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Rows, O., March 14, 1879. 

 Last fall I had 41 colonies of bees in good 

 condition ; now 1 have 28 ; the 13 died with 

 plenty of honey in their hives. The hives 

 were well protected with straw on the sum- 

 mer stands. The frames were covered with 

 cloth, paper and cut straw. Something less 

 than one-fourth of the bees in box hives, un- 

 protected on their summer stands, have died 

 in this section ; but nearly one-half of those 

 in frame hives, protected and unprotected, 

 are dead. Why this difference ? The frame 

 hives mostly used here are like mine, the 

 old American, 11x14 in. frame. There were 

 no bees wintered in cellars near this place. 

 If this winter proves cellar wintering desir- 

 able, many of your readers will want to 

 know how to make, arrange and manage a 

 cellar. C. C. Funk. 



[An apiarist of large experience reports 

 that he has tried all ways of preparing for 

 winter— and that there was no difference in 

 results— all suffered by the dysentery alike. 

 Others report the cellar exceedingly dis- 

 astrous ; others, again, like Mr. Funk, report 

 the greatest loss for those packed in chaff. 

 As yet there are no means of determining as 

 to which manner of preparing for winter is 

 best. Before time to prepare for the next 

 season, we will give directions about pre- 

 paring a cellar.— Ed.] 



Rockwood, Mich., March 5, 1879. 

 Sulphur ivater will not hurt bees. I 

 think it is better than soft water for them. 

 I have tried it by putting rain water in 

 troughs in the bee yard. They would go to 

 the sulphur spring instead. They are on 

 the sulphur trough by hundreds all day 

 long. Levi N. Miller. 



March 10, 1879. 

 I have 63 colonies of bees in my cellar, in 

 splendid condition. They are mostly in the 

 North Star hive. I have used this hive for 

 three years and believe it to be just as good 

 for the bees as any hive, and easier to han- 

 dle than any hive 1 ever used. My plan to 

 stop robbing when they are robbing hard is 

 to take a leaky vessel and put it on the hive, 

 filled with cold water, letting it drop on a 

 board 6 inches in front of the entrance. 

 The board the water drops on should slant 

 toward the entrance. O. W. Parker. 



Hamilton, Out., March 4, 1879. 

 Bees in this section are about on the aver- 

 age. Some parties are losing heavily while 

 others are doing well. There seems to be a 

 disease such as I see mentioned in the Bee 

 Jourmal, that many have died of, while 

 others have died for the want of ventilation. 

 I see Mr. Walton's bee house described in 

 the Journal. In my mind it is the Eureka 

 sought for by bee-keepers. It is the most 

 complete labor-saving invention I ever saw. 

 J. A. Waterhouse. 



Smith's Grove, Ky., March 2, 1879. 

 Queen to be Given Away.— I will give 

 a tested Italian Queen to any member of the 

 Southern Kentucky Convention who will 

 get up the largest club of subscribers for 

 The American Bee Journal, by the first 

 of May. The Queen i will bring to the Con- 

 vention, and it will then and there be 

 awarded. Let all try to do the best they can 

 to get the Queen. N. P. Allen. 



[HdFTorthe second largest club we will 

 give a copy of Cook's Manual, bound in 

 cloth. For the third, the same bound in 

 paper. For the fourth largest, we will give 

 a copy of our pamphlet on "Bee Culture." 

 We expect to be present, and hope to meet a 

 large number of the Kentucky bee-keepers. 

 -Ed.] 



Dubuque, Iowa, March 13, 1879. 

 The February number of the American 

 Bee Journal, page 55, statistical table, 

 gives me, comb honey, 4000 lbs. It is a typo- 

 graphical error ; it should read 1000 lbs. 

 Please correct. George W. Horner. 



Brandy wine Summit, Pa., Mar. 11, 1879. 



Bees in this locality have wintered extra 

 well. 1 wintered out of doors, with but 

 little loss. My brother and I will have 

 about 600 colonies of bees in operation this 

 spring. We are going to locate about 12 

 miles apart with about 300 colonies to each 

 apiary. Care should be taken in spring 

 feeding not to excite them before the weather 

 gets warm or they will fly out and decrease 

 instead of increase. I prefer feeding on the 

 hives and only such days that bees can fly. 

 If fed outside the bees may venture out 

 when they cannot get back. Care should 

 be taken not to boil syrup in copper or brass 

 kettles ; 1 once ruined some fine colonies by 

 doing so. I opened some hives to-day, and 

 find they have from 4 to 5 combs with brood 

 2 to 6 inches square, in the center. I do not 

 believe in wintering in cellar or winter 

 house here. The thermometer has not been 

 below zero more than 4 or 5° this winter at 

 any time, and we have had about 5 days of 

 such weather. J. T. Williamson. 



Winterset, Iowa, March 10, 1879. 

 On page 130, I wrote that some colonies 

 had dysentery or cholera bad. Your printers 

 read the last two words foul brood. That is 

 something I know nothing about except 

 what I have seen in the papers. On page 

 81, I wrote the word secretion; this you 

 printed "section." I will give a hint now on 

 feeding bees. Some recommend feeding 

 flour with bran on straw to keep bees from 

 clogging up or smothering themselves. 

 Many of the small particles carried in with 

 the flour are thrown away, and may be seen 

 on the bottom board of the hive. I have 

 tried many ways, but the best I have found 

 is to take good fine fiour— wheat, rye, buck- 

 wheat or even fine corn flour. Put in a box 

 as others direct, but press it down firmly 

 and they will work at it very much the same 

 as they would pollen from the flowers, and 

 they will not smother in it any worse than 

 gathering from plants, at least they do not 



