Berkshire, N. Y., April 1, 1879. 

 Last season I had very good success in 

 getting combs started straight in the frames, 

 by painting the guides with beeswax and 

 resin, and then putting natural starters in 

 each frame. These starters secured worker 

 comb in almost every frame. I find, when 

 combs are started straight, they get crooked 

 before they get to the bottom, especially if 

 the frames are deep. I can get them started 

 straight, but the trouble is to keep them so. 



1. How shall I manage ? 



2. Would not sheets of tin between the 

 frames be as good and cheap as wired foun- 

 dation ? These separators might be used 

 many times for the same purpose. Next 

 season 1 want to use a frame 12% inches 

 square inside. It will hold nine 1-pound 

 sections. Will it be too deep, on account of 

 combs getting crooked before they reach 

 the bottom ? 



There is a great loss of bees in this section 

 this spring. Many people are disgusted 

 with bee-keeping. Wm. C. Leonard. 



[1. To use a shallow frame, such as the 

 Langstroth, and have a deep top-bar, will 

 usually secure the building of straight 

 combs. 



2. We do not approve of separators be- 

 tween the brood-combs. They take up 

 room ; are a cool division for the bees, and 

 are quite unnecessary) if other conditions 

 are complied with ; 12% inches is too deep 

 for any frame, according to our ideas.— Ed.] 



Lake City, Minn., Dec. 17, 1878. 

 While other bee publications are valuable, 

 the American Bee Journal is the one I 

 must have, if I take only one. While it is 

 filled with practical information for bee- 

 keepers, I admire the position it usually 

 takes on the controversial questions among 

 bee-keepers and dealers and inventors of 

 bee furniture. It evidently believes in fair 

 play and no gouging, and denounces fraud 

 wherever found. I have sometimes noticed 

 that some bee papers seemed to be careful 

 not to give any very definite description of 

 hives or other bee apparatus but such as 

 they are personally interested in selling. 

 We like to see full descriptions of all that is 

 offered to the bee world, that we may judge 

 for ourselves what we think of them. Some 

 writers for the Journal seem disposed to 

 mix in some of their own theology. I pre- 

 fer to put the theology in to suit myself and 

 save, the space in the Journal for what the 

 writers know about the bee business. Some 

 of their theological flights are ludicrous. I 

 had a little experience last season, touching 

 the questions whether bees ever transfer 

 eggs from worker cells to queen cells ; and 

 whether the eggs that produce drones are 

 any different from those that produce 

 worker and queen bees. I am not going to 

 give it now, because, if verified, it is so 

 different from what is taught in the books 

 that I dare not give it until I have tested it 

 again. One writer in the Journal some 

 months ago, was very positive that bees 

 never transfer eggs from worker cells to 

 queen cells. I think it will prove a mistake. 



Again, if it shall prove that bees remove 

 eggs from worker cells, not only to queen 

 cells, but, from the same comb to both queen 

 cells and drone cells, and one part hatches 

 queens and the other drones, then what will 

 become of the theory that eggs which pro- 

 duce drones are not impregnated with the 

 spermatic fluid ? Or, that virgin queens 

 lay eggs that produce drones ? Long live 

 the American Bee Journal ! 



D. K. Boutelle. 



Rows, O., March 28, 1879. 

 In January, when brushing dead bees 

 from a hive, I threw out a live female moth 

 miller, which started over the snow for an- 

 other hive, it seemed to me, but I caught it 

 and put it away. Is it not a rare thing to see 

 in winter ? In February I saw an old queen 

 leave the top of a hive, where the bees were 

 sunning themselves on the top of the frames. 

 She flew off into the air, and returned within 

 15 minutes. There is great mortality among 

 the bees. C. C. Funk. 



[Both of the cases mentioned are novel 

 and rare. The moth must have obtained 

 warmth from some source.— Ed.] 



Winona, Minn., April 3, 1879. 

 I see by the Bee Journal, that this has 

 been a hard winter on the bees. This local- 

 ity has not been an exception. There is but 

 one, beside myself, who has not lost more or 

 less ; and a good many have lost heavily. 

 One party lias but 15 colonies left, out of 

 over 70 last fall. Our bees were bringing in 

 pollen very nicely last week, but it is very 

 cold again now. Success to the Journal. 

 L. A. Pennoyer. 



Chesterville, O., April 3, 1879. 

 In the American Bee Journal for 

 April, page 166, in the description of a sur- 

 plus box made with the cap, is an error, 

 either on my part or yours. It will hold 24 

 sections, the size given, instead of 21. It is 

 suspended from a piece (not edge, as there 

 stated) made of plastering lath. Spring 

 dwindling is heavy here among colonies that 

 are on their summer stands— many losing 

 all their bees by their venturing out on days 

 that are too cool, and not being able to get 

 back. I think a bee ought not to be permit- 

 ted to fly when the thermometer is under 50° 

 above zero. Very little dysentery prevails 

 so far as heard from. 1 have lost 6 colonies, 

 as follows : 1 queenless, 1 dysentery, 4 

 spring dwindling. Heavy snow storm at 

 this writing. Snow 5 inches deep. 



Dr. J. W. Williams. 



Malcom, Iowa, March 24, 1879. 

 The month of March has been a hard one 

 on bees. The late cold spell having killed 

 a large, number of them. Small colonies not 

 having much brood, were so reduced as not 

 to be able to keep up the heat and perished 

 in their combs. 1 hear of much swarming 

 out of their hives this spring, even where 

 they had a plenty of honey— some went out 

 leaving brood, even. Strong colonies are 

 the only insurance for bees. Young bees 

 raised in September are a necessity for safe 



