Lebanon, O., June 17, 1880. 

 I have an Olm foundation mill and 

 like it very much. I have already made 

 300 lbs. of foundation on it. 



John T. Mardis. 



Albion, Mich., June 20, 1880. 

 Bees are doing but little here ; it has 

 been too wet and cold, and I bad to feed 

 out more than 100 pounds of honey to 

 keep them alive and the queens laying, 

 and I do not think my 50 colonies have 

 more than 2 lbs. of honey each, and yet 

 they are mostly strong in numbers. The 

 season looks dubious for honey. 



A. Griffes. 



[The glorious weather we are having 

 now will work wonders in the line of 

 gathering honey if it is the same in 

 Michigan as here. — Ed.] 



Coopersburg, Pa., May 24. 1880. 

 My bees came through the winter in 

 very fine condition, and everything 

 looked prosperous, but unless it rains 

 soon our honey crop in this part will be 

 a failure. 1 had a swarm on May 7. 

 Preston J. Kline. 



Pearl Rock, Iowa, June 10, 1880. 

 I receive the Journal regularly, and 

 from it get much useful knowledge ; 

 first, by its advertisements of the best 

 bee implements, and, second, by writ- 

 ings of such men as Doolittle and oth- 

 ers, who have had much experience in 

 the management of bees. From it I 

 have been led to purchase a Bingham 

 knife and smoker, an Everett extractor, 

 an Olm foundatien machine, a Swiss 

 wax extractor, etc., which are all first 

 class implements. It will pay every- 

 body that keeps bees to take the Bee 

 Journal. We have had the poorest 

 honey-producing June so far that can 

 be ; it has rained excessively. My bees 

 would have starved if they had not 

 had some old honey. I have to feed the 

 new swarms; they cannot make any 

 comb, for there is no honey ; but with 

 the beautiful foundation and feed they 

 go right along with their work. I hope 

 to hear that others have had better 

 times. Thos. Tracy. 



Macon, 111., May 15, 1880. 

 In the fall of 1878 I had 5 colonies of 

 bees; last fall 11. I had but little sur- 

 plus honey last season. I have never 

 lost a colony in wintering. I use the 

 standard Langstroth hive, and give 

 them »> full frames of honey to winter 

 on. I use division boards, chaff cush- 

 ions on sides and top. I use enameled 

 cloth over the frames, with a wire 

 screen 2}4 in. square in the center; the 

 (•loth is elevated in the center about 2 

 in. to run the water each side of the 

 cluster of bees. I draw the cloth down 

 over the hive tight, and have the cap lit 

 well. I winter thus on the summer 

 stands, and they are strong 'in the 

 spring. F. J. Sticii. 



Morrison, 111., June 19, 1880. 

 I have a fine field of alsike clover, and 

 wish to know how to secure the seed. 

 If some one who has had experience 

 with it will write me at once how to do 

 it, I will cheerfully pay them for their 

 trouble, if they wish it, besides thank- 

 ing them. It is the only thing my bees 

 are at work on now. There seems to be 

 no honey in the white clover, as the old 

 roots were mostly winter-killed. I wish 

 I had 10 acres of alsike instead of 2. 

 F. W. Chapman. 



[Alsike clover should be cultivated 

 the same as the red. The first year it 

 blooms but sparingly, but the second 

 season it is at its best. After the third 

 year it should be sown again, in order 

 to perpetuate the crop. To save the 

 seed allow it to stand about 2 weeks 

 longer than if it were to be cut for hay. 

 Obtain the seed with the aid of a clover 

 h idler. — Ed.] 



Woodbury, Conn., June 21, 1880. 

 White clover began to show May 26, 

 and bees gathered honey from it about 

 June 8, but were quite slow, and only 

 about as much as they used for breed- 

 ing purposes. The blacks were more 

 frequently seen on it than the Italians ; 

 but about June 5 the Italians were quite 

 freely working on red clover, in which 

 our very dry weather appears to have 

 dwarfed the flower tubes, and the col- 

 onies that had boxes on showed that the 

 Italians would work on the red clover 

 in dry seasons with a good will. I have 

 examined closely into the reason why 

 some people have thought their colonies 

 were queenless when, in fact, they were 

 not, and when the bees show by their 

 actions that there isaqueenpresentand 

 yet no eggs are to be found. In such 

 cases the queen, if found, will show at 

 the end of the abdomen a hard, yellow- 

 ish-white bunch, about the size of a 

 small shot, which gives evidence that 

 the queen is egg-bound and cannot 

 lay. Two weeks since I was called to 

 go about 10 miles southwest to examine 

 a black colony in which a tested Italian 

 queen had been introduced. I found 

 her, after examining carefully for about 

 an hour. All the brood in the hive was 

 capped over, so that she must have been 



