1900 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



313 



ill the cage. Some appear to think 

 the removal of the cork resulted in 

 a too early release of the queen. 

 The new idea of using perforated 

 cardboard instead of allowing the 

 bees immediate access to the candy, 

 was hailed by some as a great thing. 

 At this writing numerous reports 

 are coming in which show that fail- 

 ure more often results through the 

 use of the new plan than with the 

 older method. It is a pity that 

 facts in practice will continue to so 

 persistently array themselves 

 against beautiful theories. 



President Chantry, of the South 

 Dakota Bee- beepers' Association, 

 has devised a very convenient mail- 

 ing and introducing cage: A piece 

 l.^x3|- is cut from 5-16 stuff through 

 which three one-inch holes are 

 bored, and the sides covered with 

 section -box material, nailed securely 

 at its edges. One of the end holes 

 is continued through the side-piece 

 and covered on the outside with 

 wire cloth. On the reverse side a 

 knife is run obliquely lengthwise, 

 from end to end through the piece 

 of section inside of the row ofnaiis. 

 I This releases 9, f strip through the 

 center, which serves as a sliding 

 i cover, and is simply pushed far 

 ^ enough to expose the candy suf- 

 ficiently to admit a bee, when intro- 

 ducing. It works like a charm, as 

 we know by experience in handling 

 several of Mr. Chantry's choice 

 queens during the past season. 



A local item from the New Smyr- 

 na (Fla. ) correspondent in the 

 Jacksonville Times- l^nion, of Oct. 

 12, 1900, notes the sudden death of 

 Mr. JohnCraycraft, a former highly 

 esteemed contributor to these col- 

 umns, who dated his communica- 

 tions during 1898 from Astor Park, 

 Fla., where he and Mrs. Craycraft 

 then lived. We are without infor- 



mation regarding this lamented 

 friend farther than that he was the 

 father of Mr. Fred. Craycraft of 

 Havana, Cuba, a young bee-keeper 

 for whom the Spaniards destroyed 

 nearly a thousand colonies of bees 

 during the late war, and to whom 

 reference has frequently been made 

 in The Bee-keeper in the past. The 

 correspondent states that Mr. Cray- 

 craft dropped dead while working 

 over a hive of bees in his apiary at 

 Hawks Park, Fla. We condole 

 with the bereaved ones. 



FIRST CARNIOLANS IN CANADA. 



Mr. Jameson's article on the Car- 

 niolan in this number, together 

 with the splendid picture of Mr. J. 

 B. Hall, suggest the reproduction 

 from the Canadian Bee Journal, 

 of a comment at the last meeting of 

 the Ontario Association, by the 

 latter gentleman, which has a bear- 

 ing upon Mr. Jameson's subject. 

 Mr. Hall said: 



"I am the first man that had 

 Carniolan bees in Canada. I pur- 

 chased a Carniolan queen. She 

 was eighteen days in the mail-bag, 

 and when I received her there were 

 three live bees with her. We looked 

 at her and came to the conclusion 

 that she was not worth much; how- 

 ever, we got her safely introduced 

 and she lived about six weeks; but 

 during that time we raised some 

 queens from her. I have never 

 had a better lot of bees than the 

 daughters of those queens — never, 

 for quantity and quality of honey. 

 Of course, we kept them for a couple 

 of years, and we thought we would 

 like to have a change, and we re- 

 ceived three importations after 

 that; but they were not worth the 

 powder to blow them away. I like 

 Carniolan bees mixed with Italians. 

 My bees are that mixture. Of 

 course, you cannot control these 

 young ladies. They go out visit- 



