letter graixrcr- 



Morenci, Mich., Dec. 24, 1879. 

 In 1S78 I took 6 colonies of bees, very 

 light and weak, on shares, and last fall 

 and winter I bought 12 more. Nov. 13, 

 1878, I put 19 colonies into the cellar, 

 and on January 13th, put in 11 more. I 

 kept them all there till 14th of April, 

 when I put them out on summer stands. 

 One weak colony had lost its queen, and 

 I doubled them up with another light 

 colony. Two colonies swarmed out and 

 went into other hives within 4 days 

 after I put them on the summer stands. 

 They had a plenty of stores and the 

 hives were clean and nice. This I could 

 not account for. Two were robbed. 

 When I put them out on the summer 

 stands all had an abundfince of stores 

 but were rather weak. They seemed to 

 diminish every day for about 3 weeks, 

 then they increased finely and did fairly 

 for the rest of the season both in in- 

 crease and surplus honey. Why did 

 thev diminish so in numbers V I have 

 now in winter quarters 54 colonies ; 37 

 are strong ones and are packed on the 

 summer stands in straw and chaff, and 

 17 of the lightest are in the cellar. I 

 have taken more pains to make the cel- 

 lar dark this fall than last, so that it is 

 now totally dark. How another spring 

 will lind them I am anxious to know. 

 C. S. Ingals. 



[The first was a case of abnormal 

 swarming, upon which the Journal 

 for last spring contained several articles. 

 In the latter case, evidently the bees 

 were old, and the diminishing was 

 caused by their death from natural 

 causes, and not until it was warm 

 enough for the brood to hatch, did they 

 increase again.— Ed.] 



Brecksville, O., Dec. 29, 1879. 

 The past season has given us less 

 honey than usual, still our bees are ap- 

 parently in as good condition or better 

 than last year, and the prices of honey 

 better. There is a very encouraging 

 demand for extracted, and the small 

 crop will have a tendency to use up the 

 bulk of old honey in the market, and 

 leave us an open market and a fair 

 price for the next season's production. 

 From about 40 colonies I have obtained 

 an increase of 30, and about 2,200 lbs. 

 of honey, of which 1.500 lbs. was in the 

 comb in 1 lb. sections and the balance 

 700 lbs. extracted. I am fully convinced 

 of the importance, utility and necessity 



of organization. That we may secure 

 better results; put up our honey in 

 more desirable shape, and secure a 

 more uniform and better price. I wish 

 the Bee Journal much success for its 

 enterprise. Chas. S. Burt. 



Strait,s Corners; 111., Dec. 23, 1879. 

 My bees wintered nicely last season. 



1 only lost 2 colonies out of 54. I united 



2 in the spring, leaving 51 ; I took 9 on 

 shares. I increased the 60 to 117, and 

 reduced my number this fall to 111. I 

 am wintering 59 on the summer stands, 

 packed in oax chaff, and 52 in the cellar. 

 The past summer was too cool and dry 

 for surplus ; I obtained only 665 lbs. of 

 comb honey and 414 of extracted. I 

 sold the white, in comb, for 18c; dark, 

 15c. I will report next spring my plan 

 of wintering and state with what suc- 

 cess. Please give me in your valuable 

 Journal, the best plan to exterminate 

 rats and mice from bee cellar. 



J. E. Pelham. 



[Catch them with traps.— Ed.] 



New London, Ind., Dec. 27, 1879. 

 I have 32 colonies of bees in the cel- 

 lar, in American hives. I left off the 

 cap, closed the bottom and opened the 

 top. I would like to hear from others 

 who winter in cellars, as to how they 

 prepared them. Mine appear to be all 

 right, so far as I can see. My cellar is 

 a good one and is quite dark, with a 3 

 inch tile ventilator that answers for 

 drainage as well as ventilation. I have 

 a stove rlue from bottom of the cellar, to 

 draw off .damp and foul air. 



C. A. Jones. 



Dixon, 111., Dec. 14, 1879. 

 Bees are doing well, but some are dy- 

 ing from old age. In some hives there 

 is quite a deposit of frost, while others 

 are dry and have no frost, and do not 

 seem to lose any. I expect if any die, 

 it will be those that have the frost. I 

 cannot account for it as they were all 

 put up exactly alike ; why should one 

 be frosty and others not V I have 11 in 

 chaff hives ; these seem to get along 

 without any trouble and if 1 prosper 

 next year I will use all such hives. I am 

 getting up a chaff hive of my own to 

 contain 4 colonies, each having 8 Lang- 

 stroth frames in winter and 22 in sum- 

 mer, to have 6 inches of packing all 

 around the brood in winter, but none 

 around the upper story in summer. My 

 object is to get something cheap and 

 good, so that the bees will help to keep 

 each other warm. I think it will do it. 

 B. F. Pratt. 



