ruined my prospective fortune ; my fever 

 is broken ; I could not expect to succeed in 

 a business, without capital, where so many 

 have failed. I wish to make the best of a 

 bad bargain, and hope, with the assistance 

 of your valuable paper, to Italianize my 

 black bees and fill my empty hives with 

 Italians. Is it too late to form nuclei in 

 my empty hives and build up to full colo- 

 nies before winter, with buckwheat plenty? 



St. Joe. 



[With buckwheat and fall flowers in pro- 

 fusion, it is not too late to build up strong 

 nuclei into good colonies, by a judicious use 

 of foundation or empty combs.— Ed.] 



Fowler, 111., June 7, 1379. 

 Bees in this locality are doing well, and 

 have been ever since the white clover com- 

 menced to bloom, which was the first week 

 in June. E. A. Davis. 



Barnesville, Iowa, June 24, 1879. 

 Can you tell us what authority there is for 

 the use of the word Linn instead of Linden 

 or basswood ? I cannot find Linn in any 

 dictionary or book of botany, or bee manual 

 that I have ever seen. I first noticed it in 

 that remarkable and remarkably well-writ- 

 ten work of fiction, "The Blessed Bees." 

 In my opinion the author would remove a 

 blemish, from an otherwise beautiful book, 

 by putting Lindenwick for Linnswick and 

 Linden for Linn. Linden is one of the 

 most beautiful words in our language. 



G. M. Porter. 



Virgil City, Mo.. July 5, 1879. 

 My experience here in Missouri reaches 

 over a term of 10 years, and 1 have had as 

 perfect success in wintering as any person 

 could wish for. In the fall when they are 

 overhauled and prepared for winter, I count 

 my number of colonies just as confidently 

 as though it were the next April or May. 

 As many of the readers know, I use the 

 Langstroth hive, and winter on summer 

 stands, with no outside protection. In the 

 fall when the honey season is over, I want 

 the colonies to have the following requi- 

 sites : Top story or honey receptacles taken 

 off, and an abundance of bees in accordance 

 to size of chamber. If the chamber is 

 small, or even a common size, I want it 

 crowded with bees, and if the bees can be 

 bred in the fall by having young queens or 

 feeding, all the better ; they must have 

 plenty of honey ; do not be afraid to have a 

 good supply left over for spring use. Right 

 here I will digress from my subject a little 

 and say I think a good plan to prevent 

 spring disasters is to have plenty of honey, 

 plenty of bees, clean combs and chamber, 

 good queen, and a reasonable portion of 

 pollen. I make a K or % in. hole through 

 the center of each comb ; those combs that 

 are partly drone cells or filled solid with 

 honey I put on the outside of brood-nest 

 next to the walls of hives; those combs 

 having most empty cells or uncapped honey 

 or young bees I place in middle of cluster. 

 I winter nucleus colonics with 2 or 3 frames 

 by filling them chock full of bees, and fol- 

 lowing the above plan. If some of my col- 



373 



onies are not strong enough to suit me, 

 towards fall I divide the bees around, breed 

 them up or double up until I get them to 

 suit. My bees always gather too much pol- 

 len, aud I often cut out nearly whole sheets 

 of comb to get rid of it. I never need to feed 

 any artificial pollen here. Under certain cir- 

 cumstances I sometimes exchange combs 

 with some colonies in order to supply pol- 

 len. In this section of country I think the 

 Langstroth frame the best that can be used. 

 1 use the Langstroth hive very much modi- 

 fied and cheapened in construction. 



E. Liston. 



Union Valley, Mo., June 23, 1879. 

 I send you a great long-tailed something 

 or other which I caught in the edge of 

 the timber, where it (the timber) had 

 been cleared off. As it is the only in- 

 sect of the kind I have ever seen, 1 would 

 like to know something or all about it. 1 

 was suspicious of its being poisonous, and 

 somewhat tore its wings in capturing it. 

 You will confer a favor on me by sending a 

 description of its habits, etc. 



W. Jessup Skidmore. 



[This is Rhyssa lunator, one of the Ich- 

 neumon flies referred to in the Manual, p. 

 33. The long tail-like organs are their au- 

 gers, by which they bore into wood and 

 thus deposit their eggs in the larvae of other 

 insects, which latter are eaten up by the 

 larvae which hatch from the eggs. The Ich- 

 neumon flies are entirely harmless, and do 

 much good in destroying other insects.— A. 

 J. Cook.] 



Kewaskum, Wis., June 27, 1879. 

 Bees are doing well. White clover is two 

 weeks earlier than usual and yields abun- 

 dantly. Basswood is plentiful and prom- 

 ises a good honey harvest, if there is no 

 extreme heat or heavy thunder showers 

 during its blossoming. 



Miller & Hollom. 



Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, June 30, 1879. 

 Bees in this locality are doing very well. 

 We have organized a Bee- Keepers' Associa- 

 tion here named the " Southeastern Iowa 

 Association." We have had several meet- 

 ings, and it is a success. After paying all 

 our expenses we still have a surplus of $12 

 in the treasury. The next meeting will be 

 on Saturday. Aug. 3d, at Mt. Pleasant. 



J. A. Thomas. 



Reynoldsburg, 0„ July 7, 1879. 

 I have 38 colonies in the adjustable bee 

 hive ; 1 like it the best of any hive I ever 

 used, having used the Langstroth, Leaf, 

 American, Grant, and several other kinds, 

 but prefer the one in use now, but don't 

 condemn the others. In reference to N. C. 

 Mitchell, I can say 1 have purchased queens 

 of him, and was well pleased. I think he 

 is a gentleman in every respect. I think the 

 cause of so heavy a loss in bees last winter 

 was the cider and other impure honey, 

 which was not capped. I think all such 

 should be extracted in the fall. Bees are 

 doing well here now. S. M. Olduam. 



