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Gibson Station, Ind., Feb. 2, 1880. 

 1 commenced the season of 1879 with 

 72 colonies ; increased to 112, and ob- 

 tained 1800 lbs. of comb honey and 700 

 lbs. of extracted. It was a very poor 

 season here. Chakles Kellar. 



Lizton, Ind., Jan. 27, 1880. 

 My bees are flying freely this week, 

 and I shall stimulate them. If the 

 weather remains favorable, my hives 

 will be full of brood by the time the 

 apple trees blossom. 



James II. (TRear, M. D. 



Glasgow, Scotland, Jan. 8, 1880. 

 Bees and bee-keepers are very quiet, 

 at present; the bees are getting along 

 very favorably. It is very gratifying to 

 notice the wide-spread influence and 

 circulation of the excellent American 

 Bee Journal. May it long enjoy the 

 position of leading all the publications 

 in the world on apiculture. 



John I). Hutchinson. 



Fredericktown, O., Jan. 24, 1880. 

 My bees are wintering nicely, they 

 have had frequent "flights." My ex- 

 perience proves that there are two main 

 causes for bees dying in winter : Long 

 confinement, and old queens. Last 

 winter I lost % of my colonies, but not 

 one died that had a young queen. I do 

 not think the food has any thing to do 

 with the disease. All had the same 

 food, and yet some colonies died while 

 others did not. If poor food was the 

 cause, why did not all die alike V I will 

 not winter a colony with a queen over 

 2 years old. J. Duncan, Jr. 



Ashland. Mo., Jan. 27, 1880. 

 Our honey crop last year was a total 

 failure. .My bees are in tine condition 

 and wintering well, but it would be 

 strange if they did not, as I never lose 

 any in wintering. 1 have 130 colonies 

 and have kept just about that number 

 for several years, never varying more 

 than a few. The losses in Missouri 

 will be fearful this winter and spring; 

 many large apiaries are now all dead, 

 from starvation. The losses are much 

 the heaviest among the black bees; they 

 will nearly all die this winter. The 

 past season has shown the immense 

 superiority of Italian bees over the 

 blacks, especially the most improved 

 families. The best Italians are 

 generally in good condition and will 

 winter well. E. C. L. Larch. M. L>. 



Council Bluffs, Iowa. Feb. •"), 1880. 

 I am a beginner in bee-keeping; I 



have 3 colonies of black bees in mova- 

 ble-frame hives. Moth worms troubled 

 me very much last summer, but by 

 going through the hives carefully three 

 and four times a week, I kept them 

 down. I often found patches of brood 

 about to hatch, that had been uncapped; 

 some young bees were dead, some 

 maimed, wings torn or entirely gone ; 

 the cells often destroyed (that is no 

 partition between the bees), sometimes 

 a piece of comb 3 or 4 inches in area 

 would crumble out, leaving a bole clear 

 through the comb. The dead bees were 

 usually of a gristly white color, though 

 some were quite black. The dead bees 

 and also the maimed, were carried out 

 of the hive by the workers, and often 

 the combs were repaired. Can you tell 

 me what was the cause of this ? I have 

 thought that the moths were to blame, 

 but I now fear that it may be a light 

 form of foul-brood. There was no bad 

 odor about my bees. If I have any- 

 thing like foul-brood I do not wish to be 

 at the expense of Italianizing- my bees. 

 Please answer in Bee Journal. 



M. M. Fay. 



[It certainly is not foul brood. The 

 destruction or crumbling of the comb 

 indicates the work of the moth worm- 

 nothing more.— Ed.] 



Garden Plain, 111., Feb. 4, 1880. 

 There will be a heavy loss among the 

 bees that swarmed considerable last 

 season. I am building a new work- 

 shop and creamery, and 1 expect during 

 the coming summer that my place will 

 "flow with milk and honey."" 



R. II. Murphy. 



Poplar Bluff, Mo., Jan. 21, L880. 

 This is a fine locality for bees. As a 

 general thing bees in this country pay 

 but little attention to buckwheat bloom 

 there being such avast amount of other 

 blossoms. I extracted 220 gallons of 

 honey from 58 colonies last sprinu r . I 

 now have nearly 200 colonies. I bought 

 over 100 this fall and winter: the most 

 of them are very strong ; quite a num- 

 ber are full of bees from side to Side Of 

 the hive, across 10 combs. My bees are 



carrying in pollen every day and have 

 been ever since .January 5th. The 

 queens are filling the center combs with 

 brood as though it was April; I never 

 before saw them SO earlj rearing brood. 

 1 expect soon to commence sti inula ting 

 them, until honey gathering is plentyso 

 as to have them strong in numbers for 

 the bloom ; this is half the battle in 

 bee-culture. W. N. Ckavi.n. 



