in that country takes a back seat. Germany and Italy 

 are far ahead of us; England.too, stands above us ; 

 but all these countries take a secondary rank when 

 compared with the bee-culture of America, and we 

 Frenchmen march last in the line. The majority of 

 bee-keepers not only stick to the old fogy treatment, 

 but they also exert themselves when possible, to 

 hand this treatment down in its purity to posterity. 



A certain number of bee-keepers have never- 

 theless listened to the admonishing voice of ad- 

 vancement, and their examples have already begun 

 to bear fruit. Relative to this, the establishment of 

 Mr. Todd, near Paris, deserves above all others to be 

 favorably noticed, the more so, as the progress we 

 have thus far made, had its basis only in the work of 

 Mr. Bastian, which of itself is not sufficient. What 

 we most need are works like the " Manual of the 

 Apiary " by Prof. Cook, and your inestimable 

 American Bee Journal. 



I cannot conclude without expressing to you my 

 heartfelt thanks for the kind wish that appeared in 

 your October number,in regard to me. I should have 

 felt myself greatly honored by youV visit. 



The present year was discouraging to bee-keepers ; 

 the bees starved and all the coionies had to be fed, 

 after haying been reduced to one-third and in many 

 instances to one-fourth of their numbers. I hope 

 next year will be more favorable. 



.L'abbe h. Dubois. 



We are exceedingly well satisfied that 

 there is a growing desire among the 

 apiarists of the whole world to co- 

 operate with one another, and that each 

 will perform his part in the great work 

 of progress, and gather in his share of 

 golden sheaves from the waving harvest. 



ig^ To any one who will send us copies 

 of the American Bee Journal for 

 July to November, 1860, inclusive, we 

 will send the Journal, for one year. 

 Send them by mail, and write us a pos- 

 tal card giving your name and address, 

 and we will send the Journal, either to 

 your own or any other address for one 

 year. We will also pay 10 cents each 

 for the following numbers: Jan., Feb. 

 and March, 1868, and Jan., Feb., Aug. 

 and Oct., 1877. 



HIT We intended to have used paper 

 during this year, very slightly tinted, 

 and of good quality, but we are sorry to 

 say that our paper makers have disap- 

 pointed us. We ordered the paper for 

 this Volume two months ago, but on 

 account of the rush of orders it has not 

 yet come to hand, and we were obliged 

 to use an inferior article. We expect it 

 in time for our issue for February. 



HIT The Western Rural of a late date 

 has the following concerning a corres- 

 pondent's experience with Mrs. Lizzie 

 Cotton. He says : 



I saw her advertisement in the Farm 

 Journal and as my health is very poor I 

 thought, perhaps, I could get rich keep- 

 ing bees, if I could make fifty dollars 

 from every colony of bees. So I sent 

 her (or him) six dollars. She acknowl- 

 edge the receipt of it and said she had 

 so many orders that she could not fill 

 mine then, but would let me know be- 

 fore she sent it. I waited two months 

 and then wrote to her. She replied by 

 postal card, saying she would send the 

 hives the 15th of February. Then in a 

 couple of days 1 got another saying she 

 would start the hive to-morrow, but I 

 never got the hive, and I think that she 

 is a big fraud. S. S. B. 



Gibson City, 111. 



Hard wood manufactured from wheat 

 straw is one of the latest things out. 

 Mr. R. C. Taylor, of N. C, has sent us 

 the following clipping from a scientific 

 paper, descriptive of it : 



A process has been devised for mak- 

 ing wood out of common wheat straw, 

 the method being described as follows : 

 Ordinary straw board is taken, such as is 

 usually manufactured at any paper mill, 

 and as many sheets are used as are re- 

 quired to make the thickness of wood 

 desired. These sheets are passed 

 through a chemical solution which 

 softens up the fibre and completely 

 saturates it. The whole is then passed 

 through a succession of rollers, dried 

 and hardened during the passage, as 

 well as polished, by which treatment it 

 comes out of the other end of the 

 machine in the character of hard, dry 

 wood, ready for any of the ordinary 

 uses. In addition to this, it is claimed 

 that the chemical properties, hardening 

 in the fibre, entirely prevents water- 

 soaking, and renders the wood com- 

 bustible only in a very hot fire. 



Mr. Taylor suggests that it might be 

 made available in the manufacture of 

 bee-hives, &c. Perhaps so, yet we fear 

 it would prove too heavy and otherwise 

 inconvenient for use in the apiary ; be- 

 sides it has no advantages over pine. 



1^ We have a few copies of the first 

 edition of Cook's Manual, which we 

 will sell at 30 cents each. 



