. As it is, in many parts of the coun- 

 try, especially the clover districts of the 

 Xorth. bees are booming. Tons of nectar 

 will go to waste this year because there are 

 not enough bees to gather it. In the vicin- 

 ity of Medina, at least, we are having one 

 of the old-fashioned heavy yields from clo- 

 ver; and at this date, June 25, we are hav- 

 ing to extract in our queen-rearing apiaries 

 — souietlung that we are almost never 

 obliged to do. We have five outyards be- 

 sides the home yard. All hands are busy 

 giving room and extracting. With white 

 and alsike clover in their prime, and bass- 

 wood just beginning to bloom, and with a 

 greater abundance of sweet clover than we 

 have ever known, the prospect cei'tainly 

 looks very bright for honey at I^Iedina. We 

 have learned not to be too hopeful, how- 

 ever, for "there is many a slip 'twixt cup 

 and lip." 



FIVE-BAXDED OR GOLDEN-TO-THE-TIP YELLOW 

 BEES; DO SUCH BEES ACTUALLY EXIST? 



There has been considerable correspon- 

 dence between the breeders of extra-yellow 

 bees and tliis office as to what constitutes 

 five-banded stock. Some breeders, evident- 

 ly, have been counting the dark segments 

 as well as the yellow ones to make up the 

 five bands. Others say there is no such 

 tiling as an all-five-banded colony, and that 

 they have never advertised such bees. Oth- 

 ers say that it is impossible to breed bees 

 that will show yellow to the tip — that is, 

 bees having abdomens entirely yellow with- 

 out any black showing at all. We are in- 

 clined to believe that this statement is en- 

 tirelj' true. It is an eas}^ matter, compara- 

 tively, to produce queens which will have 

 abdomens that are entirely yellow, and it is 

 comparatively easy to produce queens that 

 will produce drones that are yellow all over; 

 but we have yet to see any queen that will 

 produce yellow-all-over bees to the extent 

 of ninety to ninety-five or even one hundred 

 ]jer cent of the entire bees of the colony. It 

 is our opinion that, where a breeder adver- 

 tises five-banded bees, he should furnish 

 exactly that kind of stock — that is to say, 

 queens that will produce five-banded to the 

 extent of ninety per cent of the whole colo- 

 ny. Queens that will produce bees ten per 

 cent five-banders, fifty per cent four-band- 

 ers, and forty per cent three-banders, do 

 not come up to the standard by a long way, 

 if we are any judge. We do not think there 

 is one of our queen-breeders who has a de- 

 sire to misrepresent in his advertising in the 

 least. A part of this confusion in adver- 

 tising has come about through a misunder- 

 standing as to what constitutes yellow-to- 

 the-tip bees or five-banded bees. An adver- 

 tiser can advertise truthfully yellow-all- 

 over queens or queens that will produce 

 yellow-all-over drones. The public should 

 understand, however, that not the color of 

 the drones nor the color of the queen con- 

 stitutes the color of the bees themselves. A 



