650 



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the bees. This would not occur had 

 the bees been introduced during the 

 honey-llow. It was late before com- 

 pleting a successful machine to bore 

 the combs, hence the occurrence. 

 Having discovered it myself, I reme- 

 died it at once in substituting a wood 

 which does not leave a furred cell after 

 being bored. The cells being bored 

 endwise to the grain, unless the bit is 

 kept very sharp, a little liber will be 

 left. The bees naturally remove it, 

 and polish the cells, and during a fail- 

 ure of the honey they continue the 

 work of polishing too long. 



I also wish to explain my theoiy as 

 to non-swarming : I understand the 

 instinct of the honey-bee to guide them 

 in tliTs matter as much as in comb- 

 building; that drones are reared dur- 

 ing the approach of the swarming sea- 

 son to impregnate the young queens. 

 They are invariably produced before 

 any preparations are made in the line 

 of queen-cells. I believe that the in- 

 stinct of the bee is unerring ; tliat they 

 will not attempt to rear a queen and 

 leave her without drones with which 

 to mate. Each colony certainly acts 

 upon the principle of isolation, as in 

 the forest ; otherwise, thej' would not 

 rear drones when other colonies con- 

 tain them. 



WINTERING BEES. 



Early Preparation of Bccm for 

 Winter — Cariiiolans, ete. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY L. W. LIGHTY. 



If some one were to put j'ou to bed, 

 and cover you, and command you to 

 lie still, ten to one you would be un- 

 comfortable, with one foot out in the 

 cold, and some corner of the cover not 

 in place, letting in the cold. Give you 

 a little time, and you will make it 

 snug. 



So with the bees ; put off the win- 

 ter packing until late, when they have 

 clustered, then you will fix it to your 

 notion, and ten to one the bees are 

 uncomfortable. Get them in good 

 condition, and pack early for winter, 

 and they will be able to "putty up" 

 the little draught-holes that annoy 

 them, and build bridges, and tix things 

 in general to suit their notions, which 

 you will generally find the best. 



If bees are to be wintered out-of- 

 doors, they will always winter better 

 if packed and prepared early in the 

 fall, at least before they begin to clus- 

 ter. At least such has always been 

 my experience. 



I have found nice, clean wheat-chaft' 

 to be the best material for packing. 

 Top ventilation through a six-inch 



chaft'-cushion is desirable; and plenty 

 of good food is very necessary to suc- 

 cessful out-docn- wintering. Let them 

 have a little more than they need, and 

 j'ou generally will not lose anything in 

 the long run. 



Cariiiolan Bees. 



I tried the Carniolans this season, 

 and I cannot praise them very much so 

 far. They are very prolific, are not as 

 easily handled as Italians, and will 

 not stick to the comb. They can be 

 handled with very little smoke, if 

 handled very quietly ; but I do not 

 have any time to "fool away" gen- 

 erally, and want to handle bees hur- 

 riedly, as a rule. I think that they do 

 no better in honey-gathering, and on 

 comb-building I can hardly say, as yet. 



lEeporl for tlie S^cason. 



The whole of the white clover season 

 was wet — very wet — and bees got very 

 little honey. Honey seemed to be 

 plentiful, but it rained .every day, and 

 bees could not get out. We had a 

 good flow of fall honey, but it is as 

 fall honey generally is — dark, and not 

 very salalile. Bees are likely to go 

 into winter quarters in good condition, 

 but will ha\e some honey-dew in the 

 brood-chambers. 



The asters are just coming into 

 bloom now, and may give us some 

 honey yet, as it often does. That is 

 usually fine honey. 



Mulberry, Pa., Sept. 18, 1889. 



MAILING BEES. 



Sending Bee§ by tlic Pound 

 Through the Mails. 



Written lor the American Bee Journal 



BY E. L. PRATT. 



There seems to have sprung up a 

 lively interest in the matter of " send- 

 ing bees by mail," with no more com- 

 petition than I expected. Mr. Doo- 

 little is not the man to "rush in where 

 angels fear to tread," and I am sure 

 that I am not. The whole question 

 will bear considerable study on both 

 sides. Mr. E. R. Root, on hearing the 

 news, as given in the AiiEiiiCiN Bee 

 JouKNAL, on page 681, wrote to me 

 the following communication : 



E. L. Pkatt :— In regard to sending bees 

 by mail, we liave no dijubi but that it is po<- 

 sitile to do .so, but it is very dauKerou- to the 

 general queen-traflic, bfsides it is contrary 

 to tne Postal Kegulatioiis. 



A few years ago one man attempted to 

 send one-half pound of b-'ea through the 

 mails, the package was broken op>n, the 

 bees escaped and stung the po>t il-clt-rks, 

 and the result was, queen-bees and t'leir 

 attendants were excluded from the mails, 

 to pay for the bee keeper's carelessness. It 

 is only through great efforts on tlie part of 



the beekeeping fraternity, especially Prof. 

 Cook, that queen bees and a tew alti^idants 

 were re-adm tted to the mails, and then oidy 

 on conditions that a few bees miuht accom- 

 pany tlie queen. To do so, the Postal laws 

 will have to be moditied. 



We beg of you not to try the experiment 

 agahi, if ynu value the piivilcge of sendii g 

 queens by mail. The fact that we have 

 been hav'iiig trouble with Uncle Sam a num- 

 ber ot times in regard 10 sendinu queens by 

 mail, shows that we cannot be loo cautious. 



We liad better be content with what we 

 have, and not try to tip beyond the bounds ; 

 besioes, even if it were permissible and no 

 tumble wimld come from this source, the 

 po-taae on a pound of bees would be nearly 

 as much as the expiess cliar«es, with the 

 HVrra^edi-tances tu which bets are sent.— 

 E. It. Root. 



Mr. Alley, and several others, have 

 pitched in and given the scheme a 

 thorough boxing. If we can keep 

 cool long enough, I think that the mat- 

 ter will adjust itself very effectually. 

 The time is close at hand when the 

 bulk of the business now done by the 

 hundreds ^f express companies, will be 

 handled as mail-matter liy the Govern- 

 ment. Just think of it, reader", to be 

 able to stick a 10-cent stamp on a 5- 

 pound article, and have it delivered at 

 tlie very door of your customer, one 

 thousand miles, or more, away ! The 

 idea is stupendous, and its need un- 

 questional)le. The great monopolies 

 and trusts of this country are working 

 out a grand salvation for the people in 

 a slow but sure manner. 



The Nationalist for August.editorially 

 says : " The use of the mails for 

 transmitting express packages is in- 

 creasing in popularitj'. Were it not 

 for the pressure upon Congress by the 

 express companies, which thereby suc- 

 ceed in maintaining the rate upon 

 fourth-class matter, at 1-cent per 

 ounce, and the limit at four pounds, 

 tlie bulk of the express business 

 would already have gone to the post- 

 office." 



One of the improvements which 

 should be made in the Postal Service, 

 is the reduction of the rate for express 

 packages. There is a mannfacturing 

 concern in Boston now using the mails 

 for the transportation of type-writers 

 to Mexico, that is proving the cheapest 

 and best way, since, by special treaty 

 the international rates for fourth-class 

 matter permits the sending of 12-pound 

 packages. 



Perhaps you know that the dealers 

 in liquids and glassware have been 

 preparing for tliis order of things, by 

 so packing their goods that breakage 

 it next to impossible, even in the gen- 

 erally rough usage of the mails. See 

 also an article in T/ic Forum, by Dr. 

 L. W. Bacon. 



Look over the field, read up, and 

 give your best ideas to the papers. 

 One blundering failure should not be 

 the means of scpielching all other ef- 

 forts of a progressive nature. If this 



