THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



263 



Mr. W. E. Clark asked the conven- 

 tion if there were any reports of the 

 last meeting-. Mr. W. F. Clark in 

 answer stated that he had taken re- 

 ports that appeared in the " American 

 Bee Journal," and that there was 

 another set of reports taken by a 

 stenographer whom Mr. D. A. Jones 

 of Beeton, Ontario, employed, and 

 promised to pay $100 for the same and 

 that the reporter now held the reports, 

 but would write them out as soon as 

 the agreement was complied with. 

 The stenographer feels that he has 

 been deeply injured at the treatment 

 he has received. 



The committee of arrangements was 

 instructed to retire and prepare a 

 report and the president called upon 

 the secretary to read an editorial from 

 the pen of Mr. Thomas Newman rela- 

 iive to the Toronto convention, which 

 he did. After discussing this matter 

 for a while it was dropped. 



Shortly after, the committee on 

 resolutions having prepared a report 

 suggested that the article of Mr. 

 Frank Benton of Munich, Germany, 

 on "Shipping queens by mail," be read. 

 [As we have but little spare room in this 

 number, we shall be compelled to de- 

 fer its presentation until next month.] 

 This was followed by a general 

 discussion of the subject. Mr. Feet 

 thought that he had done all that could 

 be done when he invented the "Feet 

 cage," but he found that there was 

 much to learn and he was pleased with 

 Mr. Benton's essay and cage. 



Mr. L. C. Boot stated that he had 

 shipped a great many queens and 

 recognized the importance of this 

 question. It is a well-established fact 

 that queens can be shipped by mail. 

 One of the great reasons why the 

 candy put in the shipping cages crum- 

 bled was, that the water in the sugar 

 was absorbed by the wood of which 

 the cage was made. He thought that the 

 matter of coating with wax that por- 

 tion of the cage in which the candy is to 

 be placed is important and valuable. 

 I am heartily glad that this matter 

 has been brought before the conven- 

 tion. Great credit is due Mr. Benton 

 for his untiring efforts and great energy 

 displayed in the attempt to solve this 

 and other questions. 



Mr. Silas M. Locke said Mr. Alley who 

 has almost perfect success in ship- 

 ping queens coats the hole in which 

 the candy is to be placed, with wax and 

 then sears the wax with a hot iron. 



One gentleman stated that he sent 

 for two queens. When they arrived, 

 they were dead. He had sent to others 

 with the same results and after this 

 sent to Mr. A. I. Boot for a queen and 

 she died before he could introduce her, 

 although it was attended to promptly 

 after receiving her. 



Mr. Frank Benedict stated that he 

 purchased many queens, had received 

 them after a journey of three days, and 

 always found them all right and did 

 not see how this gentleman lost his 

 queens. 



Mr. Arthur Todd stated that in 1872 

 he shipped some queens from Algeria 

 to the north of France in the cage 

 described by Mr. A. I. Boot, and they 

 died in transit, probably by reason of 

 suffocation or want of air. He inves- 

 tigated and found that he could send 

 a box about six inches square, and he 

 then fastened the queen in the cage in 

 one corner of such a bos and this suc- 

 cessfully. He wonders why this gen- 

 tleman lost his queens. He had re- 

 ceived many shipments of queens from 

 the south and from Mr. Alley and they 

 came all right. Just before he left 

 home, he received a queen from Mr. 

 Alley which was in fine condition. 



He also received queens from Dr. 

 Brown of Augusta, Ga., and wished 

 that he had one of his cages to exhibit. 

 As Mr. Brown puts up his queens very 

 nicely, using about forty-five bees and 

 both the queens and attendant bees 

 arrive clean, active and all right. 

 Several other parties took part in this 

 discussion but their methods were 

 similar to those mentioned. 



Mr. A. G. Fisher of Livingstone, 

 Ohio, asked the following question. 

 " What is the best method'of pi-eveut- 

 ing first and second swarming? In 

 answer Mr. Hall stated that he could 

 retard them somewhat by giving the 

 queen a very large brood nest, as per 

 Mr. Doolittle's plan. If running for 

 section honey, when the sections in 

 the surplus arrangement on the top of 

 hive are about one-half filled, raise 

 them and place empty ones under them. 

 S. T. Pettit asked if raising boxes 

 when partially filled did not" have a 

 tendency to increase the deposit of 

 "brood" in the surplus cells. Mr. 

 Hall answered that in last season in 

 securing 10,000 lbs. of honey only 20 

 lbs. w^ere injured in that way. 



Mr. Hall was then asked "what meth- 

 od he adopted to get the bees to work 

 in the sections," and answered that, 



