

CUUTUU.^ 



A Journal Devoted to Bees, Honey, and Home Interests 

 Illustrated Semi-monthly : One Dollar per Year 



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





Vol XXXV. 



FEB. J, J 907. 



No. 3. 



Loose hanging frames when well made 

 and in level hives " will hang true and 

 plumb every day in the week," p. 94. But, 

 fn-nd Woodward, in this locality, as the 

 frames grow old you may space the top-bars 

 perfectly, and if you tip up a hive and look 

 under you will find the bottom-bars at any 

 thing but regular distances. [That is our 

 experience.— H. H. R.] 



B. Chase says that witch-hazel bloom be- 

 gins early in October and lasts about four 

 weeks, being the last flora to bloom in New 

 England. His bees get much pollen from it, 

 and he thinks it might have given my late 

 pollen. Possibly, although I am not sure 

 that 1 ever saw any witch-hazel here. It has 

 the unique habit of blooming late in autumn 

 when the leaves ai'e falling. 



To account for failure of clover-bloom to 

 yield nectar, J. E. Crane suggests, besides 

 the weather, soil. But, friend Crane, it 

 was ihe same soil that gave me bumper 

 crops in other years that gave me a failure 

 in 1906, and the weather seemed to be all 

 light. Was there some hidden weather in- 

 riuence, or have you some other guess? [It 

 certainly looks as though the soil were not 

 to blame in your case. — H. H. R.] 



Powdered sugar is preferred to confec- 

 tioners', p. 99, as the latter "is apt to con- 

 tain starch." Will the pure-food law elimi- 

 nate the starch? [As I understand the law, 

 it would not, for the reason that starch is 

 not a deleterious substance. But all such 



sugar containing starch will have to be so 

 marked or labeled. From the standpoint of 

 the bees, the starch would be very injurious, 

 according to Mr. Morrison, and so the pow- 

 dei'ed sugar had better be used. — H. H. R.] 

 !: J. E. Crane, page 87, counts about 2 cts. a 

 pound for freight, commission, etc. About 

 the same rate here in shipping 66 miles. Is 

 Mr. Townsend's additional 2 cents for a lon- 

 ger haul? [According to our experience the 

 actual amount deducted for commission, 

 freight, cartage, etc., on shipments of honey 

 sent to commission men can not be figured 

 closely as applying to all markets; and for a 

 moderate distance, say less than five hundred 

 miles, the freight will be less of a factor than 

 the other charges. We recently had occasion 

 to inquire as to the amount of commission 

 charged by well-known merchants in large 

 cities and we find representative commission 

 houses charging 5, 7^, 10, and even 15 per 

 cent; and a complaint has come to us that the 

 house which states that their commission 

 was 15 per cent actually charged 20 per cent 

 from one of our well-known bee-keepers to 

 which be of course made vigorous protest. 

 We have advice from several parties that in 

 the absence of some agreement it is doubtful 

 if there is any legal recourse. This empha- 

 sizes the necessity of a definite understanding 

 of what shall be the fixed charges before 

 shipping to any market. — A. L. B.] 



Probably 50 hives face south for every 

 one that faces north, the idea being that the 

 sun entices bees out to work. I suppose it 

 is not so important to entice them out in the 

 heat of the day as it is mornings and even- 

 ings. Did it ever occur to you that from 

 the third week of March to the third week of 

 September the sun shines into a north en- 

 trance in the morning before it shines into a 

 south one. and that in the evening it shines 

 into a north entrance after a south entrance 

 is left in shadow ? It may be well, also, to 

 note that, for a number of weeks in sum- 



