Crawfish Springs, Ga., April 23, 1880. 



Bees wintered very well on summer 

 stands the past winter. They are gath- 

 ering honey from apple trees and white 

 clover— the latter is just coming into 

 bloom. The colonies . are generally 

 strong, and some are swarming ; we 

 have had several up to date, which is 

 considered rather early for this coun- 

 try. We have taken colonies of blacks 

 to Italianize on shares for a neighbor. 

 Not much attention is given bee culture 

 here. Many still use log gums, and 

 cling to the old fogy notions of their 

 ancestors ; some few are reading the 

 bee papers, and adopting movable 

 frame hives, and seeking the yellow- 

 banded bees. We are thankful that we 

 are again to have the use of the mails 

 for carrying queens. We hope all bee- 

 keepers will heed your admonitions to 

 not abuse this privilege. 



J. T. Scott & Bro. 



Shawano, Wis., April 16, 1880. 

 The wintering of bees has been disas- 

 trous here. Some have lost %, others ' ; j. 

 I lost none for -4 years. Last winter I 

 had 20 colonies oil the summer stands 

 and 18 in a cellar, and have lost but 1 ; 

 they were not out of cellar from Xov. 

 1 till March 15 ; then they had a flight 

 and were put back till April 13; now 

 they are on summer stands, and bring- 

 ing in pollen. To-day we have a snow 

 storm. My success is' due more to my 

 hives and care than to anything else. I 

 use the regular Langstroth frame. 9 l 4 x 

 17'. , in. outside. My brood chamber is 

 made of clean rye straw, standing per- 

 pendicular all around and about 2 in. 

 thick ; you may think that these walls 

 are soft, but they are not ; the straw is 

 pressed on a machine of my own con- 

 struction, and is as even as a planed 

 board, except the No.26brass wire run- 

 ningover and through the same. I do not 

 make these hives for sale, but it may be 

 that some of my friends maybe bene- 

 fitted by this description. Prof. A. J. 

 Cook says in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal for October, 1879, page 400, under 

 ••Hints on Wintering Bees:" " I have 

 already spoken of dry cellars and ab- 

 B( irl tents above the bees. Could our hives 

 be so constructed as to secure a good 

 absorbing surface entirely around the 

 brood chamber, it would doubtless be 

 an advantage.*' Well spoken, friend 

 Cook ; it has satisfied me for 5 years. 

 With a good woolen quilt over them 

 and 8 inches chaff and cover, I am not 

 alarmed about my bees dying out un- 

 protected ; but, as* usual, I put a rough 

 box, the same as Prof. Cook has de- 

 scribed, with 4 inches chaff stuffed all 

 around, and the portico Hied with 



loss comes heavily on him, as he had in- 

 chaff 4x 1 L , indies. Entry left open for 

 the bees. lean warrant every goodcol- 

 ony during winter without lookmgafter 

 them. At snow-fall I throw an armful 

 of loose straw at the entrance, and clear 

 away when warm enough to fly. That 

 is my way of wintering successfully ; 

 and my bees use less stores in winter, 

 and may be housed and confined to their 

 hives for many months without their 

 health being impaired and dwindling 

 down to nothing in the spring. 



II. Klost human. 



Downsville, Wis., May 3, 1880. 

 Two-thirds of the bees in this part of 

 our State died during last winter and 

 this spring. I lost 6 colonies out of 62, 

 the first loss I ever had in wintering. 

 My bees last year commenced swarm- 

 ing on May 15, and I think they will this 

 year, for drones are hatching in several 

 hives. I fed rye meal and syrup very 

 early. A. J. Tibbetts. 



Lettsville, Iowa, April 29, 1880. 

 My bees are doing finely, gathering 

 pollen and breeding very fast. I began 

 last spring with 1 colony of Italians, in- 

 creasing to 3, and obtained 25 lbs. of 

 very fine comb honey. I use the Lang- 

 stroth hive, and expect to increase my 

 bees to 12 colonies this summer by di- 

 viding, which I think is more preferable 

 than allowing them to swarm. I win- 

 tered in the cellar, with the caps oft and 

 open in front. Mycelial- is tiled and 

 cemented on the bottom and sides, with 

 a partition through the center, and it is 

 quite dark and well ventilated, with the 

 thermometer ranging from 35 to \5 . 

 I took them out for flights in February 

 and March, and each time they ap- 

 peared to be in good condition. They 

 are now on their summer stands, with 

 plenty of honey and doing well. 



Geo. W. Dodder. 



Hastings, Minn.. April 24. 1SS0. 

 We are meeting with severe losses of 

 bees in this section. Mr. Morse has lost 

 his entire apiary in the last four years ; 

 tie has bought and taken on shares over 

 100 colonies. I think foul brood has had 

 something to do with his losses. Rev. 

 A. Telford commenced last spring \\ itb 

 40 colonies, and increased during the 

 season to 84 ; hefed during the fall 300 

 lbs. of sugar: he has lost heavily; he 

 thinks now that he will save 8 colonies 

 in a very weak condition; he thinks 

 foul brood has been one cause of his se- 

 vere losses; I assisted him last spring 

 in purchasing 36 or 38 colonies, which 

 were then in very good condition. The 



