10c. per pound. If the producers could form 

 an agency, and not bull the market, they 

 could control things, and all the honey pro- 

 duced this year could be sold at good, fair, 

 living prices. Honey is a failure in this 

 section. One apiarist who last year sold 

 8,000 lbs. from 100 colonies, this year has 

 only 1,500 lbs. of surplus. C. G. Giubard. 



[Our correspondent has raised a couple of 

 points which will undoubtedly receive at- 

 tention at the National Convention to be 

 held in Chicago on the 2lst inst. ; especially 

 is there scope for argument on the proposi- 

 tion to centralize the honey trade in the 

 hands of as few dealers or agents as possi- 

 ble.— Ed.] 



Flint, Mich.. Sept. 11, 1879. 

 Between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1, fed to 14 colo- 

 nies over 100 lbs. of sugar and honey, and 

 some of them now have less than 3 and none 

 over 10 lbs. of honey in their hives. So 

 much for drouth and early frosts in this 

 section. Presume I may send for more 

 honey soon. E. M. R. 



East Saginaw, Mich., Sept 6, 1879. 

 In discussing R. R. fare to the bee-keepers' 

 convention to-day, it came to my mind that 

 last year we had tickets offered to us from 

 this place to Chicago, to attend the fair at 

 your place for $7.00. The same fair will 

 have an exhibition at the same time of the 

 bee-keepers' meeting, and possibly some 

 could avail themselves of those tickets to 

 advantage. I have not yet made positive 

 arrangements to attend but hope to be able 

 to be with you. L. C. Whiting 



Wells, Minn., Aug. 26, 1879. 

 I enclose you some insects or bugs which 

 seem to be plenty on the golden rod. One 

 of my little boys found a dead bee on golden 

 rod, and when I came to examine it, I found 

 one of the bugs fastened on or holding on to 

 the bee. I have not been able to find any 

 more enemies of the "Blessed Bees." I com- 

 menced bee-keeping one year ago last May 

 with 2 colonies of black bees ; have now 14 

 colonies of Italians. I Italianized in the 

 spring. Bought a colony of Italian bees, 

 raised my queens and drones, and kept my 

 black drones cutout. I have now very large 

 nice colonies, and they are working on gol- 

 den rod for dear life. I live on the prairie 

 where there is neither basswood nor maple. 

 I am under great obligations to Prof. Cook 

 for his valuable work, which has been my 

 constant guide in my operations and success- 

 ful management of the apiary. J. P. West. 



[This is phymata erosa, described and il- 

 lustrated in 4th edition of "Manual," page 

 293-295.— A. J. Cook.] 



Kane, 111., Sept. 5, 1879. 

 Enclosed find twig and bloom of a plant 

 that grows near my place. It commenced 

 blooming about the first of August, and is 

 yet in bloom. The dry weather does not 

 seem to hurt it. It grows from 3 to 6 feet 

 high, and has a great many prongs and 



heavy top. The bees leave the buckwheat 

 to work on this, and at all hours of the day. 

 1 wish to know its name and quality as a 

 honey plant, and if healthy I will save seed 

 and cultivate next season. 1 believe it will 

 pay better than buckwheat, for bees only 

 work on buckwheat 3 or 4 hours per day, 

 while they work all day on this. 1 do not 

 see how any person can keep bees with suc- 

 cess without a copy of " Cook's Manual of 

 the Apiary" and the American Bee Jour- 

 nal for their guide. Without them I would 

 have been in the last ditch of "Blasted 

 Hopes" this dry season ; but with their 

 aid I have increased 100 per cent., all in 

 good condition. R. M. Osborn. 



[This is figwort (see Manual, p. 237, fig. 

 94), often called Simpson's honey-plant. 

 Very excellent.— A. J. Cook.] 



Bell's Station, Tenn., Aug. 27, 1879. 

 I wintered 20 colonies, have doubled my 

 stock, and have taken 1,300 lbs. of extracted 

 and 100 lbs. of comb honey. My bees are 

 swarming rapidly at this time ; we call them 

 August swarms. I have had 5 or 6 swarms, 

 all were put hackbut one, which I built up 

 to make my 40 colonies. They are all in 

 Langstroth hives, in good condition, and 

 every colony has a fine Italian queen. Bees 

 have done very well in this locality this sea- 

 son. There is a move on foot to get a bee 

 association started in West Tennessee, but 

 we have not organized yet. Hope we will 

 do so soon, so we may have a representative 

 in the National Convention. We have some 

 very able men in our midst. If they would 

 make a start, we could have some interest- 

 ing correspondence in the pages of the 

 American Bee Journal from this section. 

 John H. Smith. 



White Rock, Texas, Aug. 7, 1879. 

 Bees have done little or almost nothing 

 this season on account of the cold windy 

 weather in the early spring, and the extreme- 

 ly hot and dry weather this summer. A 

 great many Dees died during the drouth, 

 but mostly those kept in old box hives and 

 gums. Most of them had been robbed 

 down to the cross-sticks, and starved out of 

 course. Practical bee-keepers have lost but 

 few. Last winter was a hard one on us 

 here, as our bees consumed their stores gen- 

 erally before the winter was over, and 

 starved to death ; aud another thing, about 

 the first of February, after bees had begun 

 to gather pollen and were getting heavy 

 with brood, we had a "Northerner" which 

 prevented the bees from leaving the hive 

 for about 3 days, which destroyed several 

 colonies that were counted safely through. 

 I had 32 colonies at the commencement of 

 the drouth, some in very good condition and 

 strong ; but at one time, about the 20th of 

 June, there was not a frame of honey in the 

 yard, and not one cap sealed; the queens 

 had ceased laying for nearly a month ; the 

 bees had been killing drones ever since 

 April 1st, and the most discouraging time 

 prevailed; robber bees from starving colo- 

 nies prowling about, swarms coming out 

 and leaving and others occasionally coming 

 and settling near or going into some hive 



