the season of frost and snow, it would do 

 'em good. (By the way, no abler or more 

 successful investigator ever graced the 

 ranks of those engaged in apicultural or 

 pomological science in this or any other 

 country, than this same II.) Tliinking and 

 acting are synonymous terms witli him, in 

 matters that engross his attention. So on 

 a clear frosty morning in December, he 

 l^.laced three colonies of bees in a " hot- 

 l)ed," as an experiment. Presently the 

 genial rays of old Sol raised the tempera- 

 ture of the interior so that a few bees came 

 to the entrance of the hives to reconnoiter. 

 •' Surely" says the advance guard, " spring 

 is here again ; leb's have a play-spell and 

 enjoy the bright, warm sunshine." So say- 

 ing they took wing and commenced buzz- 

 ing around in good earnest. They were 

 soon followed by their napping comrades (?) 

 and in a few moments longer the " voiding 

 room " was a scene of wonderful activity. 

 In less than fifty minutes from the time 

 they commenced to lly all was quiet again, 

 the bees had had a good purifying flight, 

 and strangest of all, scarcely a dead bee 

 could be found to indicate the "'lapse of 

 time." This experiment, so auspicious in 

 inception and satisfactory in results, was 

 followed by others on a larger scale, in- 

 cluding about To colonies in all. As a 

 result, our friend says that hereafter, his 

 bees will go into a hot-bed in November. 

 He thinks that every colony in fair condi- 

 tion in October can be brought through so 

 as to be in just as good, or even better con- 

 dition, the following May. He is naturally 

 quite enthusiastic over the success of his 

 experiments and well he may be, for in our 

 humble opinion, it is one of the discoveries 

 of this age of invention, one that will mark 

 a new era in successful bee-culture. For, 

 despite cold, snow, and wind, we can give 

 our bees an opportunity to fly almost any 

 day in the winter and spring season, when 

 the sun shines, which makes our success in 

 wintering doubly sure. 



But we're getting verbose again — a com- 

 mon fault of ours when deeply interested 



in any subject and must close. At 



some future time we will give the details 

 of management necessary to insure success 

 with this method of wintering,; also its 

 cftect upon early brood rearing, and other 

 topics connected therewith. 



S. Haven, Mich. Hekbert A. Burch. 



P. S. Please don't write us, making 

 enquiries relation to bees or bee-culture. 

 Our time is too fully occupied to answer 

 such letters even at " one dollar each." If 

 you wish our opinion upon any given point 

 send your enquiries to the AMf:RicAN Bee 

 Journal for publication, and we'll cheer- 

 fully answer them to the full extent of our 

 ability. Please do try and bear this in 

 mind. H. A. B. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Southern Bee Notes. 



j\Iks. TiTiTER : — I have just received and 

 perused the June No. of the "National" 

 with interest. It would give more satisfac- 

 tion if corresi)ondents would give their 

 parish or country. I live on the same 

 meridian as your correspondent " Y " of 

 La., and although we had a poor yield of 

 honey after the middle of April, we have 

 not thought of feeiling. We live on Ver- 

 million river near the sea marsh, and have 

 extensive forests on the southern border of 

 an extensive prairie. "Y" may live east 

 of the Mississippi and I should like to 

 know his surroundings. 



During March and early part of April 

 we had a great flow of honey from willow, 

 peach, plum, etc. The great rains, follow- 

 ed by drought, cut ofl' the yield ; but for 

 some weeks my bees have revived, as have 

 the crops, from bountiful rains. After 

 two years impartial trial I find difTercnt 

 experience from Robert J. Collinson. The 

 Italians are much the easiest handled. — 

 They are also much less -disturbed by 

 worms ; they are more prolific and make 

 more honey. 



In reply to your correspondent R. H. M. 

 page 145, I will state that every southerner 

 knows basswood by the name of linn, the 

 bark of which is often stripped by negroes 

 for chair bottoms, horse-collars, etc. It 

 grows freely here. J. B. Ramsey, 



Abbeville, La. 



jggg"- Who will answer the following 

 question ? How to purify wax, and pre- 

 vent its becoming of a dark color. 



S. S. Elliot. 



My bees have stored about 60 lbs. to 

 the stand, so far this season. It is very 

 dry at present. Edgar McNitt. 



Centre Village, O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Moving Bees in Winter. 



Editor American Bee Journal : — I am 

 40 miles from Milwaukee, in the best honey 

 producing portion of Wisconsin. I moved 

 twice between the last of October and 12th 

 of January, 1874. I moved six hives of 

 bees four miles to the city of Milwaukee on 

 a wagon, then 30 miles on a freight train ; 

 then 4i miles on a half -spring wagon over 

 the roughest road I ever saw. The bees 

 were placed in the cellar and 14 days after 

 I gave them a flight. The cellar is dug 

 into a hillside, is covered with wood and 

 gravel, and averages 80 to 40 deg. heat. 

 The 14th of December it was about 57 deg. 

 on the sunny side and I took the bees out 



