sections, and found all in the best of shape: 

 in fact, good as my best that were wintered 

 in the cellar and had the best of care. Ex- 

 cept moths, which were without number in 

 every crack and place that they could hide 

 in, some were already working 'in the caps. 

 He said he had lost 2 out of 11, and they were 

 second swarms and probably starved. Af- 

 ter we had looked over eight colonies, he 

 said there was another colony somewhere ; 

 found them hived in a berry crate with lath 

 nailed over the cracks, sitting on the bare 

 ground and had been all winter, and were 

 just ready to swarm. All of the 8 colonies 

 had been affected more or less with dysen- 

 tery, yet not one of them died. His bees 

 are black and mine Italians. I lost 7 out of 

 70 colonies wintered in the best kind of a 

 cellar. Bees are doing well here now. 



T. B. QUINLAN. 



Santa Ana, Ca!., June 12, 1879. 



I send you the terminal or superior por- 

 tion of the flower-s.tal k of the plant univer- 

 sally known in Southern California as the 

 "white sage"; also the terminal extremity 

 of the flower-stem or foot-stalk as existing 

 previous to shooting forth into bloom. If 

 the specimen sent will enable you to deter- 

 mine the Liniuean family of the plant, I, 

 and doubtless many of your readers, would 

 be gratified to know the place which it oc- 

 cupies in the Linnpean classification. vV hen 

 springing forth from the soil the first year it 

 strongly resembles the horsemint of the 

 Atlantic seaboard and Mississippi valley, 

 and indeed when full grown from a root of 

 many years' standing, with its 50 or 100 

 flower-stalks, it appears to the eye of an im- 

 migrant from the older States as nothing 

 more than a gigantic horsemint, though its 

 flower-stalks tower sometimes to the height 

 of 10 or 12 feet. Its habitat extends over 

 the counties of Ventura, Los Angeles, San 

 Bernardino and San Diego, and how much 

 farther I do not know. It is now in full 

 bloom. The plant correctly delineated in 

 the December number of the Journal 

 and properly described in Prof. Cook's 

 Manual as pertaining to the Salvia family, 

 is the black sage as asseverated by your cor- 

 respondent from Los Angeles, in the June 

 number. The bee-men in the mountains 

 here are moving their bees into the culti- 

 vated plain bordering the ocean, in order to 

 avoid the drouth, many of their bees hav- 

 ing died of famine. In many canyons in 

 the mountains (coast range) the black and 

 white sage bloomed liberally, but the fougy 

 mornings and cool nights, even up to the 

 time of my writing, have prevented the 

 Italians (who reap any considerable harvest 

 from the black sage) from making even a 

 support. The misfortune of the apicultur- 

 ists of Southern California in the year 1877 

 it seems will be repeated, though 1 trust in 

 a milder form. Thos. S. Fraser. 



[Prof. Beal kindly informs me that the 

 plant sent is Audibertia incana. But I find 

 in a description in United States Report of 

 40th parallel, Vol. 5, Botany p. 236, that A. 

 incana grows from 6 to 18 inches high, while 

 Mr. Fraser says that the one he sends grows 

 13 feet high. The same volume, p. 292, de- 



scribes white sage under the name Eurotia 

 lanata, but states that it grows only a few 

 inches high. The author says it is good for 

 cattle, and is often called fat weed. Will 

 not some of our California apiarists send to 

 me specimens of fat-weed and black sage, 

 that we may get the names of these plants 

 settled ? Common names are very uncer- 

 tain. Let us learn what the white sage of 

 the bee-keepers is. — A. J. Cook.] 



W'ilton Junction, Iowa, June 23, 1879. 

 Bees in this locality the past winter have 

 at least one-half winter-killed, but the pros- 

 pects are now flattering, swarms being 

 earlier very much than last year and storing 

 surplus extensively. I tried a little experi- 

 ment last Friday which was new to me. 

 The queen in No. 4 had become crippled so 

 as to refuse to come off with the swarm on 

 two different days previous, and combs be- 

 ing crooked I could not divide very easily. 

 In the morning I removed from a nueleus a 

 young fertilized queen that had been laying 

 a few days, with her accompanying bees 

 and 3 frames, into an old hive, No. 24, with 

 alternate frames with small strips of foun- 

 dation in readiness for my artificial swarm. 

 Just before 12 o'clock off they came; I 

 watched the entrance, and was convinced 

 my queen came out; then removed No. 4 and 

 placed 24 in its place, and inside of half an 

 hour had all of the new swarm in 24, except 

 a few bees that went into one or two very 

 closely adjoining hives. I was fearful for 

 the lire of my young queen, but on examin- 

 ation this morning found her in full posses- 

 sion and depositing eggs as though she had 

 had no illegitimate accession to her family. 

 A. N. VanCamp. 



Saltville, Va., June 12, 1879. 



I send to-day a specimen of an insect that 

 is quite common here. It is usually found 

 about the hives on empty combs or on the 

 quilts. It is very active, runs with surpris- 

 ing swiftness, and hides at the least appear- 

 ance of danger. I have not been able to 

 discover that it does harm to either bees or 

 comb, but conclude it takes shelter in the 

 hives merely to find a comfortable home. 

 Please inform us as to its mission. Is it a 

 friend or an enemy to the bee-keeDer ? 



G. B. "Seely. 



[This is also the common cockroach. 

 This one is Periplaneata Americana. It 

 does no harm to the bees, but finds about 

 empty hives a snug resort.— A. J. Cook.] 



Lincoln, Tenn., July 7, 1879. 

 Since the great storm, on the night of 

 April 23, 1878, bee-keeping has not been so 

 profitable in this part of the country. Five- 

 sixths of the poplar trees were blown down 

 on that memorable night, and that being 

 our best source for honey, it has in con- 

 quence been considerably damaged. Last 

 winter was very severe on bees in this local- 

 ity. In the spring I only had 44 colonies 

 left out of about 90. 1 left them all on the 

 summer stands, and whole colonies were 



