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



H. H. 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 tlie Postoffiee, Medina, O.. as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XL 



AUGUST 1, 1912 



NO. 15 



d]D{l(DD°DaD 



THE FRONT COVER PAGE OF THIS ISSUE. 



The front cover page of this issue shows 

 a characteristic apiary seen on the moun- 

 tain sides in California. The picture was 

 originally taken by Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson. 

 The locality is apparently one of mountain 

 sage. 



HONEY PROSPECTS. 



There is not much to add to what we 

 have already given on page 430 of our last 

 issue, except to say this : Reports would in- 

 dicate that clover has yielded tremendously 

 ill some large areas. Michigan is begin- 

 ning to show some good reports. Illinois 

 and Indiana continue to show that the sea- 

 son has not been very good. Reports from 

 California are still unfavorable. Many let- 

 ters show a lack of bees to gather the crop 

 of clover where it is yielding well, and this 

 fact will make a slight shortage in some lo- 

 calities. 



A FREE BEE BOOK FOR TEXAS. 



The Texas Department of Agriculture 

 has just issued a bulletin on bees, entitled 

 "Texas Beekeeping," by Louis H. SchoU. 

 It is, in fact, a complete text book on the 

 subject, for it comprises 142 pages about 

 the size of this. We jjresume that all Tex- 

 as beekeepers can obtain a copy free of 

 charge. Apply to the Commissioner of 

 AgTieulture, Austin, Texas. 



As nearly as we can judge from a rapid 

 scanning of the pages here and there, the 

 matter seems to be carefully and well writ- 

 ten, particularly with reference to the con- 

 ditions as they exist in Texas. The book is 

 well illustrated, many of the cuts having 

 been taken from this journal. 



SOWIKG AND reaping; WAITING FORTY 

 YEARS FOR A CROP. 



Some of the old gray-headed veterans 

 will remember the time when we got short 

 of barrels to contain our extracted honey, 

 and your humble servant borrowed the 

 wash-tubs of the neighbors; and when tliese 

 were all full we borrowed the wash-boilers. 



Wash-day came, and the good women came 

 around wanting their utensils. But there 

 was no place to put the honey. Mrs. Root 

 asked, "Oh! won't those bees ever stop 

 bringing in basswood honey?" It was 

 about ten years after the war, and new "ex- 

 tracted" honey was selling in Cleveland as 

 a novelty for 25 cents i^er pound. I finally 

 told "Sue" that we would pump the water 

 out of the cistern and scrub it up nice and 

 clean, and fill it with honey. Well, under 

 the stimulus of this gi'eat yield of bass- 

 wood and clover I scraped up money 

 enough to purchase a ten-acre lot in which 

 I planted 4000 basswood trees; and we 

 have waited patiently ovei- forty years to 

 see if another such harvest from clover and 

 basswood would come, and now we have it. 

 Pretty close to ten tons of honey, both comb 

 and extracted, have been taken off during 

 the iDast three or four weeks. (The two car- 

 loads of bees from Florida have "paid the 

 freight," anyway.) Praise God, from 

 whom all blessings "flow;" and if you too, 

 my friend, have also been getting a gi'eat 

 "flow" of honey, can't you say amen to the 

 above?— A. I. R. 



ABSCONDING SWARMS; TRAPPING THEM BY 



MEANS OF DECOY HIVES, OIL 



OF ANISE, ETC. 



After the article and picture on page 

 482 was in press I recalled that the matter 

 was already touched on in the ABC and 

 X Y Z of Bee Culture, at the close of 

 "Swarming." An instance is there men- 

 tioned of a beekeeper in California who se- 

 cured 17 swarms by having his empty hives 

 stacked up near the ajjiary. 



In regard to the oil of anise, some years 

 ago a fellow in the South was getting a lot 

 of money by "selling secrets" for capturing 

 swarms. So far as I can recall, his secret 

 was oil of anise to attract the runaway 

 swarms. Referring to the article on page 

 482, the writer says he never saw a swarm 

 of bees until that spring; and then he 

 states, as I understand it, that he and his 



