IN 



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



E. R. ROOT, Kditor a. L. BOYDEN, ADVERTISING Mgr. 



H. H. ROOT,ASST. Ed. J. T. CALVERT, BUSINESS MGR. 



A. I. ROOT, Editor of Home Department 



Vol. XXXV. 



DECEMBER 15. 1907. 



No. 24 



r%.- t'\-Dr.C.C\ri!LLF.R ^^^^ 



A. I. Root, you are not alone in your es- 

 timate of Gov. Hanly. Within a week I've 

 seen his name mentioned as a possible can- 

 didate of the Prohibition party for president. 

 If the Republicans would nominate him that 

 might be better. 



Prof. Cook, p. 1490, thinks it likely that 

 if eggs of the bee-moth are laid just outside 

 the hive "the wee larva will, as soon as it is 

 hatched, betake itself to the combs." If 

 Prof Cook Slid he knew that to be so I'd 

 take his word for it; but as he only says it is 

 likely. I greatly doubt it. Has any one ever 

 seen a young bee-moth larva of its own ac- 

 cord as much as \ inch distant from its base 

 of supplies? 



Please say to C. A. Neal thai"- winters are 

 more severe here than with him. but sweet 

 clover is perfectly hardy to stand the winter 

 except on one condition. Have the ground 

 nice and soft, in best condition for mf)st 

 crops, and sweet clover will be sure to win- 

 ter-kill. Scratch the seed in on ground as 

 hard as the roadside, or roll the ground very, 

 very hard after the seed is in, and it will 

 stand the severest winter. 



A. Schmidt, Leipz. Bztg., p. 164, says that 

 foundation made in a press, besides having 

 the advantage that it is more readily worked 

 by the bees than mill foundation, does not 

 stretch so much. With mill foundation he 

 had to leave a margin of f inch at the side, 

 and still more at the bottom, or there was 

 trouble with buckling. With pressed foun- 

 dation a margin of y',, inch at the side and 

 less than \ at the bottom was sutlicient. Ev- 

 idently he is talking about foundation with- 

 out wires or splints. [All the samples of 



press foundation that we have ever seen 

 were much heavier per square foot than that 

 made on rolls. The experiment in question 

 proves nothing unless we can have the rela- 

 tive weights of the two kinds of foundation. 

 —Ed.] 



Bees flew till Nov. 10; then it came cold. 

 When it got down to 11 degrees I was anx- 

 ious. If they were to have no further llight 

 they ought to go in at once; but would they 

 have a further flight? Happily, Nov. 18 went 

 up to 53, and they had a hilarious time of it. 

 Next two days too warm to carry in; but the 

 21st they went into the cellar. Although 

 comparatively warm (37 to 42 degrees) they 

 were carried in with open entrancps ; not a 

 bee stirred except three colonies which had 

 their entrances closed with cloths dripping 

 with cold water. 



Rev. J. G. Digoes, editor Irish Bee Joiir- 

 nal, took a bright way to time the Might of 

 bees. He took three bees from each of three 

 ditTerent hives, cycled a mile on a straight 

 road, freed a bee from each of the hives, 

 another trio ten minutes later, and the re- 

 maining trio ten minutes later still. Watch- 

 ers at the hives, with watches set with his, 

 noted the arrival of the bees, whi(^h were 

 marked white, red, and green. The bees of 

 A averaged 15 miles an hour; B, 13; C, 20. 

 Other things being equal, C ought to store 

 33 to C(3 per cent more than the others. 



G. C. Greiner, in giving that first case of 

 scouts, p. 1507, says, " I watched them all the 

 afternoon and forenoon of next day." Clear- 

 ly, those scouts were sent out before the swarm 

 issued, unless it hung out over night. I am 

 strongly of the opinion, buttressed by much 

 observation, that bees generally send out 

 scouts before rather than after swarming. It 

 is a very common thing here to see scouts 

 cleaning out empty hives, and I think they 

 often work at \i for several dni/s. One set of 

 scouts working in an apple-tree at the Has- 

 tings apiary appeared in such numbers that 

 it took some time for us to convince our- 

 selves that a swarm had not entered. On 

 the next visit, a week later, they were still 



