Published by The A. 1. Root Co., Medina, 0. 



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



A. I. Root, f]ditor Home Department. J. T. Calvert, Business Manager. 



Entered at the Postoffice, Medina, O., as Second-class matter. 



VOL. XL 



NOVEMBER 1. 1912 



NO. 2] 



Editorial 



THE COVER PICTURE. 



The scene on the cover for this issue rep- 

 resents a house-ajDiary at Vitznau, Switzer- 

 land, a little village on Lake Lucerne, at the 

 base of the Rigi Mountain. The track in 

 the foreground is the cog railroad leading 

 up the side of the Rigi, the niist-shrouded 

 heights of which appear in the background. 



In Europe house-apiaries ai*e much more 

 common than in this country, where they 

 are more the exception than the rule. The 

 alighting-boards for each colony are paint- 

 ed different colors so that the bees, and es- 

 ]iecially the young cpeens, may not so eas- 

 ily mistake other entrances for tlieir own. 



make sure of the winter stores. 



We have just been favored by a call 

 from S. D. House, Camillus, N. Y., and 

 P. G. Clark, who has been a partner of 

 G. M. Doolittle for many years. Mr. House, 

 as our readers know, is one of the most 

 expert comb-honey producers in the whole 

 country, and Mr. Clark is in the queen- 

 rearing business with Mr. Doolittle. 



Both of these beekeepers, Mr. House in 

 particular, have noticed the lack of stores 

 in the hives at this time of the year eom- 

 ]iared to other years, and they are fearful 

 that the smaller beekeepers will lose a large 

 l)roportion of their bees this coming win- 

 ter from starvation. The trouble is that 

 many will be deceived by looking dow^n 

 into the hive between the top-bars, and 

 jumj) to the conclusion that there are jjlen- 

 ty of stores because they can see sealed 

 lioney in the ujiper part of every comb, 

 when in many cases there is but half an 

 inch or so of honey, which will last the 

 bees but a short time at the best. 



Mr. House has been feeding 10 to 25 

 ])ounds of syrup per colony, in spite of the 

 fact that there were acres of goldenrod 

 in reach of his bees. Ordinarily, in the 

 fall he is able to take off a super of honey 

 gathered from fall sources and still leave 

 the brood-chamber with ami^le stores for 



winter; but this year he has had to do 

 extensiA'e feeding for the first time. The 

 wet and cold weather prevails in many 

 parts of the North, so that the bees could 

 not get out to work on the fall flowers. The 

 strictest attention sliould be i^aid, there- 

 fore, to the c^uestion of stores, for it is 

 needless to say that no amount of pack- 

 ing for shelter will winter the colony with- 

 out sufficient stores of good quality. 



death of JOHN S. HARBISON, PIONEER BEE- 

 KEEPER OF CALIFORNIA. 



Just as we go to press a postal card 

 bearing the following comes to hand: 



John S. Harbison, one who brought bees from 

 Pennsylvania across the Isthmus of Panama in 

 1857, died in San Diego, Cal., Oct. 12, aged 86 

 years and 15 days. He was an honest man and 

 a good citizen. 



San ilarcos, Cal., Oct. 15. G. P. Meeriam. 



While we feel sad that another veteran 

 has gone, we can rejoice that he was per- 

 mitted to live to a good old age. And, by 

 the way, is it not true that our veteran 

 beekeepers, especially the old standbys, the 

 most of them, live to a good old age? I 

 want to suggest to our good friend Dr. 

 Miller that he take care of himself, and 

 take particular pains to live as long as 

 possible. And I would say the same to 

 some others who are still "holding the fort." 



Some years after Mr. Harbison took the 

 lot of bees to California I grouped to- 

 gether the photographs of a good many of 

 the prominent beemen of the world. In 

 the very center I made a circle for the pic- 

 ture of Mr. Harbison ; and I did every 

 thing I could do to induce him to give me 

 a photogTaph of himself; but I did not 

 succeed, and so the picture card was sent 

 out with Harbison's place left blank. 



On my first visit to California I tried to 

 get acquainted with him; but he was very 

 busy, and at that time I Avas comparatively 

 little known to the bee-world, and so I did 

 not get very much in touch with him. In 

 1903, however, when we had a big conven- 

 tion in Los Angeles, he was very glad in- 



