226 



ends of frames and let the carpet come next 

 to the honey at the side of tlve frames, and 

 then put the division boards against the 

 cloths, and one-inch of cotton batting on 

 top and another piece of carpet over the 

 whole, keeping them warm and quiet. 



A. Griffes. 



Lawrence, Kan., April 9, 1879. 

 I have sent you a little invention of mine 

 for controlling the entrance of a bee hive. 

 It is simple and effectual ; you have only to 

 screw it on the front of any hive, putting 

 the slides in the groove; it is intended for a 

 6 inch entrance, which I fancy enough for 

 any hive ; the holes are ~% inch diameter 

 but may be made less if desired. I am feed- 

 ing my bees candy, with my "combination 

 feeder," it answers admirably, and I have 

 enlarged the size of the box in depth, by 

 making the hole in the cover large enough 

 to admit the. thick part of the bottle, the 

 neck passing through the hole in the bottom. 

 W. O. Carprnter. 



[The device is practically the same as that 

 used in the New Larigstroth Hive. It is 

 very serviceable.— Ed. J 



Norville, Mich., April 18, 1879. 

 I am on the list of " blasted hopes." Up 

 to this date I have lost 10 out of 25 colonies. 

 Some of my neighbors have lost all; some 

 one-half. As near as I can learn 50 per cent, 

 of the bees are dead that were in box hives 

 unprotected this winter. This will learn 

 bee-keepers that if they desire success they 

 must take good care of their bees. The 

 man who takes good care of his stock as a 

 general rule is successful in wintering "the 

 blessed bees." E. Weeks. 



Colfax, La., April 6, 1879. 

 I am very much pleased with the New 

 Langstroth hive you sent me. All of my 

 neighbors say it excels anything they have 

 ever seen and I must say that I am perfectly 

 delighted with the honey rack and prize 

 boxes. Bee-keeping is in its infancy in this 

 section and but few people here ever 

 saw any thing of the kind. How do you 

 account for the wild bees in this section 

 never gathering any honey, when our 

 domestic bees gather so much ? There are 

 thousands of wild bees here, but it is seldom 

 you can cut a tree down that has honey 

 enough in it for two choppers to eat ; it 

 makes no difference what time in the season 

 that it is cut you find no honey. We have 

 plenty of white clover bloom from the mid- 

 dle of March until the first of July, and a 

 variety of other honey plants. Our cotton 

 last year was excellent bee pasture and my 

 bees filled their brood chambers full of 

 honey from the cotton-bolls ; I will tell you 

 how I came to watch them so closely. 1 had 

 purchased 4 colonies of beautiful Italians 

 which cost me about $50.00, and of course I 

 felt very anxious about my Italians as they 

 were doing magnificently when all at once 

 my neighbors commenced poisoning their 

 cotton to kill the cotton caterpillar ; they 

 used arsenic and Paris green in several 

 forms in solution, with ashes and flour. 1 

 concluded to take the chances ; so I com- 



menced to visit the poisoned fields and 

 watch for my Italians, as they were the 

 only Italians in the whole county, and sure 

 enough they came by thousands and the 

 poisoned cotton seemed to have an attrac- 

 tion, as it appears to me, they were thicker 

 there than they were on cotton that had not 

 been poisoned. In a few weeks they had 

 gathered the brood chamber full of honey, 

 and not a bee was killed that I could dis- 

 cover. J as. A. Daniel. 



[We know of no good reason why the 

 trees inhabited by wild bees should not con- 

 tain honey, if the location be a good one, 

 and the cavities are of sufficient size.— Ed.J 



Skaneateles, N. Y., April 18, 1879. 

 There has been a great loss of bees in this 

 locality. N. N. Betsinger had a month ago 

 lost 100 out of 180 colonies. Another apiar- 

 ist has lost 60, and many others have lost 

 heavily. I have lost only 2 out of 37, but 

 fear I may lose more. Wm. R. Edwards. 



Catskill, N. N., April 18, 1879. 

 I hear great complaint about loss of bees. 

 A correspondent in Tompkins county in- 

 forms me of a loss of 62 out of 67. The loss 

 is as far as I can hear about one-third here. 

 I have not lost a single one as yet, but I 

 will have to feed a few. They commenced 

 carrying in natural pollen about a week ago, 

 gathered I think from spice wood, which 

 abounds here. The season is at least3 weeks 

 behind 1878. E. H. Wynkoop. 



Mt. Clemens, Mich., 19, 1879. 

 On the 15th inst., I went out to the Ches- 

 terfield apiary and opened up the pit which 

 contained 48 colonies. This pit was venti- 

 lated with 11 2 in. pipes riming down into 

 the pit so far as the straw. We commenced 

 opening the pit at east end, not finding a 

 living colony until we struck the 28th colony, 

 from this to the end of the pit, we found 7 

 more, making 8 colonies out of 48 buried 

 last fall. The portion of the pit which con- 

 tained the living bees was covered by a 

 heavy snow-drift to which we give credit 

 for the lives of our bees. 1 went to Davis' 

 apiary yesterday, 12 miles distance from 

 here, by the time we got there the wind was 

 quite high and cold. We commenced to 

 open up the pit, took out one hive, found it 

 in good order; opened number two, found it 

 better yet being in very fine order, closed 

 number two and covered it with earth. 

 This pit has no ventilation and is on clay 

 ground, the Chesterfield bees were buried 

 on sand. I intend to take out the Davis' 

 bees on the first fine day next week. I will 

 report to you their condition as early as 

 possible. I have canvassed the country very 

 closely and find fully nine-tenths of all the 

 bees dead. They are even dead in the old 

 reliable old fashioned hives, and they now 

 come with, 1 wonder what's the matter? 

 They don't come with, " I told you, I knew 

 your bees would die this time." I know of 

 some who have failed in the old adage, "I 

 don't sell for fear of selling luck" and "I 

 don't see for my life why they should lose 

 their bees." Well it's hard times and the 



