Rome, Ga., May 15, 1878. 



" The Italian bees commenced to swarm on 

 March 15, and swarmed rapidly up to April 

 25. Black bees commenced to swarm in 

 this section, April 12, almost a month's dif- 

 ference. Some swarms have cast 2 swarms, 

 and have already given over 40 lbs. of fine 

 honey. This spring has been an exceed- 

 ingly fine one. 



'' The honey season opened finely, and 

 during March and April was good. Since 

 then we have had only a medium supply for 

 the bees ; this enabled them to breed rap- 

 idly and swarm tolerably well. The pros- 

 pect now for the South is rather poor for a 

 large crop. Those having good honey for 

 sale, may rest assured of obtaining a good 

 price." A. F. Moon. 



Embarrass, Wis., June 4, 1878. 

 " I packed 5 hives in a box, with chaff 1 

 ft. thick all around and over, with an entry 

 11x3x1 ft. in front. The rest in my extra- 

 dry room in the cellar. The result was, my 

 bees all came out strong, and not a quart of 

 dead ones on the cellar bottom. Those out 

 of doors lost scarcely any, and were very 

 strong. I had swarms April 29, May 1, 7, 

 13, and 24. The earliest 1 ever had them 

 before was June 22. Chatf packing this 

 time is far ahead. No swarms yet, from 

 those wintered in cellar. I think I should 

 have had, were it not for the killing frost of 

 May 13. Colonies wintered out of doors 

 have killed drones. Those wintered in the 

 cellar have not. They must swarm soon, I 

 think. White clover has commenced 

 blooming a little." J. E. Breed. 



Garrettsville, Ohio, June 10, 1878. 

 " Like many others, I have to complain of 

 unfavorable weather for our pets — the 

 bees. Spring opened very fine and brood- 

 rearing was far in advance of tiie usual 

 season. Then followed 20 consecutive 

 days, with more or less rainfall, followed 

 by frosts and cool weather. Swarms, that 

 were apparently about to issue, killed their 

 drones and did but little more than con- 

 sume their stores. White clover appeared 

 May 24th, and since that date they have 

 been permitted to work about two-thirds of 

 the time. I have nearly 40 colonies, and 

 the best of them are now storing surplus, 

 the others nearly full, but not in the boxes 

 yet. White clover is more than usually 

 abundant in this vicinity, but, so far, it has 

 not atforded much honey. Raspberries are 

 plenty, and have had their almost undivided 

 attention, but they were much injured by 

 frosts." Wakren Pierce. 



Strait's Corners, N. Y., June 10, 1878. 

 "Thanks for the Emerson Binder and 

 your pamphlet on "Honey as Food and 

 Medicine.'^ It is just what the people 

 should read. It contains so much valuable 

 information that I shall distribute them 

 largely next season. I wintered 24 colonies 

 in the cellar ; chaff cushion on top, and hive 

 raised M inch from the bottom board. I 

 gave them a fly, Marcli 8th, and set them 

 back at night. April 15th, I put them on 

 summer stands, all in good order, except 2 

 weak ones, which I lost in springing. I 

 wintered 4 out of doors, in a large box. 



packed in chaff, with upward ventilation, 

 and allowed them to fly at will. These are 

 very strong. I had large swarms issue 

 June 2nd, and June 5th. Apple bloom was- 

 destroyed by frosts ; white clover is just 

 coming in bloom. We had hard frosts on 

 the nights of the 5th and 6th inst. I hope 

 the weather will warm up now ; if it does 

 not, the honey crop will be light in this 

 section. Upon May 15th, I saw about 30 

 bees waltzing about on the alighting board ; 

 upon examination, I found a young queen 

 dead. I suppose the cause of her death was 

 that a preparation to swarm had been made, 

 and the bad weather at that time prevent- 

 ing the swarming, caused her to be killed. — 

 Success to the Journal." 



Isaac E. Pelham. 



Fayette, Miss., June 11, 1878, 

 Editor American Bee Journal : — " I 

 send you a bunch of flowers and leaf from a 

 tree in this place. Would like to know 

 what it is, and its origin, whether trees 

 could be produced from the seed, or cuttings 

 of the tree. Some call it the "Varnish 

 ti'ee ;" and the only one in this part of the 

 country is now about 1>^ feet in diameter, 

 tall and bushy, limbs lengthy and drooping.. 

 It blooms twice a year, spring and fall ; 

 and is now one mass of flowers, in bunches, 

 (as per sample), at the end of each sprig or 

 limb. The body of the tree is dull green, 

 very smooth and glossy. The leaf sent is 

 not quite full grown, the tree holds bloom a 

 long time, and its odor is something like the 

 niglit-blooming jessamine. The bees are 

 swarming on the flowers from daylight till 

 dark ; not only honey bees, but every kind 

 of bee, wasp, yellow jacket, ants and 

 numerous insects that love sweets. Do you 

 think it produces abundant honey ? It 

 must do so, from the fact that every bee and 

 insect seems so fond of it. The tree is 

 perfectly beautiful." G. W. McMurchy. 



[ Prof. Beal kinkly gives me the following 

 information : " It is stercuUa plantanifo- 

 lia. It comes from Japan. Perhaps it 

 does not produce good seeds in the Southern 

 States. If it does, the seeds will grow."— 

 The plant is closely related to the mal- 

 lows.— A. J. Cook.] 



Woodville, Miss., May 18, 1878. 



Dear Friend :— Many thanks for your 

 pamphlet on Honey. I'll warrant that no 

 one appreciates it more than I do. I know 

 it is too late for the book, but you can put 

 the following into the Journal : 



Cough Candy :— Boil a large double 

 handful of green hoarhound in 2 qts. of 

 water, down to 1 gt. Strain, and add to the ' 

 tea 1 cup of honey. 1 cup sugar and a table- 

 spoonful each of lard and tar. Boil down 

 to a candy, but not of the brittle kind. It is 

 the very best cough mixture I know of. — 

 Begin with a piece the size of a pea and 

 go up to as large as needful. 



Honey Cough Candy.— It is made en- 

 tirely of honey, but thick with walnut 

 kernels. The dose is considerably larger,, 

 being quite as large as a pecan. Neither 

 should be boiled to the point of brittleness,. 

 to better regulate the size of the dose 



