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



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 the Postoffice, Medina. Ohio, as Second-class Matter 



VOL. XXXIX 



NOVEMBER 15, 1911 



NO. 22 



(^OftOD^D 



In many localities in the North, especial- 

 ly at outyards, it is advisable to have the 

 entrance slot of outdoor-wintered colonies 

 not deeper than Vs, or. better, -fy, inch, to 

 keep out field-mice. They will make bad 

 work of the combs, and often so stir up the 

 cluster that the bees in their disturbed con- 

 dition freeze to death. 



ELIMINATING ONE MEANS FOR THE SPREAD 

 OF FOUL, BROOD. 



Most of the queen-breeders of the coun- 

 try have agreed to boil the honey they use 

 in making queen-cage candy. This is en- 

 couraging, for it will eliminate the possibil- 

 ity of spreading disease through this means. 

 We will publish the list of the breeders who 

 agree to boil, when it is more complete. 



OUR COVER PICTURE. 



The statistician of the reclamation service 

 at Washington is doing a good work in get- 

 ting data before the public concerning the 

 possibilities of newly developed land. The 

 picture of H. N. Simmon's apiary in the 

 Yuma Valley, Arizona, page 272, May 1, 

 was from the reclamaiion service, as is also 

 the striking picture of the Arizona apiary 

 on our cover for this issue. This apiary, by 

 the way, is in the Salt River Valley, the 

 climate of which is vividly described by L. 

 M. Brown, page 698. If an egg can be fried 

 on a stone heated only by the sun, it is no 

 wonder that a framework is necessary for 

 shade. Bees should have no difficulty in 

 ripening the honey in that kind of climate. 



WINDBREAKS FOR BEES WINTERED OUT- 

 DOORS. 



Mr. Robert B. McCain, and R. F. Hol- 

 termann, in this issue, emphasize the very 

 great importance of having windbreaks for 

 bees wintered outdoors. VVe are satisfied, 

 from an experience covering about forty 

 years, that, while a good windbreak is not 

 absolutely an essential in outdoor wintering, 

 yet it is a very important requisite. Usual- 

 ly an apiary can be well screened if it be lo- 

 cated in the center of an orchard, or in a 

 grove or next to a wods. A solid tight 

 board fence is not necessary. A few low 

 bushy trees or shrubs surrounding an apia- 



ry will do very much to break the force of 

 the wind. 



HORSES hitched TO A WAGONLOAD OF 



HONEY AT THE END OF A LONG ROPE 



WHEN ROBBERS ARE BUSY. 



We wish to call attention particularly to 

 the device mentioned by Louis H. Scholl, 

 in "Bee-keeping in the Southwest," in this 

 issue, page 682. Very often it is not safe to 

 bring horses close to the bees, and it means 

 considerable expense and loss of time to 

 carry the honey from the honey-house to 

 the wagon stationed at a safe distance. 

 Some, in order to avoid all danger, leave 

 the wagon some distance away and haul 

 the honey to it on a wheelbarrow. Mr. 

 Scholl's plan seems the best of any we have 

 seen, for the rope can be long enough to al- 

 low the horses to be as far away as need be. 



The only difficulty in the plan that we 

 can see would be steering the wagon when 

 the driver was alone; and if there were 

 many obstructions or a curved road or track 

 there might be some difficulty. However, 

 even then we presume it would be possible 

 for the driver walking a few feet ahead of 

 the wagon-tongue to steer it without much 

 trouble by pulling one way or the other on 

 the rope, which, with judicious driving of 

 the horses, might work all right. 



FEEDING SVRUP LATE IN THE FALL WHEN 

 THE WEATHER IS A LITTLE CHILLY. 



It is quite useless to feed a cold syrup 

 when the temperature outside is down be- 

 low 50° F., because the bees will rarely take 

 it from the feeder unless the colony is very 

 strong, and well housed; but when the syr- 

 up is fed as hot as the hand can be held in 

 it, the bees will take it at once and empty 

 the feeder. 



We feed our outyard colonies hot syrup 

 in this way: We lake a cheap galvanized 

 wash-tub and use it outdoors as our grnnd- 

 fathers used the old iron kettles for heat- 

 ing water. The tub, like the kettle, is 

 leveled up on three or four stones of suita- 

 ble size, and filled about a third full with 

 water. A fire is built under the tub; and 

 when the wnier is boiling, enough sugar is 

 gradvaUy stirred in till the tub is nearly 



