THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



137 



and it took them long to recover. 

 The labor of four other colonies I 

 had to sacrifice to rear brood to 

 build up young swarms. I never 

 hive a new swarm without giving 

 to it at once two or three combs of 

 brood in all stages, and I never 

 had a new swarm so provided leave 

 their new home ; because, if the 

 queen in swarming was lost, the 

 workers will at once prefer rearing 

 a new queen of the brood given 

 them, than to return to the parent 

 stock and expose themselves to the 

 ridicule of young men who have 

 left home in great glee and have 

 been forced through bad circum- 

 stances to return with sheepish 

 faces betraying the fact that their 

 enterprise is " fizzled out." 



This year's result with eighteen 

 colonies was one hybrid 83'i-ian 

 stock with increase of two natural 

 and seven artificial swarms, three 

 hundred pounds of comb honey, 

 besides filling brood combs of comb 

 foundation ; Italian bees two hun- 

 dred to two hundred and twenty- 

 five pounds comb honey each, but 

 no swarms ; one strong black col- 

 ony transferred to one of my large 

 Oregon chest hives, but eighty 

 pounds comb honey and no 

 swarms. 



The only fault I can find with 

 the Syrians is that their queens, 

 like the Cyprians, are very shy, 

 easily lose in handling combs, and 

 will take wing easily when touched 

 by any smoke. I have also noticed 

 that the Syrian workers exhibit 

 considerable foresight for the self- 

 preservation of the colony in case 

 the queen becomes disabled, or in 

 an}^ way unfitted for her positiou 

 as mother-bee, and will at once try 

 to supersede her. The Syrian bees 

 must be handled gently and with 

 care, and they do not seem to like 

 loud talking near the hive when it 

 is open. I have my Syrian queens 

 from Mr. Jones of Canada, Mr. 

 Alley of Massachusetts, Mr. Hen- 



derson of Tennessee, and Mr. Har- 

 bison of California. 



I expect to try the Albino and 

 Carniolan bees also next season if 

 I can have them safely shipped 

 here, which is not so difficult now 

 that the N. P. R. R. is finished ; as 

 the distance from Portland, Ore., 

 to New York is now reduced to six 

 or seven days' travel. If I could 

 get all my queens shipped by Mr. 

 Alley in his cages, with the sponge 

 saturated with his liquid food, and 

 the queen accompanied by a few 

 workers completely exclucled from 

 the light, I should have no fears as 

 to the result in ordering of Mr. 

 Benton a queen from Beyrout, in 

 Asia, to reach me in safe condition. 

 I wish to mention here, as one 

 who has purchased many queens, 

 and carefully observed the differ- 

 ent modes of packing and their re- 

 sults, that water, bee bread and 

 bee candy are useless in shipping- 

 queens. The two former are only 

 needed for brood-rearing, and the 

 latter is easily hardened by the air 

 and seems hardly ever touclied by 

 the bees " en route," to judge by 

 the appearance of the candy upon 

 arrival of the cages. The exclu- 

 sion of the da3dight is most essen- 

 tial, as the light makes bees worry 

 to gain their freedom. The next 

 essential point is the smallest num- 

 ber of workers admissible to 

 accompany the queen, as the nu- 

 merical reduction of the workers 

 reduces the high spirit of tlie few, 

 and they soon cluster together 

 around the queen and keep quiet. 

 A few bees need but little air, and 

 Mr. Alley's cage gives sufficient. 

 That there might be changes in 

 those things required is certain, 

 according to what climate or cli- 

 mates the bees "en route" may 

 have to pass through. They would 

 need more ventilation when pass- 

 ing through a very hot climate, 

 and should not be sent closely 

 confined in a mail bacr. 



