Three years ago I gave a plan for wintering bees in the shallow form of Langstroth hive. Many who tested that plan, have written to me that it worked well. I think the plan a good one, and hope some one who has a copy of it will send it to the editor of the Journal to have it republished. I will guarantee that all who try it will be pleased with the plan. H. ALLEY. _Wenham, Mass._, August, 1870. * * * * * [For the American Bee Journal.] Italian Queens. I wish to thank the Rev. E. L. Briggs for his excellent article upon the permanency and purity of Italian bees, published in the August number of the Bee Journal, although I cannot concur in all his conclusions, nor accept some portions of his theory; but it is on a subject that will soon be of absorbing interest to every bee-keeper. To the central idea of his article, that our aim should be _perfection_, undoubtedly all will cordially assent, while few will adopt it practically, for obvious reasons. Bee-keepers, as a class, have neither time, taste, nor inclination to attain the highest results in this direction; though they will seek to improve their stock, provided it can be done cheaply and without much trouble. It is well known that a _cross_--all things being equal--invariably improves stock. It therefore follows that the introduction of impure Italians even, will have a beneficial effect and thus help the matter, if for no other reason than simply crossing and mixing the blood. Mr. Briggs will admit that comparatively few persons will pay $8.00 or more for tested queens to breed from or to Italianize their stocks with. And until such queens of undoubted purity can be afforded at a much lower price than that, the great mass of bee-keepers will continue to regard well marked Italian queens at $2.50 each, as a great blessing, inasmuch as they vastly improve the general status of the bee, even if not quite reaching the point of perfection. Mr. Alley, to whom Mr. Briggs refers, has furnished me with queens perfectly satisfactory, being as finely marked as any I ever saw, and their workers and daughters are “chips of the old block.” Certainly the introduction of such blood will not cause deterioration in all or any of those qualities that a progressive bee-keeper delights in. It is pleasant to have bees gentle and harmless; but when that quality is obtained at the expense of activity in breeding or working, it becomes an unprofitable luxury. The question that is so often asked--“Are pure Italians superior to hybrids, as workers and breeders?” must be satisfactorily settled by breeders of pure Italians, before bee-keepers generally will accept fully the conclusions of Mr. Briggs.