☞ Dr. Ehrick Parmly, the genial Recording Secretary of the North American Bee-Keepers’ Society, made us a very pleasant call last Thursday afternoon, on his return from a three weeks’ tour through Colorado. We are glad to say the Doctor was looking and feeling remarkably well after his extended trip, and his jovial good nature done much to banish the gloom occasioned by the drizzling and monotonous snow which was then falling. Is Bee-Keeping a Failure? Now that the winter is drawing to a close, and the chilling blasts are becoming more fitful and spasmodic under the tardy but certain approach of spring, we begin to contemplate with an inward feeling of gratification the genial sunshine and gentle showers with which Nature will awaken to life; the far-stretching fields clothed in emerald green, the lawns and lanes with their grassy carpets, the air laden with the sweet perfume of the blossoms in garden and orchard, the trees in forest and grove animated with the feathered songsters whose little lives seem an incarnation of happy melody--all these will combine to help us forget the dreary hours of the past, and with keener zest enjoy the future. But how many will miss the cheerful hum of the myriads of toiling bees, whose flitting wings were wont to bear them from flower to flower, where they gathered nectar fit for a banquet of the gods. We can scarcely wonder that many have become discouraged and almost doubt whether bee-keeping pays, when they think of the meager honey yields of two successive summers, and view the untenanted hives and soiled combs which are left as the sequel to their cherished hopes for the future. However, none should be too hasty in passing judgment. With the hives and combs already provided, more than one-half the original investment is saved, and with a propitious season for the present, our losses will be made good with a credit in our favor on the balance sheet. We cannot expect bee-keeping to be profitable every season, any more than any other special branch of industry which is dependent upon natural causes, but we can with forethought, industry and systematic perseverance, make it as reliable as any other, and now that many will be compelled to begin anew (or comparatively so), we suggest that they begin aright. It will not be a guaranty of success that they use the best hive, nor that they have an abundance of bees; a familiarity with all the recognized authorities and a mind crammed with theories, will often fail; the industrious brown bee will seek in vain, the gold-banded Italian bee will tire in its flight, and even _Apis dorsata_ will view its stores with dismay, if there be no nectar-laden bloom from which to gather.