Nebo, 111., Nov. 27, 1879. 

 The honey crop was a failure here 

 this season. I had 14 colonies last fall ; 

 I doubled them up leaving only 7, and 

 I fear they have not enough honey to 

 winter on. E. F. Bogart. 



Portland, Maine, Dec. 15, 1879. 



Bees did well here till July, when the 



honey yield failed entirely. I winter on 



summer stands, packing with dry leaves, 



and have not lost a colony for two years. 



JOS. A. DlBWANGER. 



Cartilage, Ind., Dec. 13, 1879. 

 About % of a honey crop is all we 

 have had this season. We have 147 col- 

 onies in the house rather weak in num- 

 bers. We are selling extracted honey 

 at 15c. per pound ; We had about 5,000 

 lbs. P. W. McFatridge & Son. 



Peoria, 1ST. Y., Dec. 10, 1879. 

 I claim that not in any locality has 

 comb foundation been experimented 

 with to any greater extent than in this 

 immediate vicinity. Commencing with 

 that first manufactured and sent out by 

 John Long and closing the past season's 

 operations with the thin flat-bottomed 

 cell, manufactured as the latest im- 

 provement. We have thoroughly tested 

 its practicability and found that the 

 half lias not been told. C. R. Isham. 



Cokato, Minn., Dec. 11, 1879. 

 With 19 colonies last spring I obtained 

 1,810 lbs. of honey and 21 swarms, be- 

 sides getting 80 new combs built. I use 

 the 1% story American hive. I use top 

 boxes and winter in the cellar. I have 

 never lost a colony in winter nor by 

 "spring dwindling." I put my bees into 

 the cellar before it becomes cold, give 

 them one winter flight, and do not take 

 them out till late in the spring. I ap- 

 preciate the Bee Journal very much. 

 F. Lee. 



Athens, O.. Nov. 10, 1879. 

 The past was the poorest season here 

 for bees and honey that I have known 

 for 20 years. There was not a natural 

 swarm from 80 colonies, and I got no 

 extracted and but very little comb 

 honey, and now bees not far from here 

 are in a starving condition. A swarm 

 came to my apiary late last night and 

 settled on an apple tree. I put them 

 into my workshop, and during the night 

 they took possession of a quart can 

 containing some refuse honey, literally 

 covering it heaping full. It was a 

 swarni of black bees ; mine are all good 

 Italians in Langstroth hives. 



J. M. IIibbard, Jr. 



Zanesville, O., Nov. 20, 1879. 

 The past season has been a poor one 

 for bees here. They did not gather 

 enough to live on. I have 11 colonies 

 of black bees and 2 of Italians. I got 

 about 150 lbs. of honey from them but 

 had to feed it back in the fall. 



Thomas II. Hunter. 



Smith's Grove, Ky., Nov. 25, 1879. 

 The honey crop here is very short. 

 My bees are packed with leaves and 

 chaff, on their summer stands, with 

 plenty of bees and stores. After divid- 

 ing the honey with poorer colonies, I 

 have a nice surplus left over for spring 

 feeding ; so that I shall not need sugar 

 syrup to feed in the spring. 



N. P. Allen. 



Chismville, Ark., Nov. 15, 1879. 

 The past season has been the best for 

 honey that I have ever seen, but I have 

 had very little increase in bees. I have 

 some fears that our colonies are too full 

 of honey to winter successfully. The 

 honey-dew was so plentiful here that it 

 killed thousands of trees in the forests. 

 It fairly dripped from the leaves. I 

 have several trees in my door-yard, and 

 my bees awoke me several mornings, 

 with their humming before it was fairly 

 light, while gathering the honey-dew. 

 Thos. H. Durham. 



Holley, N. Y., Oct, 21, 1879. 

 My 3 colonies, I have increased to 4. 

 August 1st I purchased a nice Italian 

 queen and tried to build up a fifth, but 

 tne cold and wet weather came on, and 

 when I looked for her, she could not be 

 found. The cold wet weather continued 

 through September, cutting off all 

 gathering from fall flowers, until this 

 month. I have fed 10 lbs. of sugar to 

 make sure of a winter supply ; had my 

 bees been able to gather from red clover 

 there would have been a large supply, 

 as there are fields of it all around us. I 

 sowed cleome last spring but it did not 

 come up ; I have sowed more this fall 

 and will sow some in the spring ; I have 

 scattered some mustard and sweet 

 clover seed, let the catnip go to seed, 

 and a patch of motherwort has also> 

 been allowed to grow. The basswood 

 seed did not grow, but I will try again 

 on that. I have taken a little care to 

 extend the holly hocks, so I try to begin 

 in a way to do better. I expended $60. 

 in my new business; have increased 1 

 colony and taken over 100 lbs. of white 

 honey. I can sell all I have, and more 

 too, at my own door, at 15c. per pound. 

 I have sold enough to pay the interest 

 on the investment, besides that we ate 

 and gave away. My bees go into winter 



