m-2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



DOES IT HURT A QUEEN TO BE CRIP- 

 PLED IN ONE OF HER LEGS, ETC.? 



ALSU SOMKTHINO ABOUT MAKING POSITIVE STATE- 

 MENTS WITHOUT POSITIVE KNOWLEDGE. 



T KECEIVED from you, Sept. 3d, a "select tested" 

 ,St Italian queen, and Sept. 4th I received an un- 

 ^t tested queen. The select tested queen 1 intro- 

 "*■ duced to a colony that had been <iueenless !t 

 days. Having^ removed the (jueen days pre- 

 \ ious to the day when I received the (nieen, I re- 

 moved thefjueen-cells which they had Iniilt, and cag- 

 ed the queen on a comb over sealed honey. Alter a 

 period or 24 hours I lifted the comb from the hive 

 and cut a hole from the opposite side of the comb 

 through into the cage, leaving the loose piece of 

 honey for the bees to remove, and liberate the 

 queen after the comb was returned to the hive. 

 After a lapse of two days 1 again lifted the comb 

 from the hive, to be sure that the queen was liber- 

 ated. 1 found that she had commenced laying, as I 

 found eggs in the comb. I of course concluded that 

 every thing was all right, removed the cage, and 

 closed the hive. Four or five days ago I went to see 

 how my queen was getting along. I found her, and 

 she is a very nice looking queen, but I was grieved 

 to see that one of her legs was useless. Although 

 she continued laj'ing while I held the comb in my 

 hands, it made me feel very sad to see her dragging 

 her poor shriveled leg over the comb. I can't see 

 why the bees should have stung the (lueen I prized 

 so highly, when I ha<l the conditions favorable, as I 

 supposed, for her kind reception. The t|ueen still 

 continues laying, though not nearly as fast as the 

 dollar queen. 1 wonder if the crippled queen will 

 probably live; and if so, if it would probably render 

 her unfit for a breeding queen. I can'tanswerthesc 

 questions, as I never had such e.\i)erience before. 



I>ast yearl wasvcry unfortunate' in buying queens. 

 I mailed a <iueen breeder ?5 00 at ditt'erent limes, 

 .¥3.00 ol which he said he never recei\ed. Of course, 

 1 believed him, but 1 thought he was very unkind, 

 after I wrote and told him I had sent it, when he re- 

 plied that he thought 1 was mistaken, as he did not 

 lirlkcr II would have been lost or Mulrn. 1 f I had ex- 

 pressed, or implied doubt, in my statement, I should 

 not have felt wounded. 1 am well aware that some 

 people i{i7J nuikc a positive statement, without pos- 

 sessing a |)ositive knowledge of the subject they 

 are talking abt)ut. He referred me to that class of 

 individuals, in a way to inelude me with them. 



\V.\t:<o.n Ai,i,i;n. 

 Bernardsville, N. .!., Sept. 31, IKK"). 

 Friend A., tlieif have l>ecn t'it'(|ii('iiL re- 

 ports uf (lueens tlial, when received and in- 

 troduced, were found to be erijiple 1 in the 

 way you mention, or in a simihir way ; and 

 sonietimes we find tiueens in otir own apiary 

 with one or more of their legs useless. We 

 don't know how this comes about ; but as it 

 more frequently happens with queens that 

 have been introduced, 1 have had an opinion 

 that it was caused l)y pulling their legs 

 while they were balled, at the time of intro- 

 ducing. The main question is, of course, 

 " Does it damage themV I have been in 

 the habit of writing to customers when such 

 complaints have been made, to let the 

 queens remain in the hive, and note whether 

 they were as prolific as other queens. In the 

 majority of cases the reports seem to be that 



i they were just as good, to all appearances. 

 I In your case, it would seem as if she were 

 i not as good, although it does not necessarily 

 I follow, after all, for queens differ greatly in 

 I fertility. 8till a select tested queen ought 

 [ to be as prolific as almost any dollar queen, 

 I for none are ever sent out as select tested, 

 unless they are good layers. 



Now in regard to your last paragraph. I 

 do think it is one of the most unkind things, 

 to make positive statements without posi- 

 tive knowledge. esi)ecially where these 

 statements refiect on the honesty of some- 

 body «else. A few days ago. in correspond- 

 ing in regard to some money which had 

 been sent us. Itut which we never received, 

 the writer said he had sent money li)y mail 

 thousands of times, and had never lost a 

 copper, and he believed that the money he 

 had sent this time had reached our ollice. 

 because it seemed to him unreasonable that 

 money should go all right so many times, 

 and then one letter be lost. What absurd 

 logic: The man was a postmaster too. Had 

 he been conversant with his own business 

 he must have known that mail robberies are 

 occurring every now and then. A few weeks 

 ago, (juite a (juantity of old letters were sent 

 to us by the dejiartment. A mail-bag had 

 been robbed, and rifled of every thing that 

 was valuable, an<l the rest thrown away. 

 The department found these after a time, 

 [ and took great pains to place them in our 

 hands. It is not only unchristianlike. but 

 1 should say that it was extremely ungentle- 

 manly, for anyone to say he does not believe 

 a letter was ever sent, ifiom the simple fact 

 i that it was never received. People wlio send 

 out comparatively few letters may not meet 

 with a loss for years ; but. does that give 

 them any right" to say they do not believe 

 losses occur at ally In" our large business, 

 comprising oftentimes several hundreds of 

 letters a day, both going out and coming in, 

 we have ah opportunity of knowing how 

 frequently such things do occin-; and while I 

 am on the subject, I might mention that the 

 cases where people think they have sent 

 money, but have forgotten to do so, are 

 much more fre(iuent than the actual losses. 

 In fact, this sort of thing occiu's so often 

 that we have had postal cards i)rinted like 

 the following, to send out to that class of 

 customers. Of course, the blanks are to be 

 filled for meeting any case in question, 

 and a great many times some portions of the 

 print have to be crossed out, especially the 

 iwstscript. Here is the blank, such as we 

 init on a postal : 



Medina, o., 188 



Mr 



[ Yours OF is just this minute opened, and both 



letter and envelope are in my hands. You say you have 



I inclosed but there is posiiively only ; 



I viz 



The envelope was closely sealed, and bear-s no trace of hav- 

 ing been opened. The inside of the envelope contains noth- 

 ing, and none nf it« content^ h;ive been dropped. In our 

 business «p open -cvci-.tI hnn'lrol U-ttcrs n dny. iinti it is 

 not ,T very niiconinmn tliincr th.il Ibi' \v rile)' lias omitted to 



put 



■fl t( 



W, 



lid 



rite .it once whether or not yon can explain the 

 above ^hort1J^e• TriK-itin;; that it was only nn omission on 

 your part, we remain Yotus Respectfnllv. 



A. I. lioot. Per " Ida," Clerk. 

 1'. S.— .^s you may be in immediate want of the goods, we 

 have concluded to forward them riirht aloncr, to save vou 

 A. I. ROOT. 



delay. 



You will notice the expression, ' 

 letter and envelope are in my hands." 



Both 

 The 



