pieces of wire cloth, we shall soon see 

 the ruling of the department reversed, 

 and the mails forever closed against 

 bees and queens ! All who intend to 

 use the mails for sending queens, should 

 carefully read over, again and again, 

 the letter of the P. M. General, on page 

 121, of the Journal for March. Let 

 all be careful how they act in this matter 

 —and then we may long enjoy the boon 

 for which we have so dilligently labored. 

 Since the above was in type the fol- 

 lowing letter from the Rev. A. Salis- 

 bury, and a sample of his cage, have 

 come to hand : 



Carmago, 111., March 11, 1880. 



Friend Newman : I send you a 

 Queen Shipping Cage, that as to safety, 

 in every respect, fills the letter of the 

 law. It has no double, or even a single 

 wire cloth over it. The fact that a 

 "double wire screen" is named in the 

 postal law or decision, does not make 

 wire screens necessary to fill the order, 

 when the opening of the cage is covered 

 with a solid board. The object as I un- 

 derstand it, was to secure safety from 

 leakage of honey, stinging by bees, and 

 fright upon the p rt of clerks working 

 for " Uncle Sam.'' 1 These three objects 

 are well secured in the cage. I have 

 used the cage for two years past, in the 

 mails at times, and by express. If I 

 am mistaken about my cage meeting 

 the design of the law, say so, and why. 

 I expect to use it in the mails, unless 

 there is something about it that would 

 do an injury to our craft. 



A. Salisbury. 



It consists of a small nailed box, X% 

 inches square and o% inches in length, 

 made similar to a section for comb 

 honey, with strips of wood, y 8 of an 

 inch narrower than the space on each 

 side, nailed on where the glass is put on 

 sections. The sides are wide enough to 

 project % of an inch beyond these 

 strips, to admit air to the bees, no mat- 

 ter how it may be placed. Two of 

 these projections were broken off when 

 it came to hand, showing that it was 

 hardly strong enough to endure the 

 rough handling such gets, while in the 

 mails. It contains candy at one end 

 and a small piece of sponge at the 

 other. As liquids are unmailable, the 

 latter is useless. 



The cage is an ingenious one, and 



would have been all right, had not the 

 requirements of the postal department 

 stated explicitly that the cage contain- 

 ing queens shall not only conform "to 

 the provisions of Sec. 223 of the laws 

 and regulations," but also "with the ad- 

 ditional security of a double unre or per- 

 forated tin screen for cover,'''' after the 

 manner of the one submitted by Prof. 

 Cook, the representative of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association." 



These are the exact words of the 

 order issued and signed by the Post- 

 master General. To deviate from this, 

 is but to invite a reversal for all time to 

 come, of the " temporary suspension " 

 granted to us I 



The efforts that the National Asso- 

 ciation has put forth, the money that 

 some of us have expended to push it to 

 a successful issue, the frequent rebuffs 

 we have had, and the wording of the 

 new Order for a "temporary suspen- 

 sion" — all warn us not to trifle with a 

 matter so important, by disregarding 

 the requirements of the Order, and by 

 assuming that anything else will do as 

 well as the cage designated. 



We do not wish to be dictatorial, but 

 must insist upon the use of no other 

 than the cage with " a double wire 

 screen," when sending queens through 

 the mails. Some have said that we are 

 interested in a particular cage, and im- 

 pugn our motives for being so particu- 

 lar about this matter. Let us say once 

 for all, that such are only mean and 

 contemptible insinuations, without the 

 least shadow of truth. We have no in- 

 terest, other than a retailer's profit, in 

 any article that we sell. 



We, however, do not belong to that 

 class, who imagine that no man can be 

 honest and just, if he manufactures or 

 sells supplies for the apiary. Some of 

 the best and most upright men in the 

 world are engaged in this business, and 

 we hope never to become so depraved as 

 to assert that the opinions of those who 

 are our competitors in business are un- 

 j ust or their practices dishonest, because 

 they are dealers in or manufacturers of 

 bee-keepers' supplies ! — Ed.] 



