They were in box hives, and were wintered outdoors, on their summer stands, without protection. TEMPERATURE OF CELLARS FOR WINTERING BEES. Between the years 1861 and 1870 I wintered a few colonies of bees in a bin in one corner of my granary. They were in box hives, and when they were put in, the hives were inverted. For four or five winters the bin was nearly full of hives. The heat from the bees kept the temperature in the bin above the freezing-point during the coldest weather; when it was too warm outside to freeze, the bees in the bin would be all over the outside of the hives; and when it was warm enough outside for them to fly, they would hang on the underside of the boards, covering the bin in clusters as large as a half-bushel basket. During the seven or eight winters that I kept them there I did not lose a colony or queen, and they wintered with but a trifling loss of bees. I have never attempted to winter bees in a cellar; but after my success in wintering them in this warm bin I would like to ask the readers of GLEANINGS Who have had experience in wintering bees in cellars, why they find it necessary to keep the temperature of the cellar down to from 25 to 45 degrees (Mr. Axtel, I think, says from 35 to 38 degrees), while, from my "standpoint," I can see no real benefit resulting from keeping the cellar so cool. I think I can see how it might be the cause of serious loss by condensing the moisture thrown off by the cluster of bees on the outside combs; making the honey thin, watery, and, as I think, poisonous to bees, producing dysentery, and its twin, spring dwindling; unless the hives were made so small (by taking out part of the combs and using a division-board) that the bees would fill the entire space, and with their own heat expel all moisture from the hive. Jackson, Mich. J. H. TOWNley. I believe it has been shown, in past volumes, that bees have always died, more or less, the way they do now; but as there were no large apiaries in years back as there are now, it made less of a sensation when a man lost all he had. If I am correct, plenty of fresh air is more essential in cellar wintering, than any precise temperature. Good results have been obtained all the way from 30 to 50°, and bad results have been obtained from the same temperature, with bad air or bad food. BUCKWHEAT. ITS CULTIVATION AND VALUE. UCKWHEAT is a crop which costs but little, either for manure, labor, or seed, and it is a very convenient crop wherewith to occupy land that could not be planted with any spring crop in proper season, on account of the hurry of spring work, unfavorable weather, or want of help. Besides, the grain can always be readily marketed, and at prices generally much more remunerative than those of the corn crop, when the extra labor of cultivating the latter is taken into consideration. It has been remarked, that buckwheat "favors slack husbandry, being proverbially the lazy man's crop." This may be true to some extent, as fair crops are sometimes grown on quite inferior or worn soils, and with but very little preparation. In fact, the opinion appears to prevail among many farmers, that this crop will do well on land hastily and imperfectly plowed, at any time when most convenient, and put in in a slovenly, ship-shod manner, without the ordinary care and labor bestowed on other and perhaps less important crops. It deserves good cultivation, however, and I think my bec-keeping friends will find that the increased yield will amply repay for all extra labor performed. My own practice is to plow as soon as possible after corn-planting - usually about June first-and then harrow occasionally to get the land clean and fine by sowing time. This is very important in dry seasons, the mellow surface retaining the moisture, as was clearly proven during the extreme drought of last summer, where yields treated in this way came up finely and produced air crops, while neighboring fields, turned over just before sowing, scarcely sprouted at all, and the crop was an entire failure. Buckwheat thrives well on a wide range of soils, and will give a tolerable crop, in some cases, on fields which would scarcely produce any thing else of much value. If manure is to be applied, it is best put on the previous year; yet fair crops may be grown on very light and quite inferior soils without manure. Bringing the soil into fine tilth, and rolling the land after sowing the seed, especially on light, dry soils, will improve the growth of the crop, and increase the average product. It is a cleansing crop, of the nature of a fallow, subduing or choking out troublesome weeds. Instances have come un der our observation where dock, sorrel, charlock, and even quack-grass and Canada thistle, have been pretty well subdued by crops of buckwheat. One reason why this crop kills out or subdues weeds and grass is, that the land for growing it is plowed and harrowed in midsummer, by which process the roots of the weeds and grass are exposed to the scorching rays of the sun; and then, after the seed is sown, it grows so rapidly that it gets the start of all other vegetation, overshadowing and smothering every thing that springs up. Besides furnishing food for man, buckwheat is an excellent food for almost all domestic animals, and has been highly recommended by experienced farmers for feeding purposes. It is also valuable for bee pasturage, being in blossom at a season when honey producing plants are scarce-not so much on ac. count of the quality of its honey, but for the fact that it keeps the bees breeding late in the season, putting them in better condition for successful wintering. I have sometimes thought, that being near to a considerable area of this crop, has had much to do with my success in wintering, when others, in less fortunate localities, have lost heavily. Buckwheat may be sown from the middle of June to the middle of July in latitude north of forty degrees. It runs the risk of being injured by early frost, if sown much after the 4th of July. It is usually cut with the cradle, and, to avoid loss of grain by shelling when very ripe, it may be cut when damp, as in the morning or at evening. Being slow to dry out, it should never be stacked or mowed away in large quantities together. A better way is to thrash it as it is drawn in, on a dry warm day. The average yield is from fifteen to thirty bushels per acre. Under favorable circumstances, and in favorable seasons, from thirty to forty-five, and even fifty bushels, have been obtained. L. M. ROGERS. Oneida Valley, Madison Co., N. Y., Dec. 15, 1881. 68 Juvenile Department. Every girl or boy, under 12 years of age, who writes a letter for this department will receive one of David Cook's excellent 5-cent Sunday-school books. Many of these books contain the same matter that you find in Sunday school books costing from $1.00 to $1.50. M on Y little friends, some of the older ones have been saying hard things about us. They say we take up too much room, and tell the same thing over again. think they had "better look to home" that last matter a little; and about the other, I fear we are a little at fault. Now I will tell you: You write short letters, and try to have them different from any of the other little letters; and when they are too long, or tell something somebody else has already told, I will cross out some. In fact, I do not know but I shall have to do this with a good many of the older ones too, or we shall never have room to hear from you all. How do you like this, for instance? I I am a girl 12 years old. I have one hive of bees; they are Italians. They made about 36 lbs. of honey this year. My father has 12 hives of bees. He has taken GLEANINGS three years, and can't do without it. I want to get one of your 75-cent telephones. I want it to reach three-quarters of a mile. Please let me know if 75 cents and postage will be enough MARY J. HANSON. for a telephone that length. Lockridge, Iowa., Jan. 12, 1882. No: it would cost 50 c. for the telephone, and about $1.00 for the wire, Mary. I shall write you a short letter, as other little girls have done. I am 10. Pa has six stands of bees, his own; some others on shares. He bought 3 Italian queens from you in the summer, and introduced BLANCHE GILMOR. them, and they did well. Jackson, Jackson Co., O., Jan., 1882. Pa has 3 hives of bees this winter. He had only two in the spring, and one hive of bees died. I like the bees' honey very well, but I do not like the bees, for they sting me. Pa has the bees put on the south side of the house, and has them packed around with chaff, leaving only enough room to give them air. I have only two brothers and two sisters going to school now, and I have to stay home to help pa work. I am 11 years. I am a boy 11 years old. I have two miles to go to school, and a dreadful muddy road. I do not get to go to Sabbath-school very often, because it is so far. Pa has fixed his bees for wintering, by leaving the upper story on and filling it with forest leaves. This is the third year pa has taken GLEANINGS. DILLWORTH COUDON. Clinton, Henry Co., Mo., Dec. 29, 1881. Papa has been keeping bees for 27 years, and had very good luck until last winter, when he saved only 13 out of 130. Papa wrote you a etter last month. I like the counter store and Our Homes very much. Papa has the picture of Blue Eyes. Mamma says she likes GLEANINGS as well as Arthur's Magazine. HUGH WHITE, JR. Broad Run Station, Va., Dec. 27, 1881. I am a little girl too. I am 12 years old, but I am not very large. My pa has bees too; he had 4 stands last spring, but he has 12 now. He got 21 gallons of honey last year. I help pa look at them sometimes. hardly ever get stung unless they get in my hair. I like to hold the smoker, so I can smoke them away when they get mad. They call me Babe, but my NANCY E. CHAPMAN. name is Nancy Emily. Smoky Valley, Carter Co, Ky., Jan. 9, 1882. My pa has kept becs for about 12 years, and he gave The colony me a colony of Italian bees, and I sold honey amounting to about $14.00 the first year. swarmed twice, but both swarms died the following winter; but since then I have had bad luck. The old colony died also, the next year. My pa gave me another colony that died too; then he gave me another that is living. I am 11 years old. FREDDIE GREEN. GEORGE E. HUSBAND. Zimmerman, Ont., Can., Jan. 3, 1882. JOSEPH YODER. Middlebury, Elkhart Co., Ind., Dec. 24, 1881. Independence, O, Jan. 2, 1882. I think your pa must be pretty clever, Freddie. My pa keeps becs too. We lost 5 out of 50 last winter. We got 1000 lbs. extracted, and 1200 lbs. of comb honey. We sold the extracted at 10 to 15 cts.; comb, 15 to 22 cts. per lb. We now have the Italian, Cyprian, and Holy-Land bees: 78 good stocks. We sold 20 stocks. We take GLEANINGS, and I read some of it; and when I can read better, then I want to read all of it. I go to school. We have a mile to go. This is the second winter that I have been to school. I am crippled in my legs, and can not walk very well. I am 10 years old. I am a little boy 10 years old. I go to school at Guilderland Center. I read in the Fourth Reader, I have a little brother 3 years old. I live with my uncle. He keeps bees. He had 25 last spring, and now he has got 48, and he took 1500 lbs. comb honey in sections. He winters his bees in the cellar. He takes GLEANINGS, and has got one of your ABC books. I like to look at the picture of your building. I would like to be there. When I get older I am going to be a bec-keeper too. NEWTON J. FERGUSON. Guilderland Center, Albany Co., N. Y., Dec; 1881. I have been reading "Mr. Merrybanks and His Neighbor," and am very well pleased with it. I think John was a smart boy. I would like to go to his "hotel." Pa's bees all died last winter; then he got some more, but he did not get them until after the honey and swarming time. He got little square pans, made out of tin, and put them in the tops of the hives, and filled them with syrup and sugar, and the bees carried it down and put it into the combs. This fall he made one end of the old bee-house into a new house; it has an 8-inch wall; it has two walls filled with sawdust. He thinks the bees are doing very well now. I would like to see Blue Eyes. FLORENCE J. MARLIN. Bloomington, Monroe Co., Ind., Jan. 13, 1882. My father takes GLEANINGS, and likes it very much. Iam 11 years old, and last summer I hived 2 swarms of bees. One of them father hived three times, and they did not stay. But one Saturday afternoon, while he was at the city, they came out again, and I hived them, and that time they stayed. The best part of GLEANINGS, I think, is the Juvenile Department, and Merrybanks and his Neighbor. My father got a Waterbury watch in connection with GLEANINGS, and he said that if I would go through my practical arithmetic this winter he would give it to me, and I am trying hard to get it. JOHN B. ROGERS. teacher with a present for Christmas. Our house is surrounded on the north and west by a thick grove of timber; to the south and east is our farm land. On a sloping ground on the south side of the grove, father keeps his bees. He has 10 in the cellar, and 8 out in the apiary, packed in tenement hives, and chaff cushions on top; those in cellar have cushions also. I like to help him work with the bees better than to wash dishes. I like the Italians better than the blacks. The blacks do not keep the moth out of their hives. Father took about 400 lbs. of honey last summer; about half of it was nice comb honey. We are all so fond of GLEANINGS, I do not know that we I THOUGHT I WOULD PRINT A FEW LINES TO YOU. I AM A LITTLE BOY SIX YEARS OLD. BEEN SICK WITH THE CHICKEN POX. MY could keep bees without it. We have kept bees only LIZZIE BRICKNER. FATHER HAS 38 HIVES OF BEES, AND I AM NOT Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 9, 1882. I like my book very well. I like to read it better than any book I ever saw. I think the "GiantKiller" a good story. That picture of pa and the bee-hive was nice, but ma says he is better looking than the picture. I send you 5 cents for a book for Eddie (my elder brother), as he is too old to write for one. I think that was a funny mill you had, to grind all night by itself. Our mill runs by steam, and it would not do much if there was no one to at tend to it. Pa is out looking at his bees, and Georgie I will soon be 11 years old. I like to read the Plantersville, Texas, Dec. 15, 1881. Pretty good, Lem, and I think your mother must be a rare teacher, not only in "astronomy," but in some things closer to our homes. Are you sure you could make a chicken-pie for me, if I should some day pop into your house to see your bees and pay you a visit? I am a little girl 11 years old. I have 4 sisters and 4 brothers. My eldest sister is married, and has left home. We live 3 miles from the city, on a farm; but we attended Sunday-school this summer at our district schoolhouse, which has just closed for the season, and myself and sister were rewarded by our two years now. I am 11 years oll. My father has got 5 hives of bees; they did not carry up any honey for two years. My brother has two hives. He has been feeding them. I have a brother Herman, who had a hive, and it did not lay up any honey, and he forgot to feed them, and they died. My brother put straw around his hive. He has been feeding his bees syrup, made of sugar and water, by putting it into a can and putting a cloth over it, and turning it upside-down in the upper part of the hive, where they could carry it down into the combs. He has not been feeding it for a week or two. I want to get a swarm as soon as I can. I had a swarm once, but they died. Father had a swarm of bees go off, and my brother, about 12 years old, followed them to a tree, and sawed off the limb, and carried them home on his shoulder, and all the people turned out of the road, for they were afraid of getting stung; but they did not sting my brother. Once there was a swarm alighted in a tree near by, and we did not see them, and they started to go off; but my father took the looking-glass and fetched them down to a little tree, and my brother sawed off the limb. Some of them fell off to the ground, and my brother picked them up and they did not sting him, and hived them. I go to church. CLARENCE GREEN. Independence, O., Jan. 7, 1882. I am only 7 years old, but I thought I would see if I could print you a little letter for GLEANINGS. I can't write, but I can print a little. Well, Fwill tell you about my papa's bees. He had 20 stands last year, and he has 52 now; he didn't get much honey. His bees are all yellow. I help him work with them sometimes. Papa was at your home about six weeks ago; he said he didn't get to talk to you but a minute, because your father was dying. H› has just been reading in your paper about your father's death. I am glad my father isn't dead. He said your boys and girls were good to him when he was there; he said he never saw your little Blue Eyes, but he saw big Blue Eyes (Bess). My eyes are not blue, but my little sister Anna's are. They are blue as a bluebird. Papa says you like little girls who go to Sunday-school. Well, I live within 50 steps of the church, and I go to Sunday-school every Sunday. Well, Christmas is over, and I have got a lot of pres ents. We are going to have a Christmas-tree to night, and I will get some more presents. Papa says you don't like men who use tobacco, and you give them presents to quit. You won't have to give my papa presents, for he don't use the nasty stuff, nor drink whisky either; but he won't go to Sundayschool with us all the time. He would rather watch the bees. Well, Mr. Root, this letter is so long I am afraid you won't like it. If it is too long, throw it in well-ventilated cellars, where the temperature, away. Papa told me how to spell the big words. Poseyville, Ind., Dec. 26, 1881. VIOLA KIGHT. Well, that is a real good let'er, Viola, and I think more of your papa than I ever did before, since I have found out he has a little girl who tries to be good. I do love little girls (and boys too) who go to Sunday-school. am very glad indeed to know that your papa won't have to have a smoker to get him to stop using tobacco; but I do wish he would go to Sunday-school every Sabbath. I know the bees would look prettier to him after he got home. You tell him to try it, and see if it is not so. It was very light and honest of you, Viola, to tell us that you could not spell all those big words without your papa's help. May God bless both you and your pa! DYSENTERY. ALSO SOME GOOD EARNEST WORDS ON VENTILA- LEANINGS and its able editor obtain, without me, abundantly the well-merited praise; my tribute is to its contributors for their efforts to promote the science and solve the mysteries of bee-keeping; and none, I believe, deserve more credit for their work than Mr. Heddon. His lessons, based on practical experience, have been unexceptionally good, and, I believe, correct, while his new and sometimes surprising theories have at least been productive of much investigation. Unwilling though we may be to believe them, it is harder to disprove them. His latest theory, that the consumption of bee-bread will cause dysentery, I am inclined to believe, but not without a qualification. For my part, I think we commit an error when we seek for any one cause as the basis of this disease. Discase in the human race does not in all cases necessarily originate from the same source. If foul brood among bees may result, and does result, from various causes, may not dysentery? It may result from the consumption of fermenting honey; it may result from the consumption of bee-bread, or it may result from too long confinement, even though fed on healthful honey alone. If, "in our common ignorance, all have a right to guess," I shall guess that dysentery results from these and other causes. And it is more than a guess, I believe it. Assume any one, and there will be instances that it can not cover. There is, however, one element of importance that has generally been overlooked in the consideration of this question. It is the condition of the air surrounding the bees; and it is its effect on the food of the bees, be that honey or bee-bread, or on the bees themselves, or both, that most frequently leads to the disease. If bacteria are the result of the decomposition or fermentation of the honey or honeymoistened bee-bread, and if the bacteria theory is that dysentery is caused by the consumption of this decomposed or fermented matter containing bacteria, then I am a "bacteriaite." It is settled to the satisfaction of many, that the consumption of fermenting honey during long confinement will cause dysentery, and in the same way decomposing beebread may cause it. Wintering bees in a damp. poorly ventilated cellar, unless every other condition was very favorable, has always produced the disease, especially during long confinement; while and even the atmosphere, is partly under control, bees in the poorest condition as to honey have wintered well, and when in good condition never failed to. In the fall of 1880, my bees had probably as poor honey to winter on as bees ever had. Four large cider-mills, within a radius of one mile, supplied them with juice till late in the fall. I had witnessed the result of cider diet some half-dozen years ago, the loss of the greater part of an apiary, and my forebodings were not of the pleasantest kind. Still, my loss was small for that winter - less than 10 per cent. The reason was that my cellar was at all times supplied with pure air. Even in the coldest weather, when all ventilators except the chimney had to be closed, I would let in, pure air from a heated room adjoining. Thus the thin unsealed honey would thicken and ripen rather by evaporation,than sour. This year again I feared, but for the last time, and never again will I trouble to remove unsealed honey by extracting, or fear late feeding. I fed to the very day when they were removed from the cellar, and the weather had been damp and rainy for six weeks; still tc-day, January 19th, every one of my 610 colonies is in nice condition, and the air in the cellar apparently pure enough for a sleeping room. Yesterday it was two months since they were put in. The temperature has ranged from 13 to 46 in one cellar, and from 47 to 50 in another. Of the third I kept no record. And as to outdoor wintering, the theory of the influence of the atmosphere on the food holds equally good. It is the moisture generated by the bees by invisible perspiration, as well as the natural moisture contained in the air, that often causes visible fermentation of the honey. If it is not true that the condition of the atmosphere cuts a figure as a cause of dysentery, then let us discard our moisture absorbents in the shape of chaff cushions, and do away with upward ventilation and cellar ventilation. Pure air is necessary to sustain life. Why not that of bees as well as that of man and beast? Pure, healthful food is also necessary to sustain life, but impure air will corrupt the best food, and unhealthful food will destroy, not nourish, life. Now, I do not know whether bee-bread is the natural food of a mature bee or not, nor do I know whether they ever taste it except to feed the larvæ; but I do know that good honey is its natural food; and feeding on impure or fermenting honey will, in my opinion, as surely cause disease and death to the bee, unless counteracted, as unwholesome food will to man. Though I am convinced that I am right in this, I can not deny that I think it more than likely that the manipulation, and consumption, if such there be, of bee-bread in breeding during confinement, will also cause the dysentery; and again, I am convinced that healthful honey under other adverse circumstances will do the same. A variable temperature and long confinement is all that is necessary. I may be wrong-bee-bread may be the only cause, or something else may be; but while we are in ignorance of the cause, and can not remove it, let us do as prudence dictates -use such means to prevent its appearance as have so far proved most effectual: Good colonies, good honey, good air, and an even temperature, trusting meanwhile that some one will soon win fame by unraveling the mystery. Jefferson, Wis., Jan. 19, 1882. GEO. GRIMM. FRAMES THAT CAN BE USED EITHER and are on summer stands, in double-walled hives, SIDE UP. the inner walls made of plaster 1⁄2 inch thick, and filled between with shavings or fine chips. My hive, like your chaff hive, is to remain the same summer and winter. Of course, it is "the best hive made." None for sale. N some of our former volumes it was sug the frame that I can turn over. F. W. BURGESS. Huntington, Long Island, Dec., 1881. And now I wish you a merry Christmas, and sucfill every frame clear down, and build cess in all your undertakings. In regard to the the combs tight to the bottom-bar, by plac-frame, if it looks foolish to you, throw it away and ing the frame upside-down a few days, dur- say nothing about it. I am not sensitive, but I like ing a yield of honey. It is true, a few cautious ones tried to make out that it would injure the brood by so doing; but others, of larger experience in transferring from various kinds of hives, soon dispelled that notion. With ordinary hives it is a rather difficult matter to put suspended frames bottom-bar upward; but in the chaff hive we can do this in the upper story without trouble, and this is the way I often get fractured combs mended, by fastening the comb back in place, close up to the top-bar, and then letting it remain resting on one of the lower frames, in an inverted position. Well, our friend below has a very ingenious plan of making frames so they can be inverted at any time, and still hang on the rabbet either side up. The above idea is extremely ingenious, but I can not quite agree with our friend in say ing it will cause the frame to hang straight down. Supporting frames by a single nail or wire is quite an old device, and the matter has been discussed several times in our back volumes. Should the bees store more honey or pollen in one side of the comb than the other, it hangs any thing but straight, and sometimes causes much trouble. Any comb that swings on pivots, as it were, must have some kind of a stop at the bottom. If the bottom is free, we want two arms at the top, and the further apart these are, the truer the frame hangs. Now, although frames can be reversed, and with the effect of getting the combs built clear down to the bottom-bar, shall we ever need to reverse them more, after we once get them so built? If not, why should we go to much expense just for this one occasion? You can, if you desiré, set all your frames bottom up, on the bottom-board of the Simplicity hive, and then slip the hive over them. If the bottoms are not spaced true, fasten them by wedges, and after about three days, or even less, during a honey yield, they will be done, and can ever afterward "stand on their feet." In other words, just turn your hive "pside down a few days, to make the bees finish the bottoms of their combs. SOME INGENIOUS METHODS FOR MAKING SUCH Friend Root:-At the convention recently held in Battle Creek, Mich., L. C. Whiting read a paper about the coming hive with reversible frames, etc., originated by Van Deusen, of Sprout Brook, N. Y. It may interest some to know that, a year ago, I made frames reversible, and have experienced the benefits enumerated in his paper. I inclose to you by mail my method of doing it, and, as you see, it can be applied to any frame with comb in, if desired. I have my material cut for frames for next year, and all are to use the metal arm. I use the L. frame with wires; for the support in the center, I use a strip wide, of picture-back stuff — and by its use secure openings by its side through the cards for winter passages. I have always pressed the wires into the wax by the use of an "excavator" (everybody will know what that is, if they have ever been to a dentist), bending the point to an angle of 45 degrees, and on that foot cutting a slot to ride on the wire. Your button-hook arrangement is the same. One great advantage of the reversible frame is to secure the comb well drawn out, and attached to both top and bottom bar. I will suggest, that with my frame there is little chance for the bees to stick them down - a metal arm resting on a metal rabbet. Again, it will always hang perpendicularly, there being but one place of contact; and if desirable to raise the frames from the bottom-board for winter, it is easily done by placing blocks under the lower arm. I send you one end of the frame. BURGESS' DEVICE FOR A REVERSIBLE FRAME. By turning one arm under the bottom-bar, the other is secured fixed for hanging on the rabbet, and vice versa. Weather is fine; bees are flying to-day, and every few days so far. I am wintering 58 colonies. They were in fine order when put into winter quarters, FOUL BROOD. DOES IT EVER ORIGINATE FROM CHILLED BROOD? hall, Los Angeles Co., says that foul brood is not heard of lately, but that a few years back there were apiaries that were bothered with it. He was correct in that assertion; but when he says that the claim, that diseased honey being fed to bees was not the cause of the first appearance of foul brood in Ventura Co., he is decidedly "off." I claim to be the bee-keeper who imported the disease to this county, but disclaim any “honor” → on the contrary, it was a sad misfortune. It was brought about by a dry season, the particulars of which I gave to the Los Angeles Bee-Keepers' Association in 1878, and which was copied by the American Bee Journal and many leading agricultural papers, to which article I refer Mr. Lechler. His further remarks, about foul brood being only in apiaries where artificial swarming was practiced, are not verified in any particular case that has been reported to the Ventura Bec-Keepers' Association. I have consulted all the parties who made the claim, that diseased honey was the direct cause of the appearance of the disease, and none of them, so far as I can ascertain, have ever met Mr. Lechler at |