Sending Queens by Mail— Progress. 



Early in January we got up a Petition to 

 Congress, and sent it to prominent bee- 

 keepers in the different States, for the pur- 

 pose of procuring signatures. By tlie tirst 

 of March, having several thousands of 

 names attached to the Petition, we sent 

 copies to the Congressmen of several dis- 

 tricts, requesting them to present tlie Peti- 

 tions to Congress, and use their influence to 

 secure the passage of a Law granting the 

 prayer of the Petitioners. The following is 

 a copy of the Petition : 



To the Senate and house of Representatives 

 of the United States of America in 

 Congress assembled: 

 The Undebsigned, citizens of the 



U. S., and residing in the State of 



would respectfully petition your Honorable 

 Body to amend the Postal Laws, wherein 

 they prohibit the transmission through the 

 mails of " live animals " thereby forbidding 

 the sending of Bees by mail, greatly to the 

 inconvenience of your petitioners. Your 

 petitioners hereby submit the following 

 reasons for such amendment. 



1. It is essential to the well-being and 

 prosperity of colonies of Bees, that apiarists 

 often exchange Queens, in order to prevent 

 " in and in breeding, " and obviate the con- 

 sequent deterioration of stock, as well as to 

 infuse new life into the apiary. Heretofore 

 your petitioners have accomplished this by 

 enclosing a Queen with a few Bees as "at- 

 tendants upon her Royal Majesty " in a 

 small wooden box, with one side covered 

 with wire cloth strongly tacked to the box, 

 and sending this neat and safe package by 

 mail to brother apiarists in different States 

 or Teritorries, as the occasion or fancy may 

 require, without the least detriment to the 

 mail bags, or inconvenience or injury to the 

 person or any one connected with the mail 

 service. 



2. This reciprocal exchange of Queen 

 Bees was inadvertantly interfered with by 

 the passage of a late Act of Congress, for- 

 bidding the transmission of "live animals^^ 

 through the mails. It is reasonable to infer 

 that at that time no one thought that this 

 Law would at all interfere witli the trans- 

 mission of these useful '' insects ^^ through 

 the mails, when so harmlessly encased. Iii- 

 deed, such transmission was not inter- 

 fered with for ,a considerable time after 

 the passage of the Law in question; and 

 until a recent Ruliyig of tlie Postmaster 

 General, the law prohibiting live animals 

 from being sent in the mails was held" as 

 not applying to trisects, and the mails were 

 freely used by Bee-Keepers for sending 

 Bees from one apiary to another. 



3. The Bee-Keeping interests of the 

 United States are large and they are yearly 

 increasing and the recent Ruling of the 

 Post Office Department is a great detriment 

 to your petitioners and encroaches upon 

 their rights and privileges as citizens of this 

 great Republic. 



Your petitioners therefore pray for a mod- 

 ilicatiou of the Postal Laws of the United 



States, so as to allow of the transmission 

 through the mails of living Bees, when thus 

 properly encased and protected. 

 And your petitioners will ever pray, &c. 



The following letter from Hon. Geo. B. 

 Loring, one of the members of Congress, to 

 whom we sent the petitions, shows that we 

 have accomplished something: ' 



House of Representatives, 



Washington, D. C, April 21, 1878. 

 My Deab Sik :— I have held a consulta- 

 tion with the P. O. Department, and find 

 that in their view. House Bill, No. 3850, as 

 now reported, is sufficiently liberal in its 

 provisions to admit of discretion on the 

 part of the P. M. General, in reference to 

 the carriage in the mails, whenproperly 

 put up, of matter now excluded. This will 

 afford the relief you desire, I doubt not. 

 Truly yours, &c. Geo. B. Loring. 



We hope our next issue will bear the 

 news that the bill has been passed and that 

 the P. M. General will revoke his order, and 

 allow the free use of the mails for sending 

 bees, as heretofore. 



At all events it is pleasant to be able to 

 report progress. 



marketing ^awcij* 



^^ 



This department will be devoted to items of 



interest concerning Packing, Selling and. 



Shipping Honey and Beeswax. 



The Honey Market. 



This has been one of tlie most remark- 

 able years the commercial world has ever 

 experienced. Men, whose business sagac- 

 ity has earned for them fortunes, and repu- 

 tations for sound, penetrating judgement, 

 have failed in their calculations for the 

 past 10 months. We know of a merchant 

 who purchased honey at a price he consid- 

 ered an extraordinary bargain, and basing 

 his calculations upon the ruling prices of 

 former years and the demands of his own 

 trade, he was justified in his deductions. — 

 But the general deterioration of all values 

 shrank honey also, and his speculation 

 turned out to be but another illustration of 

 the truthfulness of what Robbie Burns tells 

 us : " The best laid schemes o' mice and 

 men gang aft a-gley." 



Very little honey now remains on the 

 New York Market. We are informed that 

 the Thurbers have unloaded their large 

 stock, having less than 100 cases left, 

 which, considering their extensive trade, is 

 simply less than a two week's supply ! — 

 Prices on " gilt edged," white honey, like 



