Jeaimmgs aim Bee Celltimre 



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



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



I. Root, Editor Home Uepartmeiit. J. T. Calvkrt, Business Mgr. 



Entered at the Postoffice, Medina, Ohio, as second-class matter. 



VOL. XLII. 



APRIL 15, 1914 



NO. 7 



EDITOEIAL, 



Latesll; Reporte froim ttlie Apaladaico- 



Honey is, ooming in from blacii tupeio 

 with a rush — so much so that it is crowding 

 our queens and delaying brood-rearing. See 

 page 306. As we are running almost en- 

 tirely for increase we should prefer a more 

 moderate flow. Prospects for white tupeio 

 are excellent, and this is the main source of 

 honey for that district. In spite of the 

 backward weather in February and March, 

 conditions are very good for making the 

 expected increase. Perhaps the question 

 may be asked, '' What is the ' expected in- 

 crease ' 1 " Well — er, we'll tell later after 

 we get it. 



Later. — Black tupeio stopped on the 6tb 

 with white tupeio about ten days off. 



According to a clipping from the Los 

 Angeles Times, reprinted in the Western 

 Honey-bee, H. J. Mercer, lawyer, beekeep- 

 er, supply manufacturer, and supjoh^ dealer 

 at Los Angeles, has been given a sentence 

 of nine years in Sing Sing prison for forg- 

 ing a mortgage of $250 on an aged woman. 

 We are also informed that he was wanted 

 in Los Angeles " on a felony complaint 

 charging him with hypothecating fraudulent 

 notes alleged to be worth $2000." It is 

 further alleged that detectives who have 

 been on his trail assert that he got away 

 with at least $75,000 from other sources in 

 the past year or two. 



We are very sorry to hear this — more so 

 because Mr. Mercer was a bright keen 

 young man, capable of earning an honest 

 living as a lawyer, as a bee-supply dealer, 

 or as a beekeeper. 



History repeats itself. The young man 

 started out as thousands of others have done 

 with a good bringing-up and with an honest 

 heart. As nearly as we can learn, he was 

 trying to do things on too large a scale. He 

 incurred obligations which he could not 



meet, and then sometlung happened — temp- 

 tation, flight from justice, and finally prison 

 walls. 



The reader should not get H. J. Mercer 

 confused with L. E. Mercer, a prominent 

 beekeeper of California who enjoys an hon- 

 orable record. 



While in many places bees in the South 

 can work every day in the year, that simply 

 means that the bees that go into late fall 

 or winter will not see spring. The old bees 

 will constantly die oft', and the young bees 

 will take their jdaces. This means that 

 brood-rearing will continue with interrup- 

 tions all winter. If 10 to 15 lbs. would 

 take care of a colony of bees for six or 

 seven months in a good cellar in the North, 

 it would probably take four or five times 

 as much to carry the same colony through 

 for the same period in many parts of the 

 South. Said Mr. 0. 0. Poppleton, "My 

 problem is not so much to encourage brood- 

 rearing as to keep it down. Constant breed- 

 ing compels the bees to fly for water, pol- 

 len, and nectar, wearing themselves out. 



If a colony in southern Florida can gathei- 

 a surplus of 50 lbs. average, when the sea- 

 son is at its best, those same bees will prob- 

 ably gather, during the entire season, four 

 or flve times as much honey as a similar 

 force of bees would in the North. If it 

 were not for the constant renewing of bee 

 blood our Southern beekeepers would have 

 a great bonanza of honey production. 



The OM Original BcDok, " Langg 



The reprint of the old original edition of 

 '' Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey- 

 bee," dated 1853, and containing over 400 

 pages, in cloth, is now ready for distribu- 

 tion. Our older readers will remember that 



