©itr fetter Ifcs. 



Milan, 111., May 12, 1879. 

 My 77 colonies of bees wintered without 

 loss in a dry cellar. Bees doing nicely, but 

 unless we get rain soon, the white clover 

 will be cut short. C. H. Dibbern. 



Bear Lake, Mich., May 13, 1879. 

 I put 26 colonies in the cellar last fall and 

 took out 25 this spring. All are in fine con- 

 dition, filled with hrood. Some are about 

 ready to swarm. D. H. Hopkins. 



Glenwood, 111., April 5, 1579. 

 I put 117 colonies in the cellar about Jan. 

 1, 1879; have now lost 5. The weather is 

 cold and dry and the prospect not very 

 promising. On page 132 of March No., 1878, 

 was printed a letter from me but signed " C. 

 L. Frost;" please correct it. 



C. L. Sweet. 



New Lenox, 111., May 5, 1879. 

 1 see by the Journal a number of bad 

 reports in regard to bees. Mine are in fine 

 condition. I lost only one out of 131 colo- 

 nies. The hives are well filled with bees 

 and drones are flying. We need rain badly 

 to bring on good bee pasturage, as the 

 ground in this section is very dry. 



Frank Searles. 



Hamilton, Ont., May 10, 1879. 



i was down to see my bees yesterday. 

 Some colonies were a little weak, but all 

 are doing well. Orders are coming in so 

 fast that I can scarcely attend to them. It 

 is far beyond my expectation. I thought 

 your rates of advertising a little high at 

 first, but now think it the cheapest and best 

 advertising medium 1 ever used. 



W. G. Walton. 



[That is the universal verdict. We are 

 glad the Bee Journal gives such general 

 satisfaction, not only as to its reading mat- 

 ter but also its general character and man- 

 agement. To merit approval is our greatest 

 aim.— Ed.] 



Brandywine Summit, Pa., May 1, 1879. 

 Bees in this locality are doing well. On 

 April 30 gathered a quantity of honey from 

 cherry and apple bloom. Some colonies got 

 as much as 7 lbs. We are about ready for 

 harvest. We have just completed our hives 

 and frames and commenced to transfer. 

 The condition of our bees promise a large 

 yield of honey unless the secretions fail, 

 which they never have done within my 

 memory. J. T. Williamson. 



Hoi yoke, Mass., May 5, 1879. 

 My bees are doing well; 1 wintered 10 

 colonies, 9 in my cellar and one out of doors. 

 One died with dysentery, the others are all 

 right. I fed some on sugar syrup, and should 

 in any case in the spring, as that is their 

 greatest time of need. I don't intend to in- 

 crease very much, as I live in the city, and 

 there is not much forage except what they 

 get out of town. Luther A. Taber. 



Chillicothe, Mo., May 6, 1879. 

 Ed. A. B. J. : You misunderstood my ques- 

 tion when I asked whether or not rubber 

 bands might not be used to hold section 

 boxes together. I did not mean bands as 

 substitutes for nails in holding the pieces of 

 a section, but in holding the several sec- 

 tions to form a box of them. It seems to me 

 that if the sections are as much as % inch 

 thick and for two combs, well nailed, that a 

 good rubber band might be used to form a 

 section box. J. W. Greene. 



[We are sorry for the misapprehension. 

 We see no reason why a rubber might not 

 be used successfully to hold several sections 

 together. A bent wire, such as Mr. Heddon 

 uses, is also a good plan. See April number, 

 page 159.— Ed.] 



Palestine, Ind., April 28, 1879. 

 The Journal is a welcome visitor. My 

 bees are all in good condition. I did not 

 lose one colony, and yet the winter was ex- 

 tremely cold. I had drones flying the 20th 

 of April. M. E. Loehr. 



Bethany, 111., May 5, 1879. 

 Our bees gathered pollen March 10 to 12, 

 and no more till March 20 and 21; then they 

 did nothing more till April 20. Since then 

 they have gathered plentifully of both honey 

 and pollen. They are in fine condition and 

 drones have appeared. I wintered 31 colo- 

 nies out of doors and lost none. The Bee 

 Journal and Lanustroth on the Hive and 

 Honey Bee are my counsellors. 



A. M. Rhodes. 



St. John's Co., Fla., May 9, 1879. 

 I purchased in Jacksonville last October, 6 

 movable frame hives of Italian bees. They 

 then did not have a pound of honey in all 

 the hives, but there was plenty of comb. 

 They remained out of doors during the win- 

 ter, and there were very few days but what 

 the bees would be out to work. During the 

 past month 1 have divided 5 of the colonies 

 and obtained 5 new strong swarms; the first 

 was a natural one, and all are now doing 

 well. A. S. Areson. 



West Bay City, Mich., May 5, 1879. 

 There has been great loss in bees here 

 during the past winter and spring. I hear 

 of one man who lost 150 colonies; all he had. 

 1 did not learn whether they were wintered 

 in a cellar or on summer stands. I put 11 

 colonies in the cellar. They did well till 

 April 1. I examined them and found 2dead; 

 one starved, the other had plenty of honey. 

 On the 20th I again examined and found one 

 more dead and two others very weak. I 

 then took them out of the cellar and put 

 them on their summer stands; the 2 weak 

 ones had no queens. I put them in another 

 hive. The remaining colonies have plenty 

 of brood and honey, and are doing well. I 

 am a beginner. This is not very encourag- 

 ing, but I see by the Journal that the past 

 winter has been a hard one on bees. 1 like 

 the bee business and shall continue it, with 

 the assistance of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. 1 think a great deal of it and would 

 not attempt the bee business without it. 



