GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



train, where it is taken into the car and 

 goes through the same process of being 

 piled in with several other sacks which are 

 to be distributed on this train. Here the bees 

 are placed in a sack of mail for Borodino, 

 and eventually put off at that place and 

 carted to the postoffice, where the sack is 

 opened, and bees delivered to Mr. Doo- 

 little. 



During this time the bees have been on 

 their journey less than fifteen hours, and 

 have been handled a great many times ; yet 

 only three persons knew the contents of 

 the mail-sacks. Mr. Kreighbaum's recep- 

 tacle practically requires that every person 

 handling a sack of mail know its contents 

 — a condition which is impossible. 



I think fi-om the foregoing that any one 

 can understand why the receptacle should 

 be firm, strong, and well built. The strain 

 which has been imposed upon it has been 

 enormous. Should it be unfortunate enough 

 to have had an extra-heavy weight placed 

 upon it, causing some portion to spring, or 

 a hole have been made, allowing the bees 

 their freedom, a gi-eat many stings would 

 be received by those handling it. Should 

 any of the government employees be stung, 

 a ruling would soon emanate from the 

 Postotfice Department at Washingion, bar- 

 ring bees from the mails entirely. This 

 would place us in the same predicament 

 we were in about thirty years ago. It is 

 not hard to imagine how serious an injui-y 

 to apiculture this would be. I have reread 

 the article in Gleanings of March, 1880, 

 page 106, and must say that the conditions 

 are just the same to-day regarding the es- 

 sential qualities of a mailing-cage. 



We must bear in mind that it is now al- 

 lowable to ship such things as iron and steel 

 castings, not exceeding ten pounds in weight, 

 by parcel post. For my own part I would 

 not care to meet an infuriated bunch of 

 bees which had just made the acquaintance 

 of an iron casting, killing and maiming a 

 portion of them. Consider, then, the pre- 

 dicament of the postal employee who has 

 never seen nor heard of a veil or smoker. 

 I well remember the day when, still a small 

 boy, I was returning home on the train 

 with my father and mother after a day 

 spent at The A. I. Root Co., in Medina. 

 Father had purchased a pound package of 

 bees wliich we Avere carrying home, and, 

 boylike, attracted by the bees crawling on 

 the screen, I undertook to feel of them, 

 which resulted in my receiving a painful 

 sting. My cries furnished entertainment 

 for the occupants of the entire car. 



As the postal laws and regulations now 

 stand, I do not think a package of bees of 



any size other than these in which we have 

 sent queens is mailable. Section 496, par- 

 agraph 7, of the Postal Laws and Regula- 

 tions, plainly states that " Queen-bees and 

 their attendant bees " are admissible to the 

 mails. A pound or a half-pound package 

 would not enter into the spirit of this law. 

 I might add that queen-bees and their at- 

 tendant bees and the Australian ladybird 

 are the only live " stock " admissible to the 

 mails. I can hear some people saying, "Oh! 

 we have received such and such a live thing 

 by mail." That is true, and the explana- 

 tion is eas3'. The postmaster at the office 

 of mailing was ignorant of the Postal Laws 

 and Regulations or it would have been with- 

 drawn from the mail and returned to the 

 sender. 



By all means, before we jeopardize the 

 privilege we now have of mailing queens, 

 let us perfect a suitable receptacle for ship- 

 ping bees, and then have it approved by the 

 postal officials at Washington. 



Lakewood, Ohio. 



[The present regulations with regard to 

 packages by parcel post are such that it 

 would be impossible to ship bees in that 

 manner, and get them tfirough alive, even 

 though the postal regaalations did permit it. 

 If they are ever to be sent by j^arcel post 

 it would never do to put them in a mail-sack 

 as we do the queen-bees and their attend- 

 ants. They Avould smother to death. A 

 large number of bees, say half a pound, a 

 pound, two pounds, three pounds, or even 

 five pounds, would need to have a large 

 amount of air; and during hot weather 

 they would smother to death in a very feAv 

 minutes in an ordinary closed mail-sack. 

 If the time ever comes when we can send 

 pounds of bees by mail there will have to be 

 some regulation that will permit packages 

 of bees to be left outside of the mail-sacks. 

 Whether Uncle Sam will ever make such 

 discrimination in favor of bees is doubtful. 

 If the time ever comes when it is permissi- 

 ble to send live poultry by parcel post, then 

 we might be able to seciu'e a ruling that 

 would permit live bees in quantities of half 

 a pound, pound, two pounds, or three 

 pounds, to go in that manner. — Ed.] 



Treatment of Laying Worker Colony 



P. C. Chadwick, referring to page 75, Feb. 1, \vill 

 there not be bloodshed in the laying-worker colony, 

 now containing the frame of brood, on the return of 

 the flying bees of the strong colony, on whose stand 

 the former colony is now placed ? I presume you 

 also mean that the queen of the colony which is now 

 placed on the stand of the laying-worker colony 

 has to be caged for a time to prevent molestation 

 from the bees of the latter. 



John Elias James. 



Pontardulais, Orange, South Africa. 



