1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



91 



with a sheet of glass on one side. 

 Harbison, the largest honey-producer 

 in the entire world, who landed the 

 first bees in California in 1857, used a 

 small honey section as early as ISfi'J, 

 but it was quite heavy. About 1877, 

 Forncrook, of Wisconsin, patented a 

 folding honey section, but as it was a 

 copy of other folding boxes the patent 

 proved worthless and the one-piece 

 section came into general use. 



Although it is a mistake to give fuel 

 to our national self-esteem, which is 

 already as great as that of any other 

 nation, we cannot help taking note of 

 the promptness with which America 

 seized the discoveries made in the Old 

 World and improved upon them. The 

 honey extractor, for instance, invented 

 abroad, was used largely in this coun- 

 try and very practical machines were 

 made of different patterns, while even 

 in the country where the idea of cen- 

 trifugal extraction of honey was dis- 

 covered, the honey extractor remained 

 for years very primitive. The cut 

 which we give of the original machine, 

 is borrowed from Dubini's " L'Ape " 

 (The Bee) under date of 1881. 



The result has been that after we 

 borrowed the European inventions and 

 improved upon them, they in turn have 

 borrowed our improvements and our 

 practical methods and implements. 



In 1872, Charles Dadant went to Italy 

 to import queens on a large scale. But 

 his trip was a failure as far as imme- 

 diate returns were concerned. How- 

 ever, he learned much during the trip 

 and in two years later succeeded, in 

 connection with Fiorini of Monselice, 

 in importing queens safely. Hundreds 

 were imported each year for several 

 years. They were still sent by express, 

 with one comb of white honey and one 

 dry comb in each little box about 

 3>^x5 inches. About 50 to 75 field bees 

 were put in the box with the queen 

 and no zvaler given. Water was found 

 worse than useless except in hives 

 rearing brood. Nowadays the greatest 

 losses are probably caused by the bees 

 being sufTocated while in the mail 



sacks. The Fiorini packages were 

 made of 22 boxes, in a pyramid shape, 

 with cushion on the underside and air 

 openings all around. Stifling the bees 

 was out of the question. 



.Some of the veterans of the present 

 day beekeeping, besides the ones already 

 named, are to be first found during the 

 years 18(i8 to 1876. In October, 1870, 

 appeared the first article of our own 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. It was on "Queen 

 Introduction." Doolittle's first article 

 was in the very next number, Novem- 

 ber, 1870, and as might be expected by 

 his friends today, it was on the same 

 subject. One of our modest eastern 

 beekeepers, W. D. Wright, had an arti- 

 cle in the January, 1871, number on 

 "Two Queens in One Hive." 



Men who have long disappeared were 

 well-known writers then. Alley, Gen. 

 Adair, Chas. Muth, Elisha Gallup and 

 Prof. A. J. Cook. The last named 

 writer should also be credited with the 

 first teaching of beekeeping in an Agri- 

 cultural College, that of Michigan, in 

 1871. He was also the original promo- 

 ter of a Congress of American bee- 

 keepers, the first meeting of which was 

 held in Indianapolis in December, 1870. 

 ^^♦^ 



Combless Packages 



BY A. G. WOODMAN. 



OUR experience with the combless 

 bee package has been varied. 

 Some of the packages came 

 through in excellent condition and 

 gave very good results, while others 

 were a complete failure. The first sixty 

 2-pound packages that we received 

 were almost a complete loss, principally 

 on account of the shipper not using 

 cages large enough. The queens for 

 these bees were also shipped separate 

 from the package, and as the weather 

 was cool, there was considerable loss. 

 The first ten 3-pound packages came 

 through in excellent shape, hardly a 

 bee being dead. They were placed in 

 hives and each given a 5-pound pail of 

 honey with a few small holes punctured 



in the top of the cover, acting as a 

 France pepper-box feeder. They gave 

 us excellent results, some of them pro- 

 ducing as high as 1,50 pounds of surplus 

 honey or the equivalent. By equivalent, 

 I mean increase of new swarms, their 

 energy being diverted from the produc- 

 tion of honey to increase. 



We had a number of 3-pound pack- 

 ages that came in after this shipment 

 that did not do as well. One]. of the 

 great troubles was poor queens. The 

 package after being in the hive for a 

 week or so would be found queenless 

 or the queen would not be laying as 

 she should. The loss that we had from 

 these causes would have made the ven- 

 ture as a whole unprofitable. 



We consider, however, that this diffi- 

 culty can be overcome. It lies entirely 

 with the shipper in the South. If he 

 will take due precaution in selecting 

 his queens and putting the bees up for 

 shipment, there is no reason why they 

 should not arrive in the North in first- 

 class condition and give excellent 

 results under normal conditions. 



There has also been some trouble on 

 acount of the size of the shipping pack- 

 ages. A package that would be plenty 

 large in cool weather would not be 

 large enough should the weather turn 

 warm. For this reason it will always 

 be well to use extra large cages. We 

 have had them come through with 

 water and without and can see no dif- 

 ference. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 



MR. WM CRAIG. OF LUCE. MICH.. PRODUCED 2100 POUNDS OF EXTRACTED 

 AND 600 POUNDS OF COMB FROM 30 COLONIES 

 20 of these colonies were built up from pound packages In the spring 



My Experience in Purchasing 

 Bees in Pound Packages 



BY F. L. BARBER. 



I HAD heard considerable discussion 

 on this subject, some favorable 

 and some otherwise, so I decided 

 to try the experiment for myself, and 

 my experience has led me to believe 

 that no professional beekeeper who 

 may have good hives and equipment 

 on hand can afford to allow them to 

 stand idle during the season, although 

 I realize that all who order bees in 

 combless packages from the South 

 may not have as good success, or that 

 I might not have as good luck another 

 time. 



Some of the things that will con- 

 tribute to the success or failure of a 

 venture of this kind are first: time of 

 arrival and a reliable man at the other 

 end of the line. Next, it is necessary 

 to secure good bees with good queens. 

 I believe one should be careful about 

 giving a large order to an entirely new 

 man, unless he furnishes satisfactory 

 reference and guarantees pure stock 

 and safe, arrival. 



Early last spring I ordered from the 

 South combless packages with untested 

 queens at $2.50 per package. These 

 were to be delivered between May 1 to 

 10; safe arrival guaranteed. May 10 

 arrived but no bees. At this season of 

 the year time is precious to the bee- 

 keeper, but I received a letter from the 

 dealer, saying he would ship them in a 

 few days. As it turned out, it was well 

 that they did not arrive at the time 

 stated, for we had a snow storm May 

 10. They arrived the 20th, the weather 

 was warm and fruit trees were just 

 blooming. The cages arrived in good 

 shape with but few dead bees. The 

 cages containing the queens were fast- 



