Freeman, Mo., Jan. 3, 1880. 

 The past year was a singular one. 

 The crops were good, and yet, there was 

 no honey gathered. My bees did not 

 obtain enough to winter on, but having 

 a plenty of honey left from the year 

 before last, I fed them bountifully with 

 it in the fall. They are now in good 

 condition, and well packed with flax- 

 straw on the summer stands. Bees 

 will be scarce in this neighborhood next 

 spring; about one-half of them are now 

 dead, and the rest will probably die in 

 the spring, if they are not fed. How 

 can glass be cleaned of propolis V 



P. Duncan. 



[In the January number of the Bee 

 Journal, may be found a receipe for 

 cleaning glass. See page 24.— Ed.] 



Waverly, Iowa, Jan. 2, 1880. 

 My bees did well last season, from 21 

 colonies in the spring I obtained 15 

 swarms and 1,200 lbs. of comb honey, 

 besides some 300 lbs. of partly-filled 

 combs, which will be very good for 

 starters next season. I wish the Bee 

 Journal success and send herewith a 

 club of six subscribers. 



Thos. Lashbrook. 



Wenham. Mass., Dee. 27, 1879. 

 Bees wintered finely thus far; the 

 weather has not been very cold, with 

 the exception of a few zero days. One 

 cold zero day is about sure to be f ollowed 

 by a week of moderate weather. My 

 bees are all on the summer stands, and. 

 I expect no spring dwindling. I have 

 experimented with in-door wintering as 

 much as I care to. I can winter them 

 well enough in the cellar, but find it 

 almost impossible to " spring " them. I 

 have changed my ideas about wintering 

 on summer stands, I formerly thought 

 that bees needed upward ventilation ; 

 now I give none upwards, and as much 

 as possible about the bottom. 



II . Alley. 



La Crosse, Wis., Jan. 5, 1880. 

 Dear Editor.— The Bee Journal 

 for January is at hand, and I read with 

 interest the interesting letters written 

 to you by some of the leading apiarists 

 in Europe, expressing their esteem for 

 you, and their appreciation of your 

 recent visit to Europe. The articles 

 from some of America's most experi- 

 enced bee-keepers, I also read with 

 great delight. I can say with pleasure 

 that the American Bee Journal is 

 the most interesting and instructive 

 bee paper that I ever saw. About Dec. 

 4th the weather became quite severe 

 until Jan. 4th, during that time the 



thermometer was down to 31° below 

 zero ; keeping the bees confined about 

 30 days. On Jan. 4th, the thermometer 

 indicated 45° above zero. The day was 

 full of delight to the bee-keeper who 

 could see the bees playing at the en- 

 trance of the hive, taking a flight and 

 then returning, very fatigued. They 

 appear to be in a healthy condition. 

 L. H. Pajimel, Jr. 



Columbus, Ind., Jan. 7, 1880. 

 My bees are all on their summer stands 

 yet, and are doing well. Judging from 

 the condition of the bees kept in my 

 neighborhood, fully one half will starve 

 before spring, unless fed soon. My bees 

 are strong in numbers but short in 

 stores and if this mild weather con- 

 tinues, they will commence breeding 

 and consume what they have, before 

 they can gather any in spring, and they 

 must be fed. Jos. M. Brooks. 



Madison, Wis., Jan. 4, 1880. 

 Last spring I had 10 colonies of Ital- 

 ians in Langstroth hives ; I increased 

 them to 14, and obtained 943 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 104 lbs. of comb honey. I 

 winter on the summer stand, in two- 

 story chaff hives. The bees are having 

 a nice " fly "to-day. The thermometer 

 stands at 40° Fahr. in the shade. 



C. Spangenberg. 



Mount Joy, Pa., Dec. 22, 1879. 

 My 72 colonies are all in the bee house. 

 I put them in on the 29th of November. 

 I have already heard of young colonies 

 starving. Many of the late swarms did 

 not store enough honey for winter, and 

 will starve if not fed. It was a poor 

 honey season ; and the bees gathered no 

 honey after the latter part of June, not 

 even enough for their own consumption. 

 J. P. Hershey. 



San Bernardino, Cal., Dec. 17, 1879. 



During the six years in which we have 

 been in the business here, we have not 

 before had a total failure in our honey 

 crop. In all of this year we have not 

 taken one pound of honey from our 150 

 colonies of bees; which are in Harbi- 

 son hives, and in line condition for next 

 season's business ; which we look for- 

 ward to hopefully; having already had 

 here in the mountains seven inches of 

 rain. During the last 24 hours we have 

 had 6% inches of rain ; making thus 

 far, for the season 13% inches. Please 

 allow me to express to the editor of the 

 Bee Journal my kind congratulations 

 on his safe return from his glorious 

 European tour, and to say as a sub- 

 scriber to the most valuable journal, and 



