Vol. XIII. 



JULY 1, 1885. 



No. 13. 



TKKM.S:$1.00PkrAVKUM, IN ADVANCB;! 7/, ,/ /^ 7. Zt o Zi /5 /-/ -in 1 Q '^ '? 

 2Oopie8for«1.90;3for82.75,5for«4.00; I JL.SiClUl I h HC iV llL lO t O 



10 or more, 75 cts. each. Single Numf>er, I 

 10 cts. Additions to clubs may be made ' 

 at club rates. Above are .ill to be sent [ 

 to ONE P08T0PFICH. J 



f Clubs to different postoffices, not lkss 

 I than 90 cts. each. Sent postpaid, in the 

 ; U. S. and Canadas. To all other coup- 

 ; tries of the Universal Po.^tal Union. 18i- 

 1>0/''»T" \ri.T^T\'\ (\'lMf\ I peryenrextra. To all countries not uf 

 ilUUl, AlbJJlJN A, (Jl llO. I the U. P. U.. 42c per year extra. 



■ni.lSllEI) SKMI-MONTIIl.' 



NOTES FHOM THE BANNER APIARY. 



NO. f)7. 

 SKPAliAiOHS A.NU "FEKDIXCi llAl K." , 



TT AST A])ril we received a letter I'loiii w liiili we 

 r^ iiuike tlic lollowiiif,'- extract: 

 I'^j In Cr.KAM.NCS for Ainil 1st yon say: "I 

 .^J have liecii (luitc cntlnisiusl ic in e.xplainiiij; 

 how to (lisix'iisc Willi separators, and lia\e 

 shown by ni> ii'tnl.s that tirst class honey iiiu 

 be raised withonf thi'ni." This i-alleil to my niital a 

 statement made to me .just alter the ndjournment 

 of the convention hist December at l.ansinjr. It 

 was made by some friend whose name I did not re- 

 tain, but it latiief threw a dainpei- upon my enthu- 

 siasm. The stati'ineiit wsis, that he had seen the 

 man who bouH'ht voui- hone\- i-rop of iss;!. and had, 

 1 think, also seen the hone\ ,aiid that sonu (d' it was 

 /<rt(/(i/" bulged." 1 have also Iwani this stoiy from 

 other soiirees, and lia\c been afraid to In/ to yet 

 along- without separalois. 1 hope this repoit may 

 not be true; but if it is, some of lis wonlil be jrlad to 

 hear the whole facts in the case. 



We rei)lied, in substance, as IoIIowp: 



Ves, my friend, it is triir. that some of thai honey 

 was •• bnlti-ed." When the convt'nlion was helil in 

 Flint, some of the members went and saw the hon- 

 ey, and, as yon say, " we ha\c heard this stoi\ Irom 

 other sources." The "whole facts in the case" are, 

 that we were that year e.\pirimentin>; in " leediiif^- 

 back," and the result was (piite a nundier ( f "bnlfj- 

 cd" sections. The honey that we laise without 

 " feeding back " is as straijiht as <-oidd be desired; 

 and so few bee-keepers ai-e cxiierimentin.i:- in feed- 

 ing- back that we have never thought it worth while 

 to publicly explain. 



It seems to be the fashion nowadays among some 

 apicultural writers, to wish to "put on record" 

 some of their prophecies. If, in after years, things 

 turn out differently from what is expected, the pre- 

 dictions will have been forgotten: if Mr. Prediction 

 guesses right, he can then revel in a triumphant "/ 

 told you so," Well, here goes: "If feeding back' 



is ever made a success, separators will be needed." 

 When bees take their food from a feeder, they be- 

 have differently than when they collect it from the 

 flowers. When feeding back, bees build comb in 

 every nook and cranny. They not only "bulge" 

 the combs in the good old-fashioned way, but they 

 even build little mounds, or projections, upon the 

 surface of the combs; do it, too, in such a reckless, 

 unreasonable, fantastic way as to often cause a 

 piovoked smile. All colonics do not behave in this 

 way, but we can never tell what to expect of a colo- 

 11} until we give it a trial. Feeding back is as much 

 an unsolved problem as " wintering." There are a 

 great many its, ands, and buts yet to be learned. 



TOP VEHSrS SIDE STOltl.Nti. 



We have just been reading Mr. Doolittle's article 

 on page 377, and the item of Mr. Paris on page 3V.I, 

 and it seems to me that this suliject should have 

 been discussed under a different heading. It is not 

 a question of wide frames vs. cases, but one of top 

 vs. side storing. Wide frames are often used in the 

 top-storing, tiering- up method, while some bee- 

 keei>ers use a case that can be used not only on top 

 of the brood-nest, but at its side, or even iu its cen- 

 ter; hence, in our opinion, there is no point to the 

 assertion of Mr. Uoolittle, that " those who have de- 

 cided wide frames are not the things to use will 

 never fully realize the possibilities of bee-keeping." 

 There is no question but that wide frames possess 

 some advantages over eases, and rice versa. Were 

 we to adopt separators we should certainly use wide 

 frames one tier of sections high, and tin is the stuff' 

 for separators. Mr. Doolittle contracts the brood- 

 nest, and secures excellent results: Mf do the same 

 with like results; but instead of putting sections in 

 the space left after contraction, we simply annihl- 



