1882 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



479 



as the Viallon candy, and came ovor lOCO miles the 

 fore part of May. Not a bee was dead, and ihe can- 

 dy was soft and fresh as when m vie. Eaough was 

 left (not eaten) to last them twice as long as they 

 had been en route. The next two queens I received 

 were in the same style cages; but instead of using 

 the Viallon candy, a candy made of white sugar was 

 used in connection with a tin water-bottle. The first 

 of these had leaked water so that the candy had be- 

 come soft, and the bees and queen were half buried 

 in soft candy, dying probably in less than half a day 

 after being ma'led. The second contained all dead 

 bees, caused by the candy and water-bottle getting 

 loose and pounding the bees to death. One of these 

 queens was replaced; but although I returned the 

 cage, bees and all, to the other, and have written 

 him twice, it seems to be of no use, as he does not 

 reply. The next was in a Peet cage as made by A. I. 

 Root, which I will call No. 2, which is so well known 

 that it needs no description. What those bees had 

 as food I do not know, for all was consumed, and 

 the bees were so weak that they could hardly stanl 

 up. After giving them some honey they soon reviv- 

 ed and were as lively as crickets. The next was re- 

 ceived in the same kind of a cage with Viallon can- 

 dy, and were in splendid condition —not a dead bee, 

 and all bright and clean. Then came one in a cage 

 made of a 1-lb. section box, which I will call No. 3. 

 This contained candy made of white sugar, and a 

 very large water-bottle. About 30 bees were put in 

 with the queen, one-fourth of which wero dead. The 

 queen was alive and all right. Next I received a 

 queen in a very large cage (No. 4), made by boring 

 two 2-inch auger-holes in a block of wood, and cut- 

 ting a passage-way for the bees from one to the 

 other. In one of the apartments was a sponge filled 

 with honey to which the bees had access. There 

 were two dead bees in the cage, and the rest were a 

 little smeared with honey, but not enough to harm 

 them. After this I received two more in No. 2 

 cages, one of which was in bad condition, as all were 

 dead except the queen and two bees. This cage was 

 provisioned with v^iallon candy, which was so hard 

 the bees could not eat it. Next, aljout Sept. 8, I re- 

 ceived by the same mail a queen from W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, in his cage, and one from I. 11. Good in the 

 cage he prefers. Both were provisioned with the 

 Good candy. I call the names of these two gentle- 

 men, because we have so lately heard from them. 

 In friend Hutchinson's cage (No. 5) I found a dead 

 bee wedged into each little hole which leads to the 

 feed, and the remainder of the bees were nearly 

 starved from not being able to get at the feed. Up- 

 on getting the dead bees from the feed-holes, those 

 alive made a rush for the feed, which showed that 

 they had not partaken of food for some time. 



In the cage from friend Good (No. 0), which is 

 simply a block with 3 one-inch auger-holes bored in- 

 to it, with two of the holes cut together, and a hole 

 made in the partition (which separates the thii-d 

 from the others), so that the bees can have access to 

 the feed therein. Not a bee was dead, and all were 

 as lively as could be. However, the honey had es- 

 caped from the sugar, sulliciently to daub the out- 

 side of the opposite end of the cage from which the 

 bees were, so as to make it any thing but pleasant 

 for the rest of the mail. One other thing: After the 

 bees suck the honey from the granulated sugar in 

 this kind of candy, the grains of sugar rattle out of 

 the cages, which makes quite a nuisance in the 

 mail-pouches. Again, all of these cages bad but a 



single wire cloth on them, while, according to page 

 121 of A. B. J. for 1830, the law requires a "double 

 wire screen, the gauze surface being H inch apart " 

 on each cage, as the conditions to secure the lawful 

 sending of queens through the mails. 



Once more, the same page says, that "sugar, as a 

 feed for the bees," shall be used, while liquids in all 

 forms are forbidden passage in the mails. Hence it 

 will be seen that all but the Viallon candy, which I 

 have spoken of, are in open violation of the postal 

 laws. On page 181, A. B. J. for 1 880, 1 find these very 

 reasonable words: "If one deviation from the re- 

 quirements of the postal law be permitted, why not 

 another, or many of them? And then any regula- 

 tion describing the cage to be admitted in the mails 

 is a farce! If we attempt to use any other cage than 

 one having a 'double wire screen,' having }.£ of an 

 inch between the two pieces of wire cloth, we shall 

 soon see the ruling of the department reversed, and 

 the mails /or ever closed against bees and queens." 



Would it not 1)9 well for us as queen-breeders to 

 heed the above? The cage I prefer is the one de- 

 scribed on the above page (181), but having a double 

 wire screen by placing a piece of wire cloth over the 

 whole. I also prefer the Viallon candy; but as the 

 recipe of the same as given in Gleanings is rather 

 indefinite, I have experimented till I have a recipe 

 which gives a candy which is right every time. I 

 will here give it for the benefit of the readers of 

 Gleanings: Take a stew-pan and put therein 24 

 ounces of pulverized sugar, 8 ounces dark-brown 

 sugar, and one ounce of flour, when all should be 

 well stirred and mixed together. Now add 8 ounces 

 of good thick honey, and the same number of ounces 

 of water, stirring all together. Place on a moderate- 

 ly hot stove and stir till it boils, when it is to boil 

 one minute. Take from the stove, and set in a basin 

 of cold water, stirring briskly till it begins to thick- 

 en, when it should be taken out of the water. Now 

 stir till it is about blood warm, when it is to be pour- 

 ed into the cages. The above will fill 80 cages. If 

 you wish less, use less of each part in the same pro- 

 portion. Set the cages away 12 hours, when they 

 will be hard enough to use, and will keep soft 

 enough for safe shipping for two months. 



As a test, I sent a cueen in exchange to a person, 

 and he sent his queen back in the same cage on the 

 same candy, when I sent still another queen to a 

 distant party in the same, and all went without a 

 dead bee. I have had splendid success with this 

 cage and candy, with the exception of an exchange 

 I made with friends Heddon and Hutchinson, both 

 of whom reported every bee alive and in fine con- 

 dition, except the queen, and she was dead. I hard- 

 ly think the candy had aught to do with the matter; 

 but of course I can not tell. Although I have used 

 cages of different makes the past season, I have 

 settled down to the conclusion that hereafter I shall 

 use only a cage and candy, which conforms to our 

 postal laws, as does the above. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Sept. 20, 1882. 



I would call attention to two points in the 

 above article. First, friend D. criticises us 

 because we have complied with the spirit of 

 the postal ruling, rather than the letter of 

 the same. The letter said double wire 

 cloth, and was so stated because two sheets 

 of wire cloth were needed to protect the 

 clerks surely against stings. We soon dis- 

 covered this was a very unsafe way; for if a 

 sharp corner were thrust into the wire cloths, 



