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



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



A. L Root, Editor Home Department J. T. Calvert, Business Manager 



Entered at the Postoffice, Medina, Ohio, as Seeond-class Matter 



VOL. XXXIX 



MAY 15, 1911 



NO. 10 



Editorial 



Stray Straws arrived too late for this 

 issue. 



THE HOUSE SERIES OF ARTICLES. 



Several of the York Staters are asking 

 why the S. D. House series of moving pic- 

 tures, illustrating his methods of comb-hon- 

 ey production, have not been forthcoming. 

 In the the first place, Mr. House has been 

 sick; and in the second place, our columns 

 have been crowded with two other moving- 

 picture series. The House articles will be- 

 gin with our next issue. 



A FEW TRICKS OF THE TRADE IN OUR SERIES 

 OF MOVIXG-PICTURE ARTICLES. 



Particular attention is called to the 

 method used by E. D. Townsend for getting 

 bees off the combs for the purpose of ex- 

 tracting — see page 80.3. We have seen Mr. 

 Townsend do this stunt. It certainly works. 

 Try it. 



And while you are about it, do not forget 

 to see the very valuable moving-picture 

 series by O. B. Metcalfe. Beginners and 

 veterans should read both articles, as they 

 are full of little tricks of the trade. 



A backward spring; colonies weak 



AND A SCARCITY OF BROOD. 



In a recent trip through Central New 

 York we found conditions there very satis- 

 factory for a clover and basswood flow this 

 coming season. It has been a backward 

 spring for most of the Northern States. 

 Clover, from the general information that 

 has come to this office, will be a month late. 

 While our bees are backward for this time 

 of J ear — that is, lacking the necessary force 

 of bees and brood — yet, assuming that they 

 have probably a month yet in which to 

 make up lost time, they will be ready for 

 the clover flow when it does come. 



MORE OUT -apiaries AND FEWER BEES TO 

 THE YARD. 



We find this spring that our Clark yard 

 is storing honey, and making preparations 

 to swarm while the home yard is barely 

 holding its own. The Clark bees have been 

 gathering honey from the hard maples; and 

 now that fruit-bloom is just opening up, 

 there will be something doing in that yard 

 unless we look out. We have decided on 

 the policy of scattering our bees in more 

 yards. 



One reason why the home yard has not 

 done better is because it is overstocked, and 

 because it is flanked on one side by a town 

 of 3000 inhabitants, the area of which fur- 

 nishes practically no nectar. The Clark 

 yard, on the other hand, is located four miles 

 from town and about a quarter of a mile 

 from woods of hard majile on all sides. 



It will certainly be a good policy for some 

 bee-keepers to have more apiaries and less 

 bees in each apiary. Where there is one 

 yard that will support 200 colonies there are 

 ten that will not support more than 50. 



MORTALITY AMONG BEES IN SOUTHERN 

 CALIFORNIA FROM 50 TO 80 PER CFNT. 



The following letter, received from one of 

 our correspondents in Redlands, Cal., will 

 explain itself. It would seem from this, 

 that if this condition is at all general there 

 will not be a large crop of mountain sage: 



Believing conditions throughout the country 

 should be reported through the columns of our 

 leading bee-journals I wish to report for this dis- 

 trict of California. What the conditions are else- 

 where In this State I can not say; but here they are 

 most deplorable, the mortality rate being not less 

 than 50 percent on an average, some apiaries going 

 as high as 80 per cent. The oranges are in full 

 bloom, with few bees to handle the immense flow 

 that is on: the sage also is beginning to yield. 



It is generally conceded to be the result of a long 

 dry summer and fall, with no breeding to keep up 

 the stocK of young bees, and the old stock dying be- 

 fore breeding could overcome the loss. 



Many colonies have died with quantities of 

 stores, others from lack of stores when extracting 

 was followed too closely and too late in the season. 



Redlands. Cal., April 25. P. C. Chadwick. 



We shall be glad to hear from any of our 

 other California readers. Write at once, 

 telling us of the conditions. If there is go- 

 ing to be a scarcity of California mountain 

 sage, let us know at once. 



It will not do any good to make condi- 

 tions any worse than they are; for when the 

 facts are actually known, the market will 

 take such a slump that it will go below 

 what it would have done had the facts been 

 correctly stated in the first place. The hon- 

 ey market has come to be so sensitive that 

 a false alarm does untold damage. While 

 the price may be boosted temporarily, yet 

 when the honey actually begins to pour into 

 the Eastern market there is bound to be a 

 fearful slump. If, on the other hand, the 

 market is prepared in advance, it will ad- 

 just itself accordingly. 



W^e have every reason to believe that Mr. 

 Chadwick, our correspondent above, has 

 given a true statement of the conditions as 

 they actually exist in his locality. 



