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



n. IT. 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 Postoflace, Medina, C as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XL 



SEPTEMBER 15, 1912 



NO. 18 



Editorial 



WHY DOESN T THE AVERAGE PRODUCER GRADE 

 HIS COMB HONEY? 



One large buyer complains that the aver- 

 age producer does not grade his comb 

 honey at all, or else does it so poorly that 

 the honey has to be graded again before it 

 is fit to send out. If this is true, it is small 

 wonder that he cannot get good prices. As 

 a general thing the buyer charges for re- 

 grading, at a price that will make it pos- 

 sible for the producer to make big wages 

 if he would do it himself. Dealers, other 

 things being equal, will buy continuously 

 of the man who grades honestly and intel- 

 ligently, so he knows every year what he 

 is going to get when he orders a fancy, 

 No. 1, or a choice. 



We respectfully suggest that every bee- 

 keeper use the grading rules adopted by the 

 Colorado State Beekeepers' Association. 



UNIFORM GRADING RULES. 



In our issue for July 1 we endorsed the 

 grading rules adopted by the Colorado Bee- 

 keepers' Association. We kneAV nothing 

 about what Editor Tyrrell was going to say 

 on the subject, and he was ignorant of 

 what we were to say; but apparently he 

 was of the same mind as ourselves, as is 

 ev;idenced by the Beekeepers' Review for 

 July. We are now informed that the sug- 

 gestions made by both of us are to be car- 

 ried into effect by the National Beekeepers' 

 Association appointing a committee of hon- 

 ey-producers and honey dealers to formu- 

 late a set of gxading rules which it is hoped 

 will be adopted by beekeepers of the East 

 as well as of the West. Good ! With some 

 slight modifications the Colorado rules 

 could be made to fit Eastern beekeepers. 



SHIPPING BEES WITHOUT COMBS, AGAIN. 



On page 502, Aug. 15, we referred to the 

 possibility of shipping bees long distances, 

 even in car lots, without combs. For some 

 years back we have made a practical suc- 

 cess of shipping bees in pound and half- 

 pound lots all over the United States. So 

 far no obstacle has been encountei-ed ex- 



cept during extremely hot weather such as 

 we have been having for the last few days. 

 During such torrid spells some packages do 

 not go through in the best of condition. 

 The probabilities are that the express han- 

 dlers pile other packages over the packages 

 of bees, completely shutting off the air. 

 When bees suffer from want of air, water 

 seems to accomplish wonders. We are, 

 therefore, during this week of exceedingly 

 warm weather, trying the sending of pack- 

 ages of bees equipped with bottles of wa- 

 ter. We shall be glad to give our readers 

 the results of the experiments. 



We sent three pounds of bees in one 

 package to Dr. C. C. Miller, and the report 

 came back promj^tly that only four of the 

 bees Avere dead. We sent a like package to 

 Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, Washington, while the weather was 

 extremely warm, and the bees arrived there 

 in bad condition. To-day, SejDt. 10, is one 

 of the hottest days we have ever known, 

 and we are just sending another 3-lb. pack- 

 age to Dr. Phillips, with a bottle of water. 



At this time of the year 3 lbs. will take 

 up all the bees of a fair-sized colony. As- 

 suming that brood-rearing has stopped, it 

 would be possible to ship several hundred 

 3-lb. packages of bees, and put them on 

 other sets of combs on arrival at destina- 

 tion. But we will not build any air castles 

 until we see how our little air castles grow. 

 More anon. 



HONEY-CROP CONDITIONS. 



Frequent rains over the country, es- 

 pecially east of the Mississippi, and the 

 extremely warm weather, have stimulated 

 the secretion of nectar, not only from be- 

 lated white clover but from alsike and the 

 second crop of red clover. There has been 

 reiDorted a fine fall flow in many sections 

 from asters and goldenrod. Some reports 

 from New York indicate a failure of buck- 

 wheat. A representative has been up 

 through the Northwest in Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota, and he reports there will be 



