leaeiitigs in Bee CeltmiF' 



Published by The A. I. Root Co., 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, Buh,iness Mgr. 



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



VOL. XLII. 



MAY 1, 1914 



NO. 8 



EDITORIAL 



We wish to call particular attention to 

 the article by R. F. Holtermann, on the 

 importance of drawn combs in practical 

 beekeeping. 



Our old' friend Prof. E. G. Baldwin, of 

 Deland, Fla., is now one of the associate 

 editors of the Beekeepers' Review. We 

 congTatulate both. By the way, the last 

 issue of our esteemed contemporary is full 

 of good matter;, and, what is more, it is a 

 true Association organ devoted to Associa- 

 tion matter. Mr. Townsend, the editor-in- 

 chief, is an experienced beekeeper; and that 

 is of supreme importance in the matter of 

 selecting material for publication. 



In the 29 years that we have had editorial 

 charge of this journal, we do not remember 

 a single spring when the reports showed 

 such universally good wintering. This 

 means, of course, that bees throughout the 

 country will be stronger and in better con- 

 dition for the harvest. 



There has been a large amount of rain 

 and snow during the past winter, and this 

 is all very favorable for the growth of 

 clover and other honey-plants; but the 

 precipitation has been so excessive that we 

 fear a drouth may set in along in May or 

 June. The United States Weather Bureau 

 says that one extreme is likely to be follow- 

 ed by the other. We can only hope that 

 history will not repeat itself this coming 

 summer. 



The latest reports from Mr. Marchant go 

 to show that we have been having at our 

 Apalachicola apiary a heavy flow from 



black tupelo — so much so that it has been 

 crowding the queens, interfering with breed- 

 ing and with the drawing-out of the frames 

 of foundation. The boys were expecting to 

 extract, beginning with the week of the 

 13th, to give the queens room to lay. Our 

 Mr. Marchant is m,aking a desperate effort 

 to make his big increase; but the cool 

 weather in February and March, and the 

 heavy flow from black tupelo, have been 

 interfering with his plans. He begs, there- 

 fore, that he be given a little more time; 

 but the early spring in the North is shoving 

 out the fruit buds ahead of time, and we 

 may have to move one car of bees ahead of 

 our schedule. Mr. Marchant doesn't like 

 this a little bit. 



laicrease in the Cellar 

 We reserved about 125 colonies at Medi- 

 na, and the rest, 300, were sent to Apalach- 

 icola, as before explained. The Medina 

 bees were left outdoors in double-walled 

 hives until in December when snow was on 

 the ground. They were then brought in on 

 sleds and wagons and put in our two cellais 

 — one under the macliine-shop and one at 

 the warehouse which is made entirely of 

 concrete and brick. The walls are so mas- 

 sive in the latter place that a nearly uniform 

 temperature is maintained, and the bees 

 there were practically undisturbed all win- 

 ter. Soine of the colonies under the ma- 

 chine-shop were fed hard candy. The pur- 

 pose of giving them candy was to stimulate 

 brood-rearing, and it did. Our Mr. Pritch- 

 ard, who has just taken the bees out, reports 

 that many of them are much stronger now 

 than when they went into the cellar last 

 December, for breeding continued more or 

 less all winter; and even the bees in the 

 warehouse did not lose in strength, but 

 rather gained. There was no loss in either 

 cellar except among four or five that had 

 been robbed of queens and bees for observa- 

 toi"y hives in show windows. 



