GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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



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



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



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



VOL. XLIV. 



APRIL 1, 1916 



EDITORIAL 



NO. 7 



The Area of Sweet Clover Spreading 



Wk have alread}' reported how sweet 

 clover is occupying some of the hill country 

 of Kentucky; how land that was good for 

 nothing there is now worth as much as any 

 other farm land, because it will gTow sweet 

 clover, honey, pasturage, and hay. What 

 has been taking jjlace in Kentucky is mak- 

 ing a start up in the Ozark Mountains. See 

 article by Otis A. Griffith in tliis issue. 



Why Gleanings is Late Again 



We are under contract with a big paper 

 concern which supplies the paper on which 

 Gleanings is printed regularly. Glean- 

 ings is not one of the great magazines, by 

 any means, and yet it takes nearly three 

 tons of paper to get out a single issue. 

 Because of the influence of the great war 

 on the paper industry a carload of paper 

 that should have reached us weeks ago was 

 not shipped until March 24. It is needle.ss 

 to say that we did everything in our power 

 to get paper elsewhere ; but under these 

 trying times paper is simply unobtainable 

 on short notice. We hope that our readers 

 will bear with us, for of course matters of 

 this kind are entirely beyond our control. 



Prospects for 1916 Honey Crop 



Prospects for a large crop of honey the 

 coming season were never brighter. Re- 

 ports continue to be favorable in Califor- 

 nia, Colorado, and many parts of the West ; 

 and the prospects for clover thruout the 

 United States have not been as good for 

 years. The winter was mild, and there was 

 considerable snow during the latter part of 

 it. So far as we can ascertain, there was 

 little or no winter-killing, and clover honey 

 will be much in evidence next season — that 

 is, provided, of course, we do not get a 

 reversal of last season, and that is, a drouth, 

 if it should be verv dry in the late spring 

 or early summer, the clover that is now so 



very abundant will be of little or no use 

 to the beekeeper. 



Death of One of the Gleanings Office 

 Force 



We are more than sori-y to be obliged to 

 record the death of Miss Bessie Templeton, 

 who for more than ten years has been at 

 the head of our subscription department. 

 There is an endless amount of work, correct- 

 ing and changing addresses, and it is not a 

 small task to see that each subscriber of 

 Gleanings receives his copy regularly. 

 Miss Templeton has done this work most 

 faithfully and well. 



For a time there is bound to be some 

 delay in entering new names and making 

 corrections necessitated by changes of ad- 

 dresses. We hope our subscribers will be 

 patient with us until this work can be reor- 

 ganized once more. 



Wintering Thruout the United States 



It is a little early yet; but so far the 

 average of the reports regarding wintering 

 are favorable. But one man in Montana 

 says the losses will be the severest in years. 

 Another, from Ontario, Canada, says he is 

 fearful that they will be very heavy. By 

 consulting Weather Bureau maps we find 

 that it has been much colder relatively in 

 Ontario than in that portion of our country 

 south of the Great Lakes. Indeed, up till 

 March the winter was very mild. But March 

 was a little cold, and it is probable that 

 there will be some losses reported yet. 



Our own bees, so far as examined (and 

 we have gone over about 300), especially 

 those in the big quadruple eases, have win- 

 tered with a loss of 7. None died in the 

 big winter cases except one, and that starv- 

 ed; and not only that, they are in splendid 

 condition — the best we have known in years. 

 This is gratifying. We put the bees in 

 winter quarters veiy late last fall. The 

 home yard of 174 shows no dysentery and 

 almost no spotting of the hives. 



