vested nearly all his means in the busi- 

 ness, and is so broken down in health 

 that he is not now able to preach for 

 a living. Rev. S. Barteau has lost his 

 entire stock or nearly so ; he had about 

 60 colonies last fall. Others, having 

 from 2 to 10 or 12 colonies, have lost all 

 or nearly all of them. I think I shall 

 have 15 to 18, out of over 60 colonies last 

 fall. I think the losses through the State 

 have been heavy ; still some localities 

 report but small losses. I think we will 

 not be overstocked with bees this sea- 

 son. Wm. Dyer. 



Napoleon, O., May 3, 1880. 

 My 42 colonies came through the win- 

 ter all right without loss. I think I can 

 winter bees as safely as I can sheep. 

 G. W. Zimmerman. 



Poplar Bluff, Mo., May 4, 1880. 

 My bees are all in fine condition; 

 gathering honey from poplar and white 

 clover. Of the latter I have a very large 

 amount. I lost a few colonies in win- 

 tering, as I had many old bees in the 

 fall, and thev died before rearing much 

 brood. I fed and stimulated 6 colonies 

 last fall, and these were very strong in 

 the spring, having been stimulated to 

 rear brood then, and thus they had 

 young bees to go into winter quarters 

 with. I have now about 165 colonies. 

 There was much loss in bees all around 

 me ; they died for want of care. Here- 

 after I shall call on you for all my sup- 

 plies. I find hand manufacturing too 

 expensive, and I shall give it up. Ma- 

 chine manufactured articles are much 

 the best and cheapest. 



W. N. Craven. 



Otley, la., April 29, 1880. 

 Last season here averaged very poorly. 

 White clover was fair, but basswood 

 was cut short by the extreme drouth. 

 By partly preventing swarming and re- 

 turning swarms, I managed to secure 

 about half a crop of honey— 1,100 lbs. 

 of comb and 1,700 lbs of extracted. I 

 sold the latter at an average price of 

 lli^ ; comb from 18 to 20 cents, mostly 

 at 20c. The fall harvest, which we gen- 

 erally consider the best, was an entire 

 failure for surplus honey, and almost 

 for any kind. It was very dry until 

 about the 8th of August, when we had 

 a heavy rain, after which flowers came 

 out quite profusely, but seemed to be 

 destitute of honey. I think we never 

 experienced such a fall before, and I 

 hope not again to see such soon. I am 

 a lover of my profession, and have been 

 since a boy, but such a season as the 

 latter part of last year would discour- 

 age the most sanguine. I put my bees 



into winter quarters about the last of 

 November and took them out from April 

 5 to 13. I wintered in the cellar, and 

 had good success. Out of 135 colonies 

 we lost but 2, and a few weak ones since 

 putting them out. We still have a goodly 

 number left to commence the season 

 with. The dead bees are not so much 

 loss, as we still have the hives and 

 comb. I think that the Journal, Cook's 

 Manual, and Bingham's smoker are 3 

 essential things to an apiarist, and I 

 think no person intending to make api- 

 culture a success can afford to be with- 

 out them, should they cost twice the 

 money. W. C. Nutt. 



Eminence, Ky., May 15, 1880. 

 We have had for the past 3 days cool 

 east winds, with a good flow of honey 

 from our poplar, locust and white clo- 

 ver for a few days preceding. Some 

 swarms are already reported in this lo- 

 cality. E. Drane. 



Carlisle, Iowa, May 13, 1880. 

 In this locality white clover is a fail- 

 ure this year. It was nearly all killed 

 through the winter, and what comes 

 from the seed will be late, though we 

 may expect some honey from it by the 

 last of July. Last year we had a " sea" 

 of "white heads" spreading every- 

 where. J. E. Hastings. 



Milledgeville, 111., May 18, 1880. 

 I was sorry to see the course taken by 

 the last Northeastern Convention. I 

 sincerely hope it will not permit any 

 more of such rashness in its proceed- 

 ings. We, as bee-keepers of America, 

 should not allow such matters to mar 

 our friendly feelings towards one an- 

 other ; we should act as a band of broth- 

 ers—East, West, North and South. Suc- 

 cess to the American Bee Journal. 

 E. A. Snell. 



Ashland, Mo., May 10, 1880. 

 The spring has been hard on bees 

 here where neglected, but with proper 

 care and attention they are in fine con- 

 dition. Mine have recruited up finely, 

 without any dwindling. My apiary of 

 112 colonies will be ready for the honey 

 when it comes. Nine-tenths, or more, 

 of the black bees are dead, and about 

 10 per cent of the Italians ; a few apia- 

 ries of Italians are nearly all dead, but 

 it is owing to inferior stock and bad 

 management. The best way to improve 

 the Italian bee is to purchase queens 

 from parties who are known to be al- 

 ways successful : test them thoroughly, 

 and select the best queen, or the two 

 best if they are nearly equal— then rear 

 all from the best, and have them mate 



