had a fair fall yield, and most of my 

 bees are supplied for winter ; but every 

 thing stopped on the 7th, the weather 

 suddenly turning cold and continuing 

 so, till the 16th, with a little froston the 

 13th and 14th ; it is warmer now and the 

 bees are out again, but are not getting 

 any honey. P. R. Hunt. 



Plattsville, O., Sept, 17, 1880. 



Cleome. — What is it? Does it grow 

 any where ? Does it blossom the tirst 

 year? Please explain and oblige a 

 reader of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. Joiin C. Wilms. 



Waupun, Wis,, Sept. 14, 1880. 



[It is a good honey-producer, blooms 

 the first year, and grows in any good 

 soil. It yields honey only early in 

 the morning or late in the evening. — Ed. 



Is it Foul-Brood J— My bees have a 

 little dead brood with sealed caps, 

 sunken but not perforated ; no bad 

 smell ; would this be caused by the 

 honey crop failing suddenly while bees 

 are rearing brood rapidly, or is it a case 

 of foul-brood ? My increase from 14 

 colonies is 35; surplus honey 100 lbs. 

 extracted. A. Subscriber. 



Hamilton, Ont., Sept. 18, 1880. 



[Probably if you perforate some of 

 the brood, you will find bad smell 

 enough to convince you that it is a 

 genuine case of foul-brood. — Ed.] 



Swarm Catchers.— Seeing in your 

 Journal for August, mention made of 

 " swarm catchers," by one of your 

 correspondents, F. W. Spear, Wyocena, 

 Wis., could you give me any particu- 

 lars of them, through the columns of 

 your Journal next month, if so I 

 should be much obliged V I am only an 

 amateur bee-keeper, but have not heard 

 of any thing of the kind before. I 

 think it would be a great boon to bee- 

 keepers, if any thing can be devised to 

 catch issuing swarms, as it seems im- 



Eossible to entirely prevent swarming, 

 ut how to catch them is a puzzler to 

 me. I am sorry to see such poor ac- 

 counts of the honey harvest in your 

 country. I think upon the whole ours 

 is a very fair harvest. 



E. J. Holmes. 

 Cranbrook, Kent, Eng., Sept. 10, '80. 



[A description of a swarm catcher 

 may be found on page 487 of this Jour- 

 nal. See also our May number, pages 

 219 and 250 for description of Bailey's 

 Swarm Catcher.— Ed.] 



How to Winter Bees.— It has been too 

 cold here for bees to do much this fall. 

 A man here says that too much honey 

 below will become as cold as ice in win- 

 ter and freeze the bees. Is this so ? 

 He says the best way is to take out the 

 frames of honey at the sides, and give 

 them empty frames in the middle. I 

 think the hives are full of comb honey 

 below, but do not know how r much. 



C. Fletcher. 



Columbia City, Ind., Sept. 12, 1880. 



[Leave only as many frames in the 

 hive for winter as the bees can cover T 

 removing the rest and put a division 

 board on either side, and on the outside 

 of these fill in with chaff, hay, leaves- 

 or something of the sort, and cover up 

 warmly on the top with a blanket ; then 

 place over that chaff, leaves, sawdust 

 or something of that sort to keep them 

 warm and also to absorb the moisture 

 generated during the winter. — Ed.] 



Curculio. — In the last Bee Journal 

 I noticed an error in the item on the 

 Curculio, p. 414, which please allow me 

 to correct. The Curculio is a small 

 dark snout beetle, or weevil, which 

 when disturbed draws up its legs and 

 falls to the ground, when it looks so 

 like a dried bud that it is not readily 

 distinguished. Early in the season 

 during the cold days of May it is wholly 

 nocturnal, later it works day and night. 

 It continues to sting the plum till in 

 July. Its puncture can readily be told 

 from that of any other insect, as it is 

 always marked with a crescent thus >?\, 

 The grub which hatches from the egg 

 is maggot-like, as it has no legs. It 

 w r orks in plums, peaches, cherries and 

 apples, and causes the plums to fall, but 

 not the other kinds of fruit. Any one 

 can find the Curculio by shaking their 

 trees in June over a white sheet. Look 

 closely and there will be seen the small 

 bud-like weevils. The smoke from 

 burning coal tar, will drive the Curcu- 

 lio away without injury to the trees, 

 and save the plums, if it is practiced 

 thoroughly. But the jarring method is 

 perfectly effective and better. If 

 desired I will give this method next 

 spring, when it is needed. 



A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., Sept. 18, 1880. 



[Wej thank Prof. Cook for this cor- 

 rection and full description of the 

 Curculio, and shall be pleased to have 

 him give his method of jarring, &c. y 

 when convenient. — Ed.] 



