IN 



5EE CULTURE 



Published by Th« A. I. Root Company, Medlaa, Ohio 



E. R. Root, Editor A. L. Boyden, Advertlsine Mrr, 



M. H. Root, A«st. Ed. J. T. Calvert, Business MsT 



A. I. Root, Editor of Home Departnent 



Vol. XXXV. 



NOVEMBER 15, 1907. 



No. 22 



The Irish Bee Journal, p 56, says that 2 

 oz. of saltpeter to a gallon of water is the 

 right strength for paper fuel. Guess it would 

 be all right for saltpeter rags too. 



E. BOHM had a number of drone-laying 

 queens sent to hiru, of which 25 per cent were 

 unfertilized. All the renia nder had diseas- 

 ed intestines, and to this he attributes their 

 defective laying. — Leipz. Bztg., p. 151. 



Yellow sweet clover may succeed in 

 Florida, but 1 may remind W K. M., page 

 1372, that the late Mrs. L Harrison could 

 not succeed in getting white sweet clover to 

 grow there. [I have also failed so far to get 

 even a single plant, doctor. — A. 1. R.] 



"Yon Yonson," that interesting Swede 

 Smoker, has gone from Illinois to New Mexi- 

 co, and. according to his report, in which I 

 have entire confidence, if I were looking for 

 a new location as a bee-keeper 1 would visit 

 his locality before settling down. Alfalfa, 

 sowed May 5. bloomed in 65 days, and yield- 

 ed 3 crops. AA here alfalfa acts in that way 

 bees ought to find employment. 



Some one, I can not now recall who. goes 

 Mr. Alexander one better in his pl»n of ex- 

 tracting from the brood-chamber in the 

 spring, p. 1377 by taking combs of honey 

 out of the brood-chamber, replacing them 

 with empty combs, setting the full combs to 

 one side of the apiary for the bees to rob 

 out, then taking the honey away to be rob- 

 bed over and over again. Saves all the 

 bother of extracting. 



Mr. Editor, you are breeding trouble for 

 me by saying, p 1368, "Better keep on breed- 

 ing those 'hornets.' " I've had a hard fight 



with my assistant to get in any other blood; 

 and now that you are giving aid and comfort 

 to the enemy, it will be worse than ever. 

 [Nothing would suit me better than to get 

 into an argument with your assistant; and 

 for the sake of argument I may have to take 

 the other side of the proposition Yes, sir; 1 

 think that, if you had started with perfectly 

 pure stock, you would have had as good 

 strong gatherers as you now have. — Ed.] 



Herr MrcH reports in Leipz. Bztg.. 152, 

 that 60 to 80 per cent of the young queens of 

 American goldens are lost on their wedding- 

 flight. He thinks the chief reason was that 

 their bright color especially attracted the at- 

 tention of the birds. [There may be something 

 in this; and for that reason nature has provid- 

 ed that most races of bees, and especially the 

 honey-bees, shall be of a somber cf)lor. A 

 bright golden yellow is very striking, and 

 certainly would' attract birds: but when man 

 steps into the problem he disregards the 

 principle of the survival of the fittest in na- 

 ture by making his queens a bright yellow.— 

 Ed.] 



Ferd. C. Ross sends me a sample of his 

 honey, and another sample that is poorer, 

 the latter being taken from a bottle contain- 

 ing 15 ounces, and of which the grocer sells 

 lots at 25 cents a bottle, and ne thinks that 

 at that rate a section of 15 ounces ought 

 to bring more than 25 cents. Sure; and if 

 the two are put fair and square before the 

 people there ought to be no doubt about it. 

 It's up to the bee-keeper himself; and if he 

 persistently Keeps his sections on show, in 

 the best possible shape, there is litrkle doubt 

 as to the final outcome. But if bee-keepers 

 don't ask a fair price they're not likely to 

 get it. 



Editor Digges, of the Irii^h Bee Jotirnal, 

 pokes fun at "Bee Expert," who tells us that 

 ' ' a hive is sometimes in its most ainiable mood, 

 and at other times shows temper, and that a 

 hive with no stores is exceedingly difficult to 

 handle." Now, that's just like a hide-bound 

 Irishman to insist on exactness of language. 

 Over here we have people who favor calling 

 a colony of bees a hive, a swarm, a stand, or 



