Harris' Queen Shipping-Cage. 



We give below an illustration of the 

 queen shipping-cage exhibited by Prof. 

 Cook at the Post Office Department in 

 Washington City, provisioned and con- 

 taining live bees at the time of exhibi- 

 tion, and which received the approval 

 of the Postmaster General for shipping 

 queens and bees in the mails. 



The body of the cage is made by boring 

 a chamber \% inches in diameter in a 

 nicely turned block (e), to a depth of 

 about 2 inches. A wire-gauze cap (d) 

 fits in the top of the cage, and forms the 

 inner covering, while the outer cover 

 (c), with a i^-iuch tin band (b) fits nicely 



n the turned depression (a), forming a 

 double cover, with a 34-inch space be- 

 tween. These covers, when removed, 

 form admirable cages for introducing 

 queens, requiring but little time and no 

 risk. To introduce, lift the frame from 

 the hive with the queen to be superseded, 

 remove her, then shake the bees in front 

 of the hive ; then liberate the queen 

 to be introduced on the comb, selecting 

 a spot with a few cells of honey ; place 

 one of the covers (c or d) over her, and 

 by a pressure and half-turn firmly im- 

 bed it in the comb. Care must be taken 

 that the queen does not escape while 

 placing her on the comb, and the safest 

 plan is to take the frame to a window 

 in the house, after shaking the bees off. 

 When the queen is, securely imprisoned 

 replace the frame in the hive, and let 

 her remain 48 hours, after which she 

 may be released. These cages are pro- 

 vided with candy for a journey. There 

 is a hole in the bottom of the cage for 

 convenience in putting in the queen and 

 her attendants. We are indebted to the 

 ingenuity of Mr. J. L. Harris for this 

 cage, which is very neat, comprehensive, 

 and so light that a 2-cent stamp prepays 

 the postage. It is not patented. 



Electricity and the Bees. 



In our last Journal on page 12, we 

 remarked that we had not heard of 

 electricity being used to quiet the bees 

 while taking the honey from them. 

 Since that, we have received from 

 Greiner Brothers, Naples, N. Y., a long 

 account of experiments with electricity 

 in hiving bees, made by Heir Freiwith, 

 in Germany. We expect to be able to 

 find room for the article in our next 

 issue ; meanwhile we give the points : 



His original idea was to stupify the 

 bees by application of electricity ; and 

 experimental trials on single bees and 

 clusters, resulted in his being able to 

 shock the insects into a state of inseni- 

 bility lasting for periods varying from 

 minutes to hours, according to the 

 strength of the current employed. 

 Encouraged by his success, he applied 

 the method to bees actually in the hive. 

 With this aim, he inserted the ends of 

 two conducting wires into a fully occu- 

 pied honey-comb, and turned on the 

 current for a moment ; the bees soon 

 strewed the floor of the hive and did 

 not recover their activity till half an 

 hour after. Herr Freiwith then con- 

 structed a small portable apparatus,con- 

 sisting of the battery and induction'coil 

 for generating the electricity, a key to 

 turn it on or off, and wires attached to 

 rods whereby it can be directed on a 

 colony so as to shock the bees into a 

 harmless insensibility. 



l^In Gleanings for January, Novice 

 says that he has "received a sample of 

 grape sugar made at Sagetown, 111., that 

 will, without question, kill bees." He 

 then adds : "I should expect it to kill 

 any thing that was compelled to eat it." 

 Why take any risk by feeding bees 

 with such trash V Better use honey or 

 sugar syrup, and be on the safe side. 

 As this winter will be an open one, 

 with many chances for winter flights, 

 we expect to hear the advocates of 

 grape sugar claim that it is excellent 

 food for wintering bees ; but had it 

 been a severe winter, they would have 

 changed their tune. We mention this 

 in advance so that no one may be de- 

 ceived by such unfair tests. It must be 

 tried for several winters before we can 

 arrive at safe conclusions. 



