THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



47 



LETTER BOX. 



Eldora, la. 



Dear Sir: 



The season has been a poor one 

 with us. "We began the season with 

 ten colonies, seven good ones and 

 three weak ones. Increased them to 

 twenty-five, which are all in fair con- 

 dition for winter, and secured 250 lbs., 

 comb honey in lb. sections, all from 

 white clover, basswood failing to se- 

 crete any nectar in our locality, al- 

 though a beekeeper living about eight 

 miles west of ns took forty pounds of 

 surplus honey from some of his best 

 colonies all gathered from basswood. 

 We shall winter twenty colonies in the 

 cellar, and live are packed in chalT, and 

 sawdust on the summer stands. 



J. W. Buchanan & Bro. 



Fisherville, Out., Oct. 13, 1885. 



FniKND LOCKK : 



The "Am. Api." vols. 1 and 2 to 

 hand some time. I was very much 

 pleased to find it so well bound. As to 

 its contents it is useless to tell you 

 that I consider it of value to beekeep- 

 ers in every istage, as it treats not only 

 upon matters of interest to every be- 

 ginner but dwells upon aud gives us 

 the very Litest information, foreign 

 aud home, upon the "unsettled" points 

 in apiculture. 



I have asked many prominent bee- 

 keepers in Canada their opinion, and 

 their praise of it has been unanimous. 

 Mr. J. B. Hall of Woodstock and others 

 state "it contains the cream of bee lit- 

 erature." 



Keep it up. 



Yours sincerely, 



K. F. HOLTERMAN. 



Croshyville, S, C. 

 Dear Sirs : 



I received the bound "Apicultu- 

 rist, " Vols. 1 & 2, and am well pleased 

 with it. I get more information from 

 it than from any book I have on api- 

 culture. The question and answer 

 department is a splendid thing. 



W. W. Crosby. 

 Dear Sirs: 



The Vols. 1 & 2 of the " Apicultu- 

 rist" came duly to hand, and I am 

 delighted with it, and shall do all in 

 my power to increase your list of sub- 

 scribers. 



E. W. Panton. 



Mankato, Kans. 

 Dear Sirs : 



Noticing that you wished to hear re- 

 ports on the methods employed in intro- 

 ducing queens, I decided to send you 

 the following. The queen came all O. 

 K. on the 9tli of Sept. with but one dead 

 bee in the cage. I kept the queen in my 

 coat pocket until 10 o'clock a. m. the 

 ne.xt morning, when I went to the 

 hive, destroyed eight queen cells and 

 hung the caged queen in the centre 

 of the cluster after which I went to 

 tovvu. 



On my return at 4.30 p. m. I went to 

 the hive to see how the queen and bees 

 were getting along. On opening the 

 cage the queen ran out among the" bees 

 as if she had lived there all her days 

 and she was received all right. 



When I packed the bees ready for 

 winter she had four combs tilled with 

 brood, and here I would say that any 

 one can safely introduce queens with 

 such a queen cage. I have I'eceived 

 queens from Tennessee to Massachu- 

 setts and I never have lost one in in- 

 troducing. When I wrote you that 

 when I received a queen I always suc- 

 ceeded in safely introducing her, you 

 had your notions about it, but I want 

 to know who can beat the record that 

 I have given (six hours in introducing 

 your queen). Witli one queen it took 

 from Saturday till the following Thurs- 

 day, as I never release the queen until 

 I am confident that she will be per- 

 mitted by the bees to reii-ii as their 

 sovereign. lean judge by the action 

 of the bees when it is safe to do this. 



I introduced my first queen in the 

 year 187(5 and to date I have never lost 

 one. All that I ask is that they are in 

 good condition when they reach my 

 post office. 



David Ross. 



Wilton, 3Ie., Oct. 20, 1885. 

 Dear Sins: 



I received the queen all right, 

 Sept. 20. I hunted for the black one, 

 Sept. 28, did not find her; Oct 2 suc- 

 ceeded in securing the blackqueen aud 

 liberated the Italian queen on Oct. 4, 

 The bees received her kindly. Owing 

 to bad weather and robbers, I did not 

 look for her until the 17th inst.. when 

 I found her all right. She is a beauty. 

 I am much pleased with her. She "is 

 the first queen that I ever saw. 



O. II. Sewall. 



