hive which lie let go into the long cold snap 

 with a sack with 2 half-filled sections over 

 them and they froze or smothered, as ice 

 blocked the entrance and formed all over 

 inside the hive, though it was well made 

 and had a close-fitting cap. You cannot 

 smother bees by burying hives in snow, but 

 let solid ice block the entrance and they 

 will generate carbonic acid gas enough to 

 kill them. I shall get all to 10x12 frame this 

 summer except a few in Armstrong's Cen- 

 tennial hive. Shall not have a hole or crevice 

 of any kind in a hive except the entrance. 

 Professor Cook is right there. Dr. Foreman 

 gives a good idea as to size of sections in 

 the Journal for May. Thurber & Co. pre- 

 fer the 4^x4^ sections. I think Mr. Lang- 

 stroth errs when he says fresh paint is dis- 

 tasteful to bees, for I can paint nothing 

 when they are flying without having them 

 about. Have done some transferring and 

 found plenty of old honey in the hives, but 

 I hear of a considerable loss of bees here- 

 about. Mine went into the winter with from 

 30 to 60 lbs. per hive, and i do not think my 

 largest colony ate 10 lbs. during the winter. 

 This season I shall get to 50 colonies, and 

 shall turn my attention more to improving 

 the breed rather than to increasing the num- 

 ber of colonies. What is worth doing at all 

 is worth doing well. Wm. Camm. 



Traders' Point, Ind., May 12, 1878. 



I packed 40 colonies last fall in straw, 

 moved my hives near together and packed 

 between them and the north with straw, 

 leaving the front to the south open, and let 

 them fly at will. I do not pack until winter 

 sets in, and I put them out early in spring. 

 In this way I have not had much confusion 

 by mixing. 1 took out 37 this spring and 

 they are all alive now and gathering honey. 

 I never had my bees in better condition. 

 To the southwest, six miles, the bees are in 

 bad condition. There were several cider 

 mills of large capacity in operation in that 

 vicinity last fall, and nearly all the bees are 

 dead. One man lost 34 colonies and has 

 only one left. What had the cider to do 

 with it ? For two years in succession (1876 

 and 1877) I set my bees near together, made 

 them mice-proof, packed straw between the 

 hives, then covered them up some two feet 

 deep and left them until spring with a little 

 ventilation at the ground. I had no shed 

 the first winter. They came out all right. 

 The second winter was very warm and wet 

 and in February I took them out. 



1. N. Cotton. 



[The bees had sour cider for winter food 

 instead of honey, and for that reason they 

 perished.— Ed.] 



Lawrence, Kansas, May 10, 1879. 

 There appears to be a dislike to the wire 

 foundation from the tendency it has to cor- 

 rode, and the bees not taking to it kindly in 

 consequence. The Government stamped 

 envelopes in England have strong silk 

 threads interwoven diagonally in the tissue 

 or pulp of the paper for protection against 

 fraud. It occurred to me that silk thread 

 might be used instead of wire, if stretched 

 tightly over the machine, as it is a non- 

 yielding substance, very strong, and would 



not become rotten for a length of time. Yel- 

 low or white silk would harmonize with the 

 color of the wax. If you think the sugges- 

 tion feasible, perhaps you will give it for 

 the benefit of the foundation makers. 



My invention for regulating the entrance 

 of the bee-hive has an advantage over " The 

 New Langstroth Hive," inasmuch as it not 

 only gives me a quick and ready control 

 over the entrance, but it admits of sufficient 

 air at all times to enable you to move the 

 hives about, and at the same time it keeps 

 the bees from coming out, and it is rather 

 an ornament to the hive than otherwise. 



Would it be possible to hang temporary 

 separators on the rabbets between the 

 frames on starting a colony so as to insure 

 straight combs, and then remove them when 

 the combs are built ? They might be hung 

 on a wire. W. O. Carpenter. 



[It is possible to hang temporary separa- 

 tors as suggested, but we doubt its desira- 

 bility. As to the silk threads, manufac- 

 turers of comb foundation may take the 

 hint.— Ed.] 



Macon, Mo., May 12, 1879. 



I think that too much space to keep warm 

 was the cause of so much destruction among 

 the bees during the past winter. In box 

 hives the chamber cannot be controlled, and 

 where long frames are used, and a few 

 frames are closed up with a division board, 

 the bees are spread out too much. The 

 nearer to a cube for the cluster in winter 

 the better. After selling several colonies 

 last fall, 1 wintered 31; all came through 

 nicely and are at work on the raspberry and 

 other bloom. I used 4 division boards; I 

 put 2 across the hive just long enough to 

 take the frames lengthwise of the hive and 

 then used one division board each side, 

 closing them up to 5 or 6 frames. Over the 

 top of the frames I use a cotton batten mat- 

 tress. This gives me a double-walled hive 

 with dead-air spaces all around and the bees 

 in the center. The extra division boards 

 cost only 10c. each. The thermometer was 

 down to 26 below zero here last winter. 



C. Eggleston. 



[We suppose Mr. E. uses the Langstroth 

 hive with frames running crosswise, or 

 something similar, in order to give the air 

 spaces as he describes.— Ed.] 



East Gloucester, Mass., May 5, 1879. 

 Mr. Newman: I see by Mr. Manning's 

 catalogue of 1879, that Mr. Parsons of Flush- 

 ing, N. Y., has the credit of calling your at- 

 tention to my Sweet Pepper as a honey 

 shrub. It appears the signature "A. Par- 

 sons," of my article in the February num- 

 ber of A. B. J., p. 58, was understood to be 

 that of Mr. Parsons, instead of Miss Parsons, 

 and as such, Mr. Manning has sent about 

 10,000 circulars, containing descriptions of 

 this fragrant plant (Clethra Alnifolia) all 

 over the United States. I am much pleased 

 that you should consider anything I wrote 

 to be of sufficient value to give a prominent 

 place in the Journal, and am anxious that 

 bee-keepers should know and appreciate my 

 old familiar friend (the Sweet Pepper), and 



