quarters in good condition. As an ex- 

 perienced bee-keeper, a few miles south 

 of us, has only 40 lbs. of honey from 

 each colony ; I think I have done well, 

 in this my first lesson ; his is the best 

 result 1 have heard of, the season being 

 poor for honey. I call the " Blessed 

 Bees " the poetry, kt Cook's Manual " 

 the study, the American Bee Jour- 

 nal the daily food, and with these 

 shall, if all is well, advance in wisdom 

 the coming winter. 



Mrs. A. S. Keyes. 



Malta Bend, Mo., Dec. 3, 1879. 

 This past season has been the worst I 

 ever knew for bees. There are very 

 few but will have to be fed or they will 

 starve. E. B. Lumbeck. 



Center Point, Iowa, Nov. 26, 1879. 

 I ha d60 colonies of bees last season. 

 They all did well, pleasing me so much 

 that I intend to go into the business 

 more extensively next season. 



D. S. Way. 



Ligonier, Ind., Dec. 5, 1879. 

 I think the Bee Journal the best 

 paper I have seen ; I have learned con- 

 siderable from it. This has been a poor 

 year for surplus. I had 8 colonies last 

 spring ; I got 13 swarms from them and 

 now have 18 colonies in good condition 

 on their summer stands, well supplied 

 with honey for the winter. 



A. D. Stocking. 



Beechville, 111., Dec. 8, 1879. 

 Bees have not done well here this 

 season, but I can say nothing when I 

 see the reports of others. My report 

 for 1879 is as follows : Sold honey for 

 $30.00; outlay for hives, sections and 

 boxes, $37.00; 14 swarms sold, $28.00 ; 

 total, $58.00 ; profit, $21.00. I shall try 

 it again, and expect to be able to make 

 a better report next year. 



John Boerstler. 



Angola, Ind., Dec. 11, 1879. 

 I had 48 colonies one year ago; 21 in 

 A. G. Hill's single-walled hives, 2 in his 

 double- walled hive, packed in sawdust, 

 according to his theory ; I lost one out 

 of the 23. I had 18 in the Farmer's 

 hive, packed in sawdust ; I lost 4 out of 

 18, and I had 7 in Farmer's hive left on 

 the summer stands, I lost 5 out of the 

 7. They were all in good condition ex- 

 cept having too much cider. I have 61 

 colonies packed in chaff. I sold 6 colo- 

 nies and 1,080 lbs. of comb and 140 lbs. 

 of extracted honey. 



'Wm. Macartney. 



Galesburg, 111., Dec. 2, 1879. 

 My bees seem to be carrying a great 

 many dead ones out of the hives and 

 appear to be cleaning out more than 

 usual. The weather being so mild, 1 

 still keep my bees out of doors in the 

 open air and shall leave them out until 

 a greater change takes place in the 

 weather. H. Brown. 



Chariton, Iowa, Dec. 7, 1879. 

 This was a disastrous season for bee- 

 keeping. No surplus honey here. 

 Many will die unless fed before spring. 

 It was a singular season, as all crops 

 raised here were reasonably good, and 

 such seasons are generally good for 

 honey, but this was an exception. 

 Many bee-keepers are anxious to sell 

 out. During October a gentleman here 

 advertised his apiary of 100 colonies 

 for sale at auction. The day of sale 

 arrived and a number of bee-keepers 

 were there to see how they would sell, 

 but not a single bidder appeared on the 

 ground. ,- John Barfoot, 



Hastings, Minn., Dec. 4, 1879. 

 I have lately visited the apiary of 

 John H. Ford. He has over 80 colonies, 

 and one of the best locations in this 

 part of the State. They were strong in 

 numbers and had plenty of honey last 

 spring, but he only got about 300 lbs. of 

 extracted and 200 lbs. of comb honey in 

 sections. This is the best yield I know 

 of in this section. He has been engaged 

 in bee-keeping for over 20 years, and 

 says that this has been the poorest sea- 

 son he ever experienced. I never saw 

 a better growth of white clover, but it 

 yielded no honey except a few days in 

 June. Alsike clover aud bass wood 

 were the same. During the first week 

 in Sept. of 1878, my bees, increased 

 from 5 to 8 lbs. per hive, by weight- 

 but this year with, to all appearance, 

 the same amount of bloom, one gained 

 Y 2 lb. in 2 days, and the others lost some 

 % lb. in the same length of time. 

 Another bee-keeper here has fed 30O 

 lbs. of sugar to his bees this, fall to keep' 

 them from starving. Wm. Dyer. 



Friend Newman. — Mr. D. A. Jones, 

 of Beeton, Ontario, and myself will leave 

 for Europe some time this month or 

 early next. Sailing from Quebec, we 

 will land at Liverpool, then go to Lon- 

 don and proceed across Germany to' 

 Trieste, stopping wherever we can gain 

 any information about the much talked 

 of Cyprians. At Trieste we will take 

 a steamer for Cyprus, and after our 

 arrival there will visit all parts of the 

 Island, and selecting the most favorable 

 point, establish a queen-rearing apiary. 



