GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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



E. R. Root, Editor H. H. Root, Managing Editor 



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



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



VOL. XLIV. 



AUGUST 1, 1916 



NO. 15 



EDITORIAL 



In our issue for July 1 we should have 

 made special raention of the article by H. 

 H. Mclntyre on how to get all the honey 

 from the cappings. There is another article 

 that deserves special mention — the one by 

 G. A. Dcadman on a plan for cleaning 

 honey-combs after extracting. If the read- 

 er has not already read these two articles 

 he should do it yet. 



Idiosyncrasies of the Clover Flow 



In our locality, which is dryer than most 

 places in the United States, the clover yield 

 has been somewhat fitful. Bees would be 

 idle until about noon, and then they would 

 get busy again as the day wore on. Our 

 extracting had to be postponed in some 

 cases on this account. There would be noth- 

 ing doing in the morning; but in the after- 

 noon the combs began to show .raw nectar. 



In some localities the bees will be busy all 

 day. In one place in particular they will 

 bring in more honey in the morning than in 

 the afternoon ; and the suggestion has been 

 made that perhaps the bees stay out all 

 night because they are too far away to get 

 home; and when the sun is up they hike for 

 home with a big load of nectar. 



The Net-weight Law, Again 



Questions continue to come in about this 

 law, and Ave are obliged to repeat that it is 

 not necessary to mark the net-weight on 

 honey sold ai-ound home and within the 

 state, provided, of course, there is no state 

 law requiring the marking of net weights. 

 Rut we advise every one to mark the mini- 

 mum net weight on their sections and to see 

 that all labels on glass or tin packages show 

 the net weight in pounds and ounces. Do 

 not make the mistake, for example, of say- 

 ing " 17 ounces." but say, instead, " 1 lb. 

 and 1 oz." 



It is not nece.ssary, as we understand the 



ruling, to mark the net weight on a whole 

 shipping-ease of honey ; but as a matter of 

 expediency we advise it. This net weight 

 must be exclusive of the weight of one 

 ounce for each section in the case and the 

 case itself. Better not mark at all than to 

 mark it wronsr. 



Preparedness against Bee Disease 



The other day as we were going over a 

 set of combs to give to a swarm we found 

 one in which brood had died the previous 

 season. The yard from which it came indi- 

 cated that it was only a case of chilled 

 brood ; but it had somewhat the appearance 

 of a comb that formerly contained Ameri- 

 can foul brood; and had we not known the 

 prior conditions we might have been in 

 doubt. Even as it was, we instructed the 

 boys to burn all such combs, in view of the 

 danger that was possible tho remote. 



Foul brood of either kind in a beeyard 

 is an expensive proposition at best. More- 

 over, a comb that is smeared up, and has 

 the carca.=ses of dead brood in it, will be an 

 ideal place for the propagation of bee dis- 

 ease provided that the germs were already 

 in the apiary, or, we will say, in the hives. 

 In this day and age one cannot afford to 

 use anything but good clean combs, and 

 that means that all combs when put away 

 in the fall should be carefully inspected and 

 put into bee-tight compartments, hive-bodies 

 provided with cover and bottom. 



Importance of Advertising and Intro- 

 ducing Honey into the Family 



Tttp; reader's attention is called to the 

 wealth of reading-matter on the subject of 

 marketing honey, in this issue. We have 

 tried to cover evex-y phase of it. This year 

 of all years it is important to know how 

 and when to sell honey, because it will prob- 



