Emporia, Kan., June 3, 1880. 

 My bees are now doing well. I win- 

 tered 18 colonies on their summer 

 stands without loss. I had 10 swarms 

 in May. I think we shall have a good 

 honey season this year. N. Davis. 



Guise, France, May 29, 1880. 

 I always read the American Bee 

 Journal with the greatest pleasure, 

 and I peruse its excellent articles before 

 I do those in any other journal pub- 

 lished in Europe. 



L'Abde L. DuBois. 



Plymouth, Wis., June 9, 1880. 



Enclosed find specimens of a bug 

 which is devouring what little bass- 

 wood bloom we would otherwise have. 

 I also send you a sample of their work. 

 Please name the insect and their habits 

 in the American Bee Journal. 



J. N. McColm. 



[This is one of the leaf-eating beetles 

 (Dichelonychaelongatula, Say). It feeds 

 on the leaves of various trees. I often 

 get them by the score in jarring the 

 plum trees for the plum curculio.— A. 

 J. Cook.] 



Linden. N. Y., June 14, 1880. 

 I have 48 colonies of bees in fine con- 

 dition. They did not gather much honey, 

 only enough to keep up brood-rearing, 

 until June 12; since then they have 

 been at work on white clover. I have 

 30 colonies of hybrids ; they are excel- 

 lent honey-gatherers, but a little crosser 

 than pure Italians. I wintered on the 

 summer stands, packed in planer shav- 

 ings. I lost 3, 2 of them queenless. I 

 transferred 31 of them this spring into 

 movable frame hives. Success to the 

 American Bee Journal. 



Jas. S. Lord. 



Greenpoint, N". Y., June 9, 1880. 

 Several plans have been tried for the 

 fertilization of the queen in confine- 

 ment, but as yet none have been tho- 

 roughly successful. I would like some 

 one that has the conveniences to try an 

 idea of mine. As it is the nature of the 

 queen to fly high in the air, where fe- 

 cundation takes place, may not the air 

 at some certain heighth have some in- 

 fluence upon them ? I would take 

 gauze or netting of some kind ; make 

 it about the size and shape of a barrel, 

 keep it in shape with about 3 or 4 hoops, 

 put the queen and drones into it, and 

 hoist it up in the air about 50 or 100 feet, 

 by a flag-staff or some such means. 

 Would not the experiment be worth try- 

 ing ? J. Newton. 



Salem, Ind., June 7, 1880. 

 Parties from JNashville, Tenn., are 

 here selling the " Golden Bee Hive, 1 ' 

 patented by David Thompson, July 3, 

 1877. They claim a combination pat- 

 ent covering nearly all the features of 

 any movable frame hive, with division 

 boards, feeders, etc. With many others 

 of the readers of the Bee Journal I 

 wish to have a certified copy of their 

 claims published, so that we may know 

 what their claims are. 



John Craycraft. 



[In order to ascertain exactly what 

 Mr. Thompson patented, we sent to 

 Washington for an official copy of the 

 patent. From it we glean the following : 



" What I claim as new, and desire to 

 secure by letters patent is : The com- 

 bination, with the hive proper of the 

 &*dpplemental hive or box B, feed-board 

 A, feed-cup C, and key and lever E, all 

 arranged substantially as described and 

 shown. David Thompson." 



It will be seen that this patent does 

 not cover the hive proper (brood cham- 

 ber), nor the frames nor division board. 

 Mr. Thompson only claims the "com- 

 bination " of his surplus arrangement 

 with the hive proper. His surplus ar- 

 rangement consists of small frames of 

 the same length of the brood frames, 

 but about % their depth ; these hang 

 by the top-bar, over the brood frames, 

 and both the frames and their manner 

 of hanging, together with their posi- 

 tion on the hive, are all old, and have 

 long been common property ! The 

 " combination " which Mr. Thompson 

 claims is simply the attaching of his 

 " supplemental hive," or surplus box, 

 to "the hive proper," and he has no 

 claim upon any movable frames, or any 

 of the desirable features of the ordi- 

 nary hives, or upon division boards. 

 His " feeder," " key " and " lever," are 

 the main points in his patent, and these 

 are, perhaps, of the least importance to 

 bee-keepers.— Ed.] 



Vermillion, Dakota, June 16, 1880. 

 My bees are doing well. I started the 

 season with 38 colonies ; have increased 

 by natural swarming to 70, and will 

 probably have 20 more. Our honey sea- 

 son commences about July 1, and will 

 continue till about Oct. 10. 



C. G. Shaw. 



