spring. I formerly wintered in the cel- 

 lar with success, but I like the house 

 and straw better, for it gives shelter and 

 shade in summer, and saves moving the 

 bees two or three times a year. The 

 Bee Journal is a regular arid welcome 

 visitor. A. S. Edson. 



Brooklyn, Mo., Oct. 12, 1880. 



Why is it J— Mr. Wise of this place in- 

 forms me that he has had 3 Italian 

 queens recently destroyed by their own 

 bees ; one colony refused to accept an- 

 other queen, and all refuse to rear any 

 more queens— what ails them ? 



D. P. Norton. 



Council Grove, Kans., Sept. 27, 1880. 



[Not knowing anything but bare facts 

 given above, we can only conjecture the 

 ailment: They may have wished to su- 

 persede their queens for cause, and had 

 no facilities for rearing new ones, till 

 the workers became too old for nurses ; 

 or they may have developed fertile work- 

 ers ; or the queens may have been un- 

 skillf ully introduced ; or there may have 

 been other causes. Had a surface cage 

 been used, and the queen imprisoned 

 on a comb with larvae and sealed brood, 

 and given the colony, no trouble would 

 have occurred in introducing.— Ed.] 



Hybrids. — This is my first year at rear- 

 ing queens, and some of them are as 

 pure as I ever saw, but some are mixed. 

 I was of the opinion that an Italian 

 queen mated with a black drone, would 

 produce uniform bees half-and-half; 

 but I find some in such hives looking as 

 pure as any, and some as black as any 

 black bee. Now, I want to know, is 

 that the true nature of them, or will the 

 bees be uniform ? I have 33 colonies, 

 and no more honey than will be required 

 to winter on. II. M. Williams. 



Bowden, Ga., Sept., 11, 1880. 



[You were wrong; the bees will not 

 be uniform, but will be all shades. So, 

 also, will be the queen progeny. — Ed.] 



Alfalfa.— Please give name of enclosed; 

 I obtained it in Ohio. The seeds grow 

 in a small, spiral-shaped pod, and were 

 brought from South America to Ohio. 

 Is it a good honey plant V 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



Williamstown, Iowa, Oct. 12, 1880. 



[The plant sent is lucerne or alfalfa 

 (medirago saliva). It is a well-known 

 ee plant.— W. J. Beal.] 



Moving Bees, etc.— Mr. O. B. Curtis' 

 article on clubbing rates, I think, is a 

 very important suggestion, and am glad 

 that you will take a stand against it. If 

 all publishers would adopt this plan it 

 would be better for all good papers and 

 journals. I have about 20 colonies to go 

 into winter quarters with, and would 

 like to move them about 25 yards from 

 the place where they now are, which is 

 in a garden very close to where 1 have 

 plants, etc., and in certain seasons they 

 are troublesome to the laborers when 

 they are damp with perspiration, and 

 when using a hoe they seem to think 

 they are fighting them, and stinging is 

 the result. They are now shaded with 

 boards ; will it be best to put them un- 

 der a large tree, or where there are no 

 trees V When is the best time to move 

 them, now or in the spring? How do 

 you think the Simpson honey plant, that 

 Mr. Stewart, of Kentucky, speaks of. 

 will do in this climate ? Success to the 

 Bee Journal. R. G. Nicholson. 



Hainesville, Md., Oct., 1880. 



[Bees can be moved at any season of 

 the year with safety, if a slanting board 

 or bush be placed over the entrance to 

 cause the bees to re-mark their location. 

 The Simpson honey plant will undoubt- 

 edly do for Maryland. A partial shade 

 is better than too much. — Ed.] 



Albinos.— I received fromD. A. Pike, 

 July 9th, an albino queen, which proved 

 to be very prolific, her bees showing the 

 three rows of white hairs after the" yel- 

 low band, making them beautiful to look 

 at. I had a good opportunity to test ner 

 progeny, as I had in the same yard two 

 good Italian queens, one light and the 

 other dark. The al bmos gathered more 

 honey, and were more easily handled,, 

 owing to their gentleness. 



N. J. Teighor. 



Carlisle, Iowa, Sept. 24, 1880. 



Southern Welcome.— I was very much 

 pleased with the late National Conven- 

 tion at Cincinnati, and consider myself 

 well paid for the time and money I 

 spent in attending it. As Lexington is 

 the place for the next meeting, I hope 

 it will be largely attended ; we shall be 

 pleased to meet our Northern brethren 

 on Southern soil again, and will give 

 them a genuine, hearty, old Southern 

 welcome. No place South could be 

 more desirable than the one selected,, 

 and no people in the world are more hos- 

 pitable than the genuine old Kentuck- 

 ian, and especially in the region of Lex- 

 ington. J. M. Davis. 



Spring Hill, Term., Oct. 15, 1880. 



