Vol. XI. 



OCT. 1, 1883. 



No. 10. 



TERMS; 81.00 PEEANNUM, IN ADVANCE:! J? i,+ n T.1 n ain n /] i'-m 1^7 9 f CaubB to different pOBtoftlcex, NOT LKR8 



2 Coi)ie« for $1.90; 3 lor 82. 75; 5 for 84. 00, JJjOVtVUiiort/C'iA/ VlU J.O t O >\ than90ctn. each. Sent postimliJ, in the 



10 or more, 7.') cts. each. SiiitfleNuiiibi-i-, ; 

 10 cts. Addition!! to clubs may be made j 

 at club rates. Above are all to be sent 

 to ONE POSTOFFICE. J 



PBBLISHKD MONTHLY MY 



U. 8. and Canaflas. 

 tries of the Univeri 



iher loun- 

 il Postal Union, l«c 



erven r extra. To all countries not of 



. T -ny-v/^fTi -niT^x-kixT * /•^TTT/\ Icr vcn r cxtra. loaiicouniri 

 A. I. ROOT, MLDliS A, OHIO. Uheij.I^U.,42c per year extra. 



NOTES FROin the; bannkr apiary. 



No. 47. 



^ngsJlllENI) ROOT:— You think I was a little ve- 

 ip" heraent last month. Will, for a long time 

 — ' nothing hafl been said against metal-cornered 

 frames, and I thought it about time something was 

 said, and said vehemently too. To the charge that 

 I am sometimes just a tritie vehement, I will plead 

 guilty; but not Sf) in regard to being too intolerant 

 of the opinions of others. I do respect the opinions 

 of others, and most especially do I respect them 

 when they are supported by good reasons. You 

 think my remarks about metal crirners will bring in 

 a shower of protests. I presume they will. Now, if 

 any of the protests are accompanied by rexmnw, 

 please give us the reasons, and let the protests go 

 — into the waste-basket. You say that you think I 

 will change my opinions considerably in the next 

 ten years. I lutpf, 1 shall; there would n<jt be much 

 progression if opinions never changed. I have 

 changed them considerably in the past seven years; 

 but more, perhaps, in the past year than in the pre- 

 ceding six years, and I attribute the rapid change of 

 the past year to the fact that I have, during that 

 time, visited and mingled more freely with other 

 bee-keepers; in fact, have been influenced by the 

 opinions and leasoTin of others, and might write 

 quite an article upon the 



CC^NCLUKIONS OF THE REASO.V. 



I once thought the American frame as good as 

 any other (and for the purposes for which I used 

 It, that of raising queens and extracted honey, I 

 still think so); but for raising comb honey, I now 

 consider a shallow frame preferable; and as the 



Langstrolh frame is verj/ much used, and is a aha How 

 frame, I have changed to that. With a shallow 

 frnrne there is more room for boxes over the brood; 

 the bees enter and work more readily in the boxes, 

 and the complicated side boxes, with their lime-tak- 

 ing manipulations, are avoided. 



I have made money rearing dollar queens; but 

 although the present season has been a very poor 

 one, I have come to the conclusion that, for me, 

 there is more money in raising comb honey. I 

 probably shall not drop gueen-rearing entirely, but 

 will continue it to this extent: When a colony hav- 

 ing a good queen swarms, I shall wait six or seven 

 days, and then cut out all except one or two cells. 

 These cells will be kept in the lamp nursery until 

 they hatch, when they will bo intoduced to nuclei. 



Another conclusion at which I have arrived this 

 season is, that, for the production of comb honey, 

 pure Italians are not the most desirable. They do 

 not enter the boxes so readily as the blacks or hy- 

 brids; do not build so straight nor so white combs, 

 and are much more liable to crowd the brood-nest 

 with honey, and to build brace-combs between the 

 sections. They are also more inclined to swarm. In 

 a poor season the Italians will gather more honey 

 than the blacks, and are more agreeable to handle; 

 and, taken all in all, for all purposes the Italians are 

 to be preferred; but the producer of comb honey, 

 who ignores the above-mentioned good qualities of 

 the German bee, does so at a loss. I think It is 

 better not to ignore the good qualities of either 

 variety, but do as friend Heddon has done — com- 

 bine them. So well satisfied am 1 of the supe- 

 riority of a combination of the dark leather-colored 

 Italians and the brown German varieties, that I 



