, OLDEST BEE PAPER1<J»F *T 



.^> 



DETOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO PROGRESSIVE BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XVIII. 



Chicago, 111., December 27, 1882. 



No. 52. 



PLTBI.ISHEn BV 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN, i 



KniTOK AM* Propkietor. 



985 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



Weekly, S« a. year ; Monthly. SI. 



Prospective and Retrospective. 



fW Any person sending u club of six is entitled 

 to an extrn copy (like the club) sent to any address 

 desired. Sample copies furnished free. 



FOREIGN POSTAGE. EXTRA : 



To Europe— Weekly, .*)n cents ; Monthly. 12 cents. 



To Australia -Weekly, $1 ; Monthly, 24 cents. 



George NelRhbour & Sons, London, England, are 

 our authorized agents for Europe. 



Entered at Chicago post office as second class matter. 



1^" The contents of this number 

 being included in the General Index 

 to the volume, commencing on page 

 825 and closing on 828, we omit it here 

 from its usual place. 



1^ We send this number of the 

 Bee Journai. to all the subscribers 

 for the year 18S2— Weekly, Monthly 

 and Semi-Monthly — on account of the 

 extensive indexes it contains. Those 

 who have paid for two Weekly num- 

 bers a month for a part of next year, 

 will get the new Monthly until the 

 expiration of their subscriptions. 

 Those who have paid for one Weekly 

 number a month will have the new 

 Monthly until the time paid for ex- 

 pires. The new Monthly will be pub- 

 lished about the 15th of each month, 

 during 1883. 



With this number we close another 

 volume of the Weekly Bee Jouknal 

 —the pioneer bee paper of America ! 

 When its publication was begun, some 

 21 years ago, it was a venture, which 

 even its best friends feared may be a 

 financial loss to its proprietor, the late 

 Mr. Samuel Wagner. But now, it can 

 count its offspring (bee papers, living 

 and dead,) nearly by the score, and 

 subscribers and patrons by many 

 thousands. 



At first it fouglit the battle of pro- 

 gressive apiculture single-handed and 

 alone; but, as one after another of the 

 strongholds of superstition and ignor- 

 ance have been subdued and silenced, 

 many new bee periodicals have ap- 

 peared, paying a just tribute to the 

 Bee Journal by imitation — the 

 sincerest form of flattery. 



The Bee Journal in the future 

 will be as it has been during the past 

 score of years of its existence, save as 

 it advances in every feature of pro- 

 gressive journalism. It will continue 

 to lead in all tlie qualities of our ever 

 advancing art, and maintain its high 

 position as the most enterprising bee 

 paper in the world. It will enter upon 

 the new year with the most flattering 

 prospects, fully expecting all whose 

 subscriptions expire with the present 

 number to promptly renew, and thus 

 enroll themselves as companions for 

 the year 1883. 



The Weekly Bee Journal will 

 continue to be the medium for the pro- 

 mulgation of the best thoughts of the 

 most advanced bee-keepers of the day 

 — keeping abreast of the highest pro- 

 gress, favoring the freest discussion 

 of all disputed points of apiculture, 

 advancing progressive ideas and the 

 most modern thoughts and improve- 

 ments — and, while we at once enter 

 I upon the work of the new year, we 



stop but just moment, to wish all our 

 readers and patrons 



A HAPPY NEW YEAR. 



i^ A postal car,with tons of papers 

 and letters coming to the West, was 

 destroyed near Schnectady, on the 

 New York Central Railway, Thursday 

 last. We hope none of the letters 

 sent by our correspondents were in it. 

 There were 18 sacks and 2 pouches of 

 mail for Chicago in that car, and all 

 were totally destroyed. 



1^ We point, with pride, to the 

 comprehensive indexes to be found in 

 this number of the Bee Journal. 

 The Index to Correspondents contains 

 about 1,200 names of those whose 

 experience and counsel liave been 

 given one or more times in theWeekly 

 Bee Journal for the present year. 

 These all have our thanks and we hope 

 they will favor us with similar corres- 

 pondence during the coming year. 

 Over a thousand subjects have been 

 discussed, as shown by our " Index to 

 Subjects," covering the entire vocab- 

 ulary of bee-culture, and the corres- 

 pondence is from every State, Province 

 and Territory of North America, as 

 well as from Europe, Asia, Africa and 

 Australia. To all we give a thousand 

 thanks, and ask them to send on their 

 articles and letters during the coming 

 year,so that the Weekly Bee Journal 

 may not only equal thfe present volume, 

 but even surpass it. 



1^" A correspondent, in this number 

 of the Bee Journal, says that he 

 has noticed that an " open winter " is 

 succeeded by a poor season . This was 

 not the experience of the bee-keepers 

 of the West during the past year. 

 The last winter was an " open " one, 

 but the honey crop was abundant; 

 that of the year before was not so large, 

 though it succeeded a" snug " winter. 



