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, Busiiiess Manager 



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



VOL. XLIV. 



OCTOBER 1, 1916 



NO. 19 



EDITORIAL 



Don't fail to read honey-market quota- 

 tions this issue, page 893. 



Mr. Latliara is a good beekeeper and a care- 

 ful observer. 



The beautiful picture of basswood on our 

 cover for this issue is the work of Dr. E. F. 

 Bigelow. 



Wrapping Hives in Newspapers for 

 Winter 



This practice will do very well where the 

 climate is not severe. The plan spoken of 

 by J. A. Allard, on page 936, will answer 

 some wintei's ; but it should not be relied on. 

 A super with packing on top is quite im- 

 portant; but better by far have packing on 

 four sides as Avell as top. 



Net-weight Law Not Effective in Iowa 



The pure-food commissioner of Iowa has 

 explained to our representative that the 

 Iowa law, as it now stands, does not make 

 it necessary to mark the minimum or net 

 weight on sections mentioned by Mr. Pellett 

 on page 773. While this may be true, we 

 still feel that it is very important that 

 evei*y Iowa beekeeper mark the minimum 

 weights on his sections as has been explain- 

 ed in these columns. 



Italians Less Inclined to Swarm than 

 Blacks 



Mr. J. L. Byer, in his department in this 

 issue, exactly voices our opinions and expe- 

 riences in opposition to Mr. Allen Latham 

 when he saj's Italians, in the production of 

 extracted honey, are much less inclined to 

 swarm than Caucasians and blacks; and 

 why Mr. Latham finds the reverse to be true 

 he is not able to understand. We sliall have 

 to charge up the difference to locality, for 



Two-colony Winter Cases 



There is a good deal in favor of a double 

 winter case as described by Mr. Wiggins in 

 this i?sue, page 916. The expense of hous- 

 ing a colony of bees, however, is necessarily 

 a little more than where four hives are put 

 in a case. It is a question whether the extra 

 expense fully compensates for the disadvan- 

 tage. 



Sealed Covers vs. Absorbents 



Mr. W. S. Wiggins^ in this issue, page 

 916, wishes to know why .we advocate sealed 

 covers in place of absorbents. We advo- 

 cate it only for this locality ; if Mr. Wiggins 

 will turn to our book, the ABC and X Y Z 

 of Bee Culture, he will see we distinctly 

 state that the matter has to be determined 

 by local conditions. 



A Division-board when it is Too Much 



of a Good Thing 



The average beekeeper, when he gets a 

 liive with a full complement of frames and 

 division-board, seems to have the impres- 

 sion that the division-board should be left 

 in the hive. Ordinarily the division-board 

 should not be used except when there is less 

 than the full number of frames. We there- 

 fore agree with Mr. Tarlton-Rayment on 

 this point on page 920 of this issue. . 



HMHIIIItlHIIIHIIItnilllllll 



Mid-winter Breeding 



It will be remembered that some years 

 ago we were successful in building up some 

 weak colonies in one of our bee-cellars by 

 feeding candy during January and Febru- 

 ary. Ordinarily the practice is not to be 

 recommended; but our colonies wcio short 

 of stores in one of the yards, and we were 



