Chillicothe, Mo., Jan. 18, 1879. 

 I've got more than value received, for all 

 I have expended on the Journal. 



G. W. Piper. 



Waterloo, Ky., Jan. 3, 1879. 

 The weather has been very cold here ; 18 

 degrees delow zero last night. Many bees in 

 this section will be destroyed, Ijthink. Those 

 in box hives are dying out rapidly. 



R. L. Aylor. 



Maryville, Tenn., Jan. 14, 1879. 

 The entire season has been unfavorable. 

 Out of 125 colonies we have had but 3,000 

 lbs. of extracted honey, leaving the colonies 

 in good condition. We have lately had some 

 very cold weather (10° below zero) and 

 sudden changes. Many bees in this locality 

 have perished. W. T. Parham. 



Valley Mills, Ind., Jan. 4, 1879. 

 What is the best plan for extracting honey 

 out of the cappings and pieces of comb that 

 it sometimes becomes necessary to cut off ? 

 J. J. Whitson. 



[Cappings may be placed into a pan with 

 a wire screen bottom, which should be 

 placed over another pan with a tight bottom. 

 After draining all they will, place them into 

 a pan, and put them into the stove oven 

 where there is a slow fire leaving one of the 

 doors open a little. They should be placed 

 lightly in the pan— not packed down. The 

 heat will slowly liquify the whole ; when 

 this is done put it away to cool. When the 

 wax has cooled on the top, and while the 

 honey is still warm, tap it at one edge, tip 

 up the pan and draw it off. The wax and 

 honey is thus separated without waste. 

 This honey is of excellent quality.— Ed.] 



Centre Valley, Pa., Jan. 8, 1879. 

 Conversing with a neighbor on bee cul- 

 ture, I found him a box-hive man, one who 

 never reads a bee book or periodical. He 

 insisted that the drone laid the eggs. I 

 tried to convince him that the queen is the 

 prolific parent of the colony, but he would 

 not believe it. I tried to convince him 

 that the Bee Journal would give him 

 many useful hints concerning bee culture ; 

 "No !" was his answer ; " he knew enough 

 of bee culture without any journal." I. 

 laughed at his foolishness, and went home. 

 Preston J. Kline. 



Columbus Wis., Jan. 3, 1879. 

 Last spring 1 commenced with 1 colony of 

 bees which 1 increased to 5. In August I 

 bought 44. I am wintering them out of 

 doors. They are in Langstroth hives. In 

 November 1 removed the honey boards and 

 placed a piece of unbleached cotton, double, 

 over frames and then filled the upper part of 

 the hive with clean straw. At this writing 

 the temperature is for the second time 20° 

 below zero. The hives are also, except 4 or 

 5, banked up, all but the front part, with 

 straw. The only trouble I have had, is the 



entrance to the hives filling with ice. Have 

 cut out the ice of some hives every third 

 day, since December 7th ; since which time 

 it has not been warm enough to thaw, even 

 in the sun. The bees are so lively that they 

 come to the entrance to attack me during 

 this operation. In most of the hives I 

 removed all the frames leaving but 4 or 5 in 

 in the middle then put a division board each 

 side of the bees. My hives contain 10 to 12. 

 frames. F. C. Eldred. 



Berkshire, N. Y., Dec. 16, 1878. 



1 Will clipping a queens wings prevent 

 swarming? 



2 Will cutting out the queen cells prevent 

 swarming ? 



3 Will narrowing the entrance to a hive 

 so as to permit only workers to pass prevent 

 swarming ? If so, what is the exact width 

 of an entrance that will permit a loaded 

 Italian to pass and not permit a queen to 

 pass ? 



4 What is the best arrangement for such 

 an entrance ? 



5 What are the names of all the hives 

 that are covered by patents ? 



6 What is Bingham's patent on the tube 

 and bellows smoker ? 



7 Has any one a patent on a honey ex- 

 tractor or any part of one ? 



Wm. C. Leonard. 



[1 No ; It will prevent thel queen, and 

 consequently the swarm, from going away ; 

 but when the cells hatch, then the swarm 

 can leave, if not cared for. 



2 No ; unless destroyed as often as the 

 bees re-build them ; and even then, a swarm 

 sometimes issues before any cells are 

 started. 



3 Contracting the bee passage so that 

 large queens and drones cannot pass, is a 

 great hindrance to the workers and ventila- 

 tion of hive. Mr. Heddon tells us that he 

 has experimented largely in this matter, and 

 believes he has the best "non-swarming 

 attachment" yet devised, but even this is 

 practically a failure. We understand that 

 all attemps in this direction have proved 

 futile. 



4 Answered above. 



5 Their name is " legion." 



6 It is an ordinary one covering, the 

 whole thing. 



7 Mr. Muth has one, claiming the slop- 

 ing-side of the comb-basket.— Ed.] 



Limerick, 111., Jan. 10, 1879. 



I received from you Cook's New Manual. 

 It is better than I expected. It is the book 

 that I have been wanting, ever since I first 

 saw it announced in the Journal. 



Last spring my bees were in box-hives r 

 but the swarms 1 put into Oatman's Modest. 

 The box-hives having honey-boxes as a 

 drawer, I put a pillow in them filled with 

 timothy chaff and sticks to keep it up from 

 the holes to absorb the moisture. It froze 



