with, perhaps, a single exception, was 

 from an Italian queen that had mated 

 with a black drone. I received the 

 queen from a queen breeder in Tennes- 

 see. If I could have multiplied and 

 perpetuated their good qualities I would 

 have desired nothing better, except in 

 the matter of temper, and even in that 

 they were not very objectionable. I 

 would not be surprised if a cross be- 

 tween the Italian and Cyprian bee 

 would give valuable results. 

 Logansport, Ind., Dec. 6, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Dysentery and Spring Dwindling. 



R. DART. 



Mr. Taylor, of Oakford, in the Jour- 

 nal for December, gives us all an in- 

 vitation to reply to his questions. 



First, the combs of any hive in win- 

 ter quarters from which the bees have 

 •died, from any cause, will become 

 moldy and damp. 



Second, my box hives were always 

 found moldy and damp after loss of 

 bees in winter, having to break them 

 up, and melt up combs. 



Third, during the winter of 1870, out 

 of 40 colonies, in box-hives, I lost 21 by 

 dysentery. In the winter of 1871 I lost 

 all but 3 of those remaining in box- 

 hives, by dysentery. 



Fourth, for 30 years I have seen more 

 or less of this so-called disease, dysen- 

 tery—many years before we had bee 

 periodicals, to publish our troubles and 

 losses. I then saw heavy losses from 

 dysentery, but then all used the com- 

 monest kind of box-hives. 



Mr. Doolittle, on dysentery and win- 

 tering in December number of Bee 

 Journal, writes to the point, and has 

 given us about all the light we can get 

 on these subjects. 



Mr. Brown's communication in De- 

 cember number of Bee Journal on 

 " spring dwindling," I think does not 

 cover all the ground on this subject. I 

 would suggest that when we carry our 

 bees out of winter- quarters in the 

 spring, and they have had a general 

 flight, that we then set shade boards to 

 the front of the hives, keeping the sun 

 from the hive until the weather is warm 

 enough for them to fly at all times of 

 the day ; or after the first Might change 

 the front of hive towards the North, 

 and let it remain so all the summer. I 

 can see no losses of my bees by changing 

 the stands after being in winter quar- 

 ters 4 or 5 months. When my bees 

 come out of their winter quarters 

 strong, and after the first flight are still 

 strong in number, then spring dwind- 



ling commences with me, and goes on 

 all through April, in this climate. 

 Notice the changes of weather in this 

 month : In a partly cloudy day, the 

 sun breaks out for a few moments, our 

 bees rush out and go to hunting over 

 the fields ; the sun passes under a cloud 

 and the air is chilled, in a moment the 

 bees drop to the ground, and 9 out of 10 

 never reach the hive again. These 

 changes are going on all through the 

 month. I think such the greatest 

 causes of spring dwindling, and will 

 affect colonies, wintered in or out of 

 doors. 

 Ripon, Wis., Dec. 8, 1879. 



From the Swiss Bulletin D'Apiculteur. 



Experiments with Ether on Bees. 



On the 11th of August we again em- 

 ployed on two colonies the method of 

 etherising the bees, our object being to 

 give to each a new queen. The hrst 

 was a very strong colony, and was 

 removed from its usual stand to another 

 and the bees have not returned to 

 tneir old location. In the second, 

 which was not moved, the bees refused 

 to accept the queen. On the 20th of 

 August the hive had 4 sealed queen- 

 cells. In July, by smoking the bees, we 

 had already given them a queen which 

 was not accepted ; hence our reason for 

 etherising to give them another. We 

 could have caged the queen for 24 hours, 

 but we^wished to know the effect or 

 etherisation in this case. Thus two 

 young queens were sacrificed for this 

 colony. This more than ever confirms 

 what our experience had already taught 

 us, viz : that to succeed in the opera- 

 tion of uniting, the colony without a 

 queen should be always given to one 

 that possesses a queen ; or, at least, a 

 change of location should take place. 

 A wise precaution is to remove all the 

 brood. A correspondent says : 



Wishing to unite the queen and work- 

 ers of a hive to an orphan colony I 

 etherised the latter, and put it in the 

 place of the former. The operation was 

 completely successful — not a single 

 orphan bee returned to its accustomed 

 spot, with the necessary exception of 

 those which were on flight when I re- 

 moved the hive, and these were very 

 few. This was on the 19th of August. 



The second day after uniting I found 

 that eggs were laid in the royal cells. 

 To-day (17th of September) the queen 

 is stillbusily laying, for I fed the colony 

 to strengthen it, it having been queen- 

 less since the middle of June. 



To etherise American hives (in all of 

 which the combs are movable) I employ 



