Vol. XII. 



AUG. 1, 1884. 



No. 15. 



TKRMS: $1.00 Pkr ANNUM, IN Advanck; 1 

 2 Copies for «1. 90; 3 for 82.75; 5 for $4.00; 

 lOor more, 75 cts. each. Single Number, | 

 5 eta. Additions to clubs may be made | 

 at club rates. Above are all to be sent I 



to ONK POSTOFFICE. J 



EstaOLZShBCi/ Wl JO/t). IthanWcts. each. Sent postpaid, ii 



rUBLISlIKD 



[-MONTHLY BY 



A. 



, . . in the 



I U. S. and Canadas. To all other coun- 



*--"'■ of the Universal Postal Union, 18c 



tra. To all countrie * 



, 42c per year extra. 



NOTES FKOM THE BANNER APIARY. 

 NO. 57. 



REPLY TO PROFESSOIl COOK. 



fES, I well remember what I3ro. Cook said to 

 me about bui-ying bees, and it is quite proba- 

 ble that I smiled a wise smile in reply ; and now 

 that he should write and say, " I told you so," 

 is only human; but, .ioking- aside, his advice 

 is g:ood; we shindd leave off hasty conclusions. 



Three years ago I buried 11 colonies, all except 

 one very weak; one came through in fine condition, 

 as did those out of doors and those in the cellar. 

 The next winter I buried ;J2 colonies, and 27 came 

 through alive, some of them strong, somt^ in fair 

 order, and others weak; only one colony wintered 

 out of doors came throuo:h alive (that had sugar 

 stores), while two-thirds of those in a well-ventilated 

 cellar, which is, I believe, Bro. Cook's favorite place 

 for wintering bees, diedof dysentery; and I believe 

 a few others have had bees die in largi- numbers in 

 ,iust such cellars. Bro. C. says 1 "ought to have 

 buried a few;" further on he says, " Had he said last 

 fall, ' I shall try two or three colonies,' he would 

 have done little or no harm by his words." l>et us 

 carry this line of reasoning a little further; do 

 these little " two or three colonies" experiments do 

 any wood? Do they prove anything conclusively"? 

 Is not that the very thing that J5ro. C. is writing 

 ag-ainst, drawing conclusions from insufficient data? 

 Bro. C. siiys that two of my neighbor^ fjire my 

 companions in suffering-. I fear he read thfft para- 

 gi-aph rather carelessly. I said i))tc man w|io buried 

 a ?rt>(/c number was a sufferer, while ai^pther who 

 buriecj only f/ircc colonictt lost none. On page 444, 

 Jul.yNo., Bro. York mentions a similar expedience. 



Now, in all my experimenting and writing, I am 

 actuated only by a sincere desire to learn the truth; 

 I try to have no desire that a certain experiment 

 shall prove successful, or a certain hypothesis prove 

 true, and I am willing to be beaten in all my argu- 

 ments, if, in so doing, I learn the truth; in tact, 

 when I see that 1 am wrong, and my opponent right, 

 it is a pleasure for me to say to him. Your head is 

 clearer than mine. I have always written of my 

 work within a short time after its performance; be- 

 cause, like Bro. Clarke, I do not believe in keeping 

 a secret for two or three years, and working away 

 at it alone, when by taking others into my contl- 

 dence some one may be started on the road to some 

 important discovery, which I alone might never dis- 

 cover. It is possible that I err in giving conclusions 

 too hastily, and 1 thank Hro. C. for calling ray atten- 

 tion to the matter, but 1 always give the facts from 

 which my conclusions are drawn; and if others can 

 draw conclusions that are more correct, 1 shall be 

 thankful. Bro. C. was once very vehement in his de- 

 nunciation of doUarqueens; butnow he advises the 

 purchase of them; and I fear he will also be forced 

 to change his views in regard to the "burying en- 

 thusiasm " being " nipi)ed in the bud," because one 

 loss docs not "nip" inu enthusiasm. I shall con- 

 tinue to bury bees until, as Bro. C. says, " a gen- 

 erous number of exaiiiplcs makes a real demonstra- 

 tion." 



SEI'AUATOKS. 



In your remarks, Bro. Root, following those of 

 IJro. Cook's, you again bring up the sub,iectof sep- 

 arators; and Uro. Pond, on page 419, says, "He (W. 

 Z. H.) is positive that separators are not needed by 

 bee-keepers generally." Js it possible that my posi- 

 tion in regard to separators is yet misunderstood? If 



