Manteno, 111., March 8, 1880. 

 Inclosed please find specimens of spi- 

 ders that I find quite plenty in and about 

 my bee bives. My attention was first 

 drawn to them by finding the remains 

 of a good many bees on the top of can- 

 vas that covers frames of bees. I do 

 not know whether they kill the bees, or 

 feed on those that naturally die. In fine 

 weather they sit on the packing around 

 the hives and sun themselves. They 

 are wonderfully active and hard to 

 catch. I have not noticed any webs 

 about the hives. I keep a few good col- 

 onies of bees just for the fun and sweet- 

 ness of the business. My bees are 

 wintering well. Philip P. Nelson. 



[The spiders were too much crushed 

 for identification. It is quite possible 

 that they kill the bees, and more likely 

 than that they feed on those already 

 dead. Though I should have little fear 

 of any very serious damage from spi- 

 ders.— A. J. Cook.] 



Bowden, Ga., March 29, 1880. 

 I am highly pleased with the founda- 

 tion you sent me, and do not see how I 

 could do without the smoker. I have 

 been transferring my bees into movable 

 frame hives, and have used some of the 

 foundation in full sheets. I have 4 

 colonies of Italian bees, and I am 

 leaving much drone comb in them nad 

 removing all the drone comb from the 

 blacks, so that I shall get drones from 

 my Italians first, and by doing that hope 

 to have my queens fertilized by pure 

 Italian drones. I am the only person 

 in this section who is giving any atten- 

 tion to bees. I am determined to see 

 if there is any money in them. I have 

 been reading the American Bee Jour- 

 nal for 4 years, and I think I have been 

 well paid for my subscription money. 

 I would not be without it and try to 

 keep bees. Bees are storing honey every 

 pleasant day, but we have had too much 

 rain. 11. M. Williams, M. D. 



Chebanse, 111., March 29, 1880. 

 I put into winter quarters 33 colonics 

 of bees about the middle of November, 

 having prepared a room for them in the 

 basement of my barn. They were not 

 moved or disturbed until Feb. 25, except 

 to pass through the room carefully to 

 examine them, about once each week. 

 They became uneasy, and said as plainly 

 as they could that they wanted to see 

 daylight and have a fiy. I moved them 

 to their summer stands after night, and 

 awaited anxiously for the results next 

 morning. Having neglected when I put 



them away in the. fall to number the 

 hives and stands, I expected to see 

 much confusion among them. Before 

 10 o'clock they were flying thickly from 

 every hive, assuring me that all were 

 alive and apparently strong. Every 

 bee seemed to know his home, and all 

 are doing nicely. I have never had bees 

 use so little honey, and am fully per- 

 suaded that a good, dry, dark room, free 

 i from frost and well ventil ted, is the 

 : place in which to winter bees. I think 

 i fully two-thirds of the last year's 

 swarms in this part of the country 

 starved during the winter, many of 

 them early. Reuben Havens. 



Clarksville, N. Y., April 1, 1880. 

 My bees are in the cellar and are do- 

 ing well. We are having cold weather 

 now. We had nearly 12 inches of snow 

 on March 27, and it goes off slowly ; it 

 will take 3 or 4 days yet to thaw it. I 

 have 140 colonies. A. Snyder. 



Warsaw, Ont., March 19, 1880. 

 I have just finished moving my bees 

 to a new apiary ; they are all out strong 

 to-day. I wintered out of doors ; they 

 have had several flights since the 12th 

 of February— a very unusual thing for 

 this locality. Geo. Garlick. 



Union City, Ind., Feb. 26, 1880. 

 I took my bees out of the cellar to- 

 day. They are now gathering pollen 

 from the maples. This is something I 

 never before saw in this month. I 

 wintered in a sawdust house with walls 

 12 inches thick, without loss. I lost 73. 

 of them in the same house last winter. 

 My bees yielded about 75 lbs. of honey 

 per colony last season. I find the Bee 

 Journal indispensable. A. Hoke. 



Rome, Ga., March 17, 1880. 

 The winter, if such it may be called. 

 has been one of the mildest for many 

 years, with scarcely a day that the bees 

 were not flying. They consumed more 

 honey than if the weather had been 

 cool. By Feb. 20 they were breeding 

 profusely, and were about ready to- 

 swarm by March 15. Plums, peaches 

 and cherries blossomed about the end of 

 Feb., but before the bees could gather 

 the honey in them, it commenced to 

 rain, continuing ever since, day and 

 night. The river is now30feet above 

 low water mark, and is still rising. 

 Many weak colonies with brood, are in 

 bad condition, and the result will be 

 very disastrous. The prospect for an 

 early spring is good although the swarm- 

 ing season has been checked nearly a 

 month. A. F. Moon. 



