294 



Shipping Goods by Express. 



Dear Editor:— Is it not strange, in tliis 

 enlightened age, witli tlie facilities for get- 

 ting information in regard to the rates 

 charged for shipping by freight or express, 

 that there are so many that order goods and 

 direct how to ship tliem, and then, because 

 they think the charges too higii, will not 

 take them? I lately received an order from 

 Kansas for 15 bee-hives, complete. The 

 money was sent with order, with instruc- 

 tions to send by express immediately. I did 

 so by the next express, but I had to guaran- 

 tee the charges, and on receipt of the hives 

 the charges were so high that the party or- 

 dering them refused to take them, and I 

 have had to pay charges and hold the hives, 

 and he loses the money sent for them. The 

 charges were $30.90 ! ! K. K. Murphy. 



It is very often that those who live in the 

 country have no idea of how exorbitant 

 the express charges become for long dis- 

 tances. We lately received two hives by 

 express on which the charges were .'53..50 — 

 about as much as they were worth. Those 

 ordering goods should order early enough 

 for them to be sent by freight, and that 

 would save all the trouble. Freight 

 charges are usually light — extremely so 

 when compared with express charges. A 

 bee-keeper who was visiting our Museum a 

 few days since, made this wise remark : 

 "I never wait till I want anything before 

 ordering. I always send in advance, and 

 then have it ready for use when desired." 



t^ Quite a number of very interest- 

 ing Honey Shows have been held by 

 the British Bee-Keepers this year. We 

 notice a list of eighteen Honey Shows 

 in one number of the British Bee Jour- 

 nal^ held at different places in England. 

 Prizes were offered for the best Bees, 

 Hives, Honey, Boxes, &c., ranging 

 from '' one guinea " to "• half-a- 

 crown!" Here is a lesson we must 

 learn. We must take more interest in 

 Honey Shows, and encourage them. — 

 It will be vastly to our advantage to 

 do so. 



Bee-Hiving Extraordinary.— The Ce- 

 dar Rapids (Iowa) Times notices the fact 

 that a swarm of bees were in the air over 

 one of the streets of that city, and a man 

 provided himself with a bush for tlie accom- 

 modation of the swarm when they came 

 down. And come down they did, but [(re- 

 ferred lighting on the man who held the 

 bush rather than on the bush itself. The 



bees covered his head, shoulders, back and 

 breast as a swarm of bees only could cover 

 a man. He stood like a statue, and when 

 the swarm was well settled, he extended his 

 arms, the bystanders pulled oif his coat, 

 shook the bees into the hive, scooped them 

 gently off his head, face and neck, an(| the 

 entire swarm was captured and cared for. 

 The men and boys were almost as numer- 

 ous as the swarm of bees, and no doubt 

 they were as much astonished as were the 

 bystanders when Paul handled the viper in 

 days of yore. 



Bees and the Mails. — The late 

 " instructions " from the Postmaster 

 General have put a quietus on sending 

 queens by mail — nearly ruining the 

 '■'■ dollar queen " business. If this were 

 the only *•' inconvenience," we should 

 not regret it — for such stock ought not 

 to be sent over the country either by 

 mail, or in fact by any other means of 

 conveyance. The exact wording of the 

 " instructions " in question will be in- 

 teresting to some, and so we give it in 

 full : 



Your attention is called to the following instruc- 

 tions from the General Superintendent, viz : 



Post Office Department, Office 1st Ass't P. M. GeiVl, 

 Washington, D. C, .July lUth. '78. 



Sir : Referring to the correspondence submitted 

 by you to this office, under date of the 10th inst., I 

 have to say that bees are held by this department to 

 be unmailable matter, and employees of the railway 

 mail service, as well as postmasters, should refuse to 

 receive them for mailing ; but when packages con- 

 taining bees are found in the mail car, the employee 

 in charge thereof should deposit the same at the ter- 

 minal ofiBce of his run, and the postmaster thereat 

 should notify the party addressed, by letter, that 

 such package is held subject to his order, and that 

 the same will be forwarded at the expense of such 

 party, by such means as he may indicate other than 

 the mails. Very respectfully, 



(Signed.) James H. Mark, 



Act'g 1st Ass't P. M. Gen'l. 



Hon. Theo. N. Vail, Gen'l Supt. R. M. S., Present. 



i^J. S. Harbison, Esq., the great 

 Bee-King of California, and C. J. Fox, 

 Esq., the President of the San Diego 

 Bee-Keepers^ Association, will send a 

 joint communication to the National 

 Convention on the subject of " Bee- 

 Keeping in California." Tt will no 

 doubt be a very interesting paper. 



i^A private letter from California 

 states that the honey crop of this year 

 will be about two-thirds as much as in 

 1876. In July the white sage yielded 

 abundantly, and the flavor of the new 

 hcftiey is said to be excellent. 



