120 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



from a miniature boiler to the aforesaid hollow 

 blade. As this blade can be kept hot continu- 

 ously while uncapping it does not require scrap- 

 ing or cleaning, because the cappings and honey 

 will run off almost immediately. We shall soon 

 have some illustrations showing the outfit. 



CORRUGATED PAPER IN SHIPPING-CASES. 



This year will see a large use of corrugated 

 paper in comb-honey shipping-cases. The bee- 

 keeper who neglects to use it, will be left in the 

 race. We verily believe that the no-drip cleats 

 have seen their day. 



In double-tier cases, there should be a sheet of 

 corrugated paper put not only in the bottom of 

 the case but between the two tiers of sections. 



WINTER losses IN COLORADO. 



Some of our subscribers in Colorado have re- 

 ported severe winter losses. Mr. Frank Rauch- 

 fuss, Manager of the Colorado Honey-producers' 

 Association, writes as follows: 



The bees in this section of the State are wintering only fairly 

 well, which is partly due to the poor quality of honey that was 

 gathered in the latter part of the season. Near Denver very 

 heavy losses have so far occurred, and some of these can hardly 

 be laid to poor stores or lack of sufficient bees; and I think that, 

 in such cases, it must be attributed to the injurious effects of the 

 smelter fumes. One apiary which my brother had, seven miles 

 from the city, was afflicted in this way the latter part of August, 

 and is by this time almost entirely wiped out. 



Denver, Col., Jan. 21. F. Rauchfuss. 



We should be glad to get reports from Colo- 

 rado bee-keepers as to how far smelter fumes 

 may be doing damage, not only in the matter of 

 wintering, but to the general business of honey 

 production; for it appears that these fumes de- 

 stroy the plants that would yield the nectar. 



SENDING BEES BY THE POUND AND HALF-POUND, 

 BY EXPRESS. 



Some years ago we sent packages of bees by ex- 

 press without brood or comb. These consisted 

 of a light skeleton framework surrounded by wire- 

 cloth with compartments for holding queen-cage 

 candy, and a pound of bees. The bees were 

 shaken into these cages through a large funnel. 

 The cage (funnel and all) was put on the scales; 

 and whenever a pound or half-pound was shaken 

 off, depending on the amount required, the fun- 

 nel was removed and the cover put in its place. 



But we gave up the business of shipping bees 

 in this way, because so many died en route; but 

 in the years that have intervened we have learned 

 some of the causes that contributed toward these 

 losses, and hence we propose to try some experi- 

 ments this coming season. If they prove to be 

 successful it means that bees can go at the same 

 rate as merchandise postage plus one-half; for ex- 

 press matter under 4 lbs. goes at the same rate as 

 postage to get the business. 



The packages containing half a pound of bees 

 will weigh about Xyi lbs.; a pound package about 

 2 lbs. ; so it can be seen that the weights are well 

 under 4 lbs. 



If the experiment proves to be a success it should 

 displace the scheme of sending bees on combs of 

 brood or honey, or both. Besides effecting a 

 great saving in express charges, it will eliminate 

 the possibility of sending foul or black brood 

 from one portion of the country to the other. 



SENDING VIRGIN QUEENS BY MAIL; HOW TO IN- 

 TRODUCE THEM SUCCESSFULLY. 



Some years ago virgin queens were sent through 

 the mails; but owing to the difficulty of intro- 

 ducing them to strong colonies the practice seems 

 to have been all but given up; but in these latter 

 years we have learned that a virgin queen more 

 than two days old should be introduced, not to a 

 strong colony or one of medium strength, but to 

 a very weak nucleus of not more than two or 

 three hundred bees. She will usually be accept- 

 ed by such aggregations, and when once laying 

 she may thereafter be introduced to any strong 

 colony. 



To make up these little two or three hundred- 

 bee nuclei, take a couple of unfinished sections 

 containing honey; make or produce a small box, 

 just large enough to receive them. This box 

 should have a cover and an entrance not larger 

 than a quarter-inch hole. 



Go to any hive when the bees are flying the 

 heaviest, and dump in about a cupful of bees. 

 In about 12 hours one may introduce a virgin 

 with perfect safety, because the old flying bees 

 will have gone back to the parent colony from 

 which they were taken. The young bees will, 

 of course, accept any thing. They will afford 

 their young princess a safe home until she is 

 mated, after which she may be readily introduc- 

 ed anywhere. 



Another way to introduce virgins is to put 

 them on hatching brood. The young bees 

 will, of course, receive them kindly. 



It is true that five and six day-old virgin queens 

 may be introduced at times to strong colonies; 

 but three times out of five they will receive either 

 rough treatment or be killed outright. Very of- 

 ten these old virgins, if they escape being killed, 

 will have torn wings or missing legs. Such 

 treatment incapacitates them from doing full 

 duty afterward. 



SINGLE or double TIER SHIPPING-CASES; A GEN- 

 ERAL REVIEW OF THE MERITS OF EACH; SHALL 

 WE DISCARD THE SINGLE-TIER 24-LB. CASE? 



In Stray Straws, this issue, Dr. Miller draws 

 attention to the arguments made by Wesley Fos- 

 ter, in his department of " Bee-keeping Among 

 the Rockies," page 1312, Nov. 1st, in favor of 

 the double-tier shipping-case as against the single- 

 tier. At the time these were published, the edi- 

 tor was busy in a county local-option temperance 

 fight. As there was much in that issue he did 

 not read, he is now obliged to confess that he did 

 not see Mr. Foster's objections to the single-tier 

 case until Dr. Miller called his attention to them. 

 In order that the reader may get the matter fully 

 before him we are reproducing several arguments 

 put forward by Mr. Foster. They are as follows: 



First, in handling a carload of honey in single-tier cases one 

 will feel twice as tired as after handling the same amount in the 

 double-tier. One can not get the hand-hold as close to the edge 

 as with the double-tier, and there is less room for the fingers. 



Second, if a case is picked up by the corners it will often twist 

 enough in carrying to break or crack some of the honey. This is 

 almost sure to occur if one carries two cases at a time and does 

 not grip them just right. 



Third, the top of the sections is flush with the top of the side? 

 of most of the single-tier cases, making breakage almost sure. In 

 shipping, expressmen and freight-handlers drop the end of one 

 case in the middle of another case on the pile; and if they do 

 this at all roughly the breaking of comh is certain. Cases are 

 often stepped on: and a single-tier case simply will pot stan(i 



