86 



AMERICAN BEE JOURiNAj 



hope for a lino bloom and good weather 

 with it tho coming season. 



QUKKNS NOT INJURED IN MAILING. 



We were surpri-sod at Rev. W. P. 

 Faylor's experience in roeoivinar qneens 

 by nuiii. llis experience has been just 

 tiie opposite to ours. We have received 

 bees by full comb colonies, also by ex- 

 press in imported cages, and ten times 

 as many by mail as by express. Those 

 sent by mail have proved just as good as 

 could be desired, and liave done good 

 laying into the fourth season. We run 

 our apiaries for extracted honey on the 

 Dadant system, iuiving from six to nine 

 Quinby frames in each hive during the 

 breeding season. It does not take us 

 long to lind out how prolific a queen is. 



THE YKM-OW HKKS PRKFERRKD. 



In regard to the color of bees, tho 

 yellow bees have always given us tho 

 best satisfaction, both for honey and 

 gentleness in handling. What we mean 

 by " yellow bees," is any of the yellow 

 races — Italian, Syrian or Holy Laud. 



When the Cyprian boo first began to 

 be talked up in the bee-papers, we paid 

 $10 for an imported queen. She was a 

 No. 1 layer, and her progeny fine honey- 

 gatherers. We reared a number of 

 qneens from her, but on account of their 

 cross disposition, we could not do much 

 with them, only in the middle of the 

 day, when the sun shone hot and bright. 



We liave had a few black colonies, but 

 did not keep them long, that could equal 

 any Cyprian colony, we thinlc, that was 

 ever on the American shores. 



Friend York, it is our desire to add a 

 word in memory of Mr. D. A. Pike, 

 whose biography was given recently. We 

 bought the first queen of him the season 

 of 1S78, and bought his queens almost 

 every season up to his death. Every 

 queen was always sent by mail, and 

 gave good satisfaction. As for us, we 

 can say, he surely was an honest man. 



Kalona, Iowa. 



Mailing Diieeii-Bees Long Distances. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY W. A. I'RYAL. 



(Contiuucd from page 49.) 

 There is no doubt in my mind that 

 bees crossing our great, hoi deserts re- 

 quire water; we all know that bees are 

 very fond of water, especially during 

 the heated time of the year. As we 

 cauuot put much wioisture in the candy 



without making it too soft, the thing to 

 do, then, is to try and doviso some way 

 of giving them suHicient water during 

 the trip. This question of giving bees 

 water while in course of shipment, is no 

 new thing. It lias been spoken of many 

 times ; the trouble is, it has been consid- 

 ered too expensive by the leading breed- 

 ers ; besides, they have becojue so 

 wedded to the candy idea, that they are 

 reluctant to try anything that seems to 

 branch oiT from such a well-trodden 

 path. 



I have never yet received a queen 

 dead, that was shipped in a cage that 

 had a reservoir for water. No matter 

 how hard the candy may have become 

 through heat or otherwise, the bees 

 would manage to eat all they required 

 of it, if they had water handy. Queens 

 that were confined in a cage that con- 

 tained a supply of water seemed to be 

 healthier when reaching their destina- 

 tion than those that had none. I have 

 noticed thai queens that come in cages 

 with soft candy are healthier than 

 those queens that are provisioned with 

 a hard candy. 



The past year I received a queen from 

 Texas that came in a cage provisioned 

 with honey, after the manner used be- 

 fore the " Good " candy came into vogue. 

 The plan worked pretty well, but, still, 

 I do not consider it satisfactory. One 

 queen I received from a Texan breeder 

 came with all her attendants dead. 

 She herself was in a weak condition 

 when she reached me. I had to intro- 

 duce her by placing several just-hatched 

 bees in the introducing cage with her. 

 This queen is now one of the most pro- 

 lific queens 1 have. 



In an issue of Glcmiings last summer 

 I noticed that the editor recommends 

 much care in making the candy ; that 

 much elbow-grease must be expended in 

 order to get the candy to the right con- 

 sistency. He thinks that women are 

 not strong enough for this sort of work. 

 I am afraid that the young women that 

 he had tried to do this work were not of 

 the muscular kind we have here in this 

 State, or like those that are found in 

 Texas. I learn that one of the most 

 successful breeders in that State, or for 

 that matter, in the wliole country, uses 

 woman-power exclusively to knead the 

 sugar-honey dough that is sent out with 

 all her queens, and that she has about 

 as good luck in sending queens as any 

 breeder in the country. 



I do not think the manner of mi.xing 

 the so-called candy, or the power used 

 to knead it, makes any material differ- 

 ence. If the candy is put in a cage that 



