742 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



QUICK BUSINESS TRANSACTION; QUEENS IN- 

 JURED IN THE mail; mail SERVICE, ETC. ; 

 THE A. I. ROOT CO. AND UNCLE SAM. 



In dealing with friends at a distance, 

 where changes and transfers of mail, ex- 

 press goods, and freight have to be resorted 

 to, to reach destination, it sometimes hap- 

 pens that we are annoyed by what we con- 

 sider, perhaps erroneously, unnecessary de- 

 lay. On the other hand, we are pleased 

 when matters turn out not only satisfacto- 

 rily but even better than we could reason- 

 ably expect. 



One Monday morning, a short time ago, 

 after the morning mail had gone out, I or- 

 dered of The A. I. Root Co., among other 

 apiarian supplies, some queens, providing 

 they could be mailed at once. On Wednes- 

 day following, early in the morning, while 

 I was busy among my bees, the little boy 

 came up to me, as he frequently does, and, 

 after looking on a few minutes, said: 



" Grandpa, do you want any more queen- 

 bees? " 



I was somewhat surprised at his ques- 

 tion, and imagined that the little fellow was 

 trying to have a little fun with the old man; 

 so, in Yankee fashion, I answered with the 

 question: 



" Why so? Do you have any to sell ? " 



" No," he said; " but we have just had a 

 telephone message. There are some at the 

 postoffice for you." 



This surprised me still more. I expected 

 no others; and in figuring up the time, I 

 could hardly see how the mail could have 

 had time to make the circuit from New York 

 to Ohio and return, and leave any time for 

 the Root Co. to fill the order. But as the 

 boy assured me of the fact, I at once began 

 to make my necessary arrangements for 

 their introduction, intending to go after the 

 queens as soon as every thing was ready. 

 Just then a friend, an inmate of the house, 

 who was coming from the postoffice, handed 

 me the ([ueens. I use my own introducing- 

 cages, and it took some minutes to make 

 the transfers; but I believe I can safely say 

 that in less than fifteen minutes after the 

 queens reached mj^ hands they were in 

 their respective hives. 



Take it all in all, from the time the order 

 left our postoffice, which could not have 

 been before half-past eleven in the morning, 

 it took less than 44 hours to send the order, 

 reach its destination, put up and mail the 

 queens, reach home again, and place them 

 in the hives, and this at a distance of not 

 less, perhaps, than 250 miles with its vari- 

 ous changes from one railroad to another. 



To complete the report, I will add that 

 these queens were liberated Friday morn- 

 ing, and Sunday morning they had already 

 some of their combs well stocked up with 

 eggs. They have been quite prolific ever 

 since, and have now, besides furnishing 

 several combs for other colonies, their hives 

 full of brood. 



The question, "Are queens injured in 

 the mail ? " depends very much on circum- 

 stances. The time of confinement, and be- 



ing deprived of the opportunity to comply 

 with nature's desire, may have something 

 to do with it; but I will mention only one 

 feature that strikes the observer very forci- 

 bly. If we should witness the modus oper- 

 andi of changing the mail at some of our by- 

 way stations we should consider it almost 

 a miracle that any living being confined in 

 the mail-pouch could survive the operation. 

 We can take an excursion trip of one or two 

 daj's, and, if nothing unforeseen happens, 

 return uninjured, and enjoj' it. But if we 

 are compelled to make a long, tiresome 

 journey, be confined in a boat or car for 

 weeks, with an occasional head-on collision 

 for a change, we should not feel so well at 

 the end of our route. The chances are that 

 we should arrive more or less injured. 

 This is very much the way in shipping 

 queens. A comparatively short journey, 

 with short confinement and reasonably care- 

 ful handling, is not very apt to produce se- 

 rious injury to a queen, as the foregoing 

 case seems to prove. But imagine a poor 

 queen, the unfortunate passenger, in one of 

 those mail-pouches suspended in mid-air, 

 when the flj^er comes along at fifty or sixty 

 miles an hour. The swung-out iron arm of 

 the mail-car strikes the pouch a terrible 

 blow, tears it from its fastenings, and lands 

 it inside of the car — a veritable collision. 

 Is it any wonder that queens are sometimes 

 ruined by such treatment? 



We are accustomed to find the Root Co. 

 very prompt in dealing with customers; 

 but it seems hardlj' fair to give them all the 

 credit for the quick service reported above. 

 I think Uncle Sam is entitled to a portion 

 of it. Our mail service is certainly in good 

 hands, although our mail officials are not 

 as precise in every particular as some of 

 the European governments require it of 

 their employees; but for practical purposes 

 our mail service is one of the best on our 

 p-lobe. G. C. Greiner. 



THE MARKINGS OF ITALIAN QUEENS, AND 

 WHAT IS THE TEST OF PURITY? 



In your ABC book you fully describe 

 Italian bees (workers), but I can not find 

 any description of Italian queens — that is. 

 whether they should be all j'ellow, without 

 a particle of black on the body, or whether 

 black is sometimes present. I bought sev- 

 eral queens from a breeder in this section, 

 who claims to have nothing but first-class 

 Italians, and I noticed a disparity in this 

 respect, the queens showing more or less 

 black. For instance, one of them has little 

 or no black on the tip of the tail, or last 

 segment, while this tip is decidedly black 

 on others, while the second segment on these 

 last has some black, and a little on third. 

 I look upon these queens as an inferior 

 grade, and little if any better than hybrids. 

 1 wrote the parties, asking them to explain 

 this disparity in color, but they paid no at- 

 tention. Would you kindly advise me if a 

 pure Italian queen should be entirely yel- 

 low, without a semblance of black, or is a 

 touch of black on the last segment permis- 



