214 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



then to deliver it ; besides, the custo- 

 mers are then sure that they are getting 

 just what they sampled. 



My home market (Toledo) I go over 

 twice a year — late in the spring and 

 early in the fall, while I can put in a 

 part of the time with the bees. This 

 year I was late in getting to my custo- 

 mers there, and another had been 

 around and supplied quite a number of 

 them, but as he had held up the price — 

 selling his at 20 cents— I am not dis- 

 posed to kick. Why should I, any way ? 

 There is plenty of room for all that 

 want to engage in the trade. We will 

 never get the world too sweet ! 



I am inclined to think there might be 

 a greater amount of honey sold by the 

 producers right to the consumers, at 

 fair, paying prices, if they would make 

 an effort, and were not so delicati about 

 being called a "peddler." 



After all, I believe there is an art in 

 selling honey, and I do not believe I 

 could tell any one just how to do it, if I 

 were asked to do so. 



Delaware, Ohio. 



Are Queens Injured In Mailing Them ? 



Written Jor the American Bee Journal 



BY DB. E. GALLUP. 



In reply to Rev. W. P. Faylor's ques- 

 tion (page 616, 1893)— "Whoever saw 

 a good laying queen after she had gone 

 through the mails " — I will state that I 

 have. Understand that I only reared 

 queens for my own use, but occasionally 

 I used to send a good, prolific queen to a 

 friend who would report that she did 

 not prove prolific with him. So, to test 

 this matter. Dr. Hamlin and myself 

 agreed to exchange, and did exchange, 

 several queens through the mails. I 

 had an impression about the dilHculty, 

 and so stated it to him, and when we 

 found that when we selected one-year- 

 old queens, or queens that were breed- 

 ing up to their .full capacity, their pro- 

 lificness was affected badly, but when we 

 selected young queens, as soon as their 

 first working progeny appeared, their 

 prolicness was not impaired. In no case 

 did it affect their longevity whatever. 



But understand that we both advoca- 

 ted and practiced rearing queens either 

 in the natural manner, under the swarm- 

 ing impulse, or in an overflowing full 

 colony of nursing bees, under all the 

 natural conditions we could bring to 

 bear — such as having them started 

 from the eggs or larvae just batched ; 



abundance of warmth, and large quanti- 

 ties of royal food, etc. In a former arti- 

 cle I gave my method of rearing arti- 

 ficial queens. By both of these methods 

 we could rear five and six year old 

 queens almost invariably, when reared 

 from the proper stock ? 



Now, Mr. Faylor, are you sure that 

 the longevity of those queens was af- 

 fected by passing through the mails? 

 Or, rather, was it not a fact that they 

 were reared under unnatural conditions, 

 such as lack of warmth, insufficient 

 nourishment, or from being started from 

 larvae too far advanced, and fed as a 

 worker, either of which will produce 

 short-lived queens almost without an 

 exception ? 



Understand that Dr. Hamlin lived 

 near Nashville, Tenn., and I in northern 

 Iowa, which was a sufficient distance to 

 test the matter pretty thoroughly. My 

 theory was this : 



When we selected queens that were 

 breeding up to their full capacity, and 

 oldish queens, the thumping and pound- 

 ing that they had to undergo with their 

 large, distended abdomens, and perhaps 

 the sudden stoppage of the large and 

 constant supply of the proper food, was 

 the cause of their prolificness being im- 

 paired. Who is positive about this mat- 

 ter ? We were both satisfied, yet others 

 may not be. 



Mr. Faylor also says that not one in a 

 hundred of those light-colored queens 

 are reared under the swarming impulse 

 — the only sure way to get extra-good 

 laying queens. Now, I tried them pretty 

 thoroughly, both in Iowa and two sea- 

 sons in California, under the swarming 

 impulse, and so did Adam Grimm and 

 Dr. Hamlin, but not one of us ever was 

 satisfied with them, so far as their work- 

 ing qualities and prolificness were con- 

 cerned ; and as I have before stated, 

 being a prominent writer, I received 

 some dozens of them from different 

 queen-breeders who were very anxious 

 that I should recommend their queens, 

 even Mrs. Ellen Tupper sent me two, 

 and not one of those light-colored queens 

 or their progeny came up to my stan- 

 dard. It would take from two to three 

 queens to keep a colony as populous as 

 one of my own stock, or the stock re- 

 ceived from either Dr. Hamlin or Adam 

 Grimm. They were extra-nice to handle, 

 and beautiful to look at, but the profit 

 was not there. Those queens were sent 

 gratis, and I was anxious to succeed 

 with them, but did not. 



Now do not, by any means, understand 

 me as saying that others cannot or liave 

 not. The reader will understand, after 



