I see noticed, in your excellent journal, 

 that in weak colonies the queen often lays 

 two and sometimes three e^<is in one cell. 

 Now I would like to ask Avhat is the result? 

 Do bees remove one of them, or do they de- 

 stroy both, as only one bee can be raised in 

 a cell ? Gico. D. SelvIns. 



It is said tliat the bees eat their surplus 

 eggs. We never saw them do it, and we 

 never saw them remove them ; but they 

 probably du one or the other. 



The Ijndon was very rich with sweet in 

 this i^art of the State. I have taken from 

 one stock, between June 17 and July 24, over 

 200 pounds surplus. L. J. Dieiil. 



Good enouiih for one stock. 



3Iks. TrrrEK : — Inclosed you will find 

 two samples of honey, one taken last fall 

 and gathered from a species of Coreopsis 

 impropej-ly called here Spanishneedles ; the 

 other was gathered from honey dew and is 

 as good as any of the spring honey I have 

 ever got here. 



We have generally two honey harvests 

 iu this part of Illinois during the year. 

 The first from the 1st of May to the middle 

 of June, the second from the last of Aug. 

 to the last of September. The fall harvest 

 is without question the harvest here for 

 honey, in quantity as well as quality the 

 bees storing it with surprising rapidity. 



The spring harvest I intend to use here- 

 after exclusively for increasing and 

 strengthening my colonies, letting them 

 keep all their honey gathered iu the spring 

 until the hot and unusually dry season of 

 July and August when it is usually all gone 

 before the fall harvest comes on. 



1 know the above is not the instructions 

 usually given but I am satisfied if a man 

 wishes to make bee-keeping a success he 

 must study the resources of his own locali- 

 ty and govern himself accordingly. The 

 natural instincts of the honey bee are the 

 same north or south, but the manipulations 

 of the apiary has to be varied according to 

 climate, honey resources, etc. I winter 

 my bees on their summer stands. I expect 

 that some of your readers are ready to say 

 how improvident, but I have wintered in 

 that manner for the last 15 years and have 

 never lost a single colony in wintering and 

 never saAV a case of dysentery, neither do I 

 want to; how many of your readers can 

 say as much '? I am satisfied with the 

 results but would not recommend it to my 



brother bee-keciiers as a pattern, believing 

 as I do that it is the superior quality of the 

 lioney gathered iu the fall that produces 

 the result. liespcctfully, D. jM. L. 



Clay Co., 111. 



The honey sent is of excellent quality, 

 and both kinds are new to us in flavor. Our 

 correspondent is correct in his premises 

 and in his conclusions. We miist study 

 our honey resources and the season of 

 them and adapt our management of the 

 bees them and to the climate where we 

 keep them. Let us hear from bee-keepers 

 in all parts of the country. 



Deak Editok:— The first stand of hives I 

 bought was two feet long, eighteen inches 

 wide and eight inches deep, and a cap of 

 equal size for boxes. Shall I continue to 

 have hives made like this or change at once V 

 These are easily and cheaply made, and if 

 one does not intend to use an extractor,will 

 they not do ? 



A swarm came from a hive like this the 

 1st of June. After great dittlculty they were 

 prevailed upon to settle and go into a new 

 hive; they were not contented, and in a day 

 or two went back iu the old hive — ^they 

 seemed to gather in the honey-boxes above. 

 I then removed the honey-boxes to the new 

 hive and placed it where the old one had 

 stood, removing the old one ten feet away. 

 At this time both swarms seem contented, 

 although the old one for a time would have 

 great clusters of bees hanging about the en- 

 trance. The old swarm seems to be making 

 no honey in the boxes. 



The new swarm has filled, perhaps, one- 

 third of the lower chamber witli beautiful, 

 white comb, and partly filled with honey. 

 I drove the bees from two of the boxes. I 

 had moved and turned them upside down. 

 The remaining box was i)artly filled with 

 honey — it is always full of bees, and the 

 honey in the cells seems to be getting dark 

 and they add nothing to it. I fancy the 

 queen -went immediately to this box when 

 she re-entered the old hive and is rearing 

 brood there. This may be a very absurd 

 idea. If so, I shan't be offended if you 

 laugh. The new swarm certainly must 

 have a queen or they would not work. If 

 they have her now, they must have had 

 her during the week that they remained in 

 the old hive before I re^ioved the boxes. 

 Mrs. Viikjinia C. Meredith. 



Your form of hive is as good as any can 

 be that has no movable combs — but these 

 are really indispensable to successful bee- 

 keeping; because, they enable you to find 

 out at any time the exact condition of your 

 bees, and if anything is wrong, to apply 



