AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



371 



been injured by the sudden stoppage in 

 egg-laying and jarring through the 

 mails. 



I could enumerate many instances 

 which turned out the same as the one 

 above-mentioned. A year ago last spring 

 I received a very beautiful queen from 

 Texas, which, after keeping in a very 

 weak colony for three months, disap- 

 peared. Last season for the first, for 

 some time, I wasted no money for 

 queens through the mails. But I would 

 not discourage, altogether, the purchas- 

 ing of queens by mail. It is a conven- 

 ient and cheap way of transmitting to 

 destination, and many a queen has paid 

 for herself in a few months during the 

 working season. Even from a poor 

 layer we can get enough fine drones to 

 distribute throughout the apiary, and 

 an occasional infusion of new blood may 

 pay, after all, in the long run. 



CAUSES OF INJURY IN CAGES. 



1st. The first cause is dampness, or 

 having the food too moist, so as to wet 

 the cage, or get the feet and abdomens 

 of bees and queen wet and sticky. If 

 the food in the cage Is dry enough so 

 that the queen and bees will go through 

 about half-starved, generally every at- 

 tendant bee will go through alive. Ex- 

 perimenting on this line, I have made 

 the candy pretty moist, then put a dozen 

 worker-bees into the cage and sent them 

 off four or five hundred miles to some 

 one as samples. The result would in- 

 variably be a majority of bees dead. 



Again, I have made the food so dry 

 that the bees could only eat very spar- 

 ingly, and the universal verdict would 

 be, " Every bee arrived alive." Bees, 

 when shaken about, are apt to fill them- 

 selves quickly, and, if confined, this re- 

 sults in injury, and is a cause of short- 

 ening longevity. 



2nd. The sudden changes in tempera- 

 ture is another cause of injury. When 

 the queen-cage is taken from the mail- 

 bag and placed in the post-office box, 

 often in the evening, and the tempera- 

 ture lowering during the night with so 

 few bees to keep up the heat of the 

 miniature colony, the result could not be 

 good under such varying changes in 

 temperature. With a nucleus or colony 

 by express, the change is not so harmful. 



3rd. The sudden stoppage in egg-lay- 

 ing is another fruitful source of harm 

 and injury to the mother-bee. If a 

 queen be laying at the rate of two or 

 three thousand eggs a day, and suddenly 

 her home is changed from combs to a 

 little house of wood, the change is not 



for the better. I know that this worked 

 detriment to the progeny of two dozen 

 choice laying hens that were confined to 

 a coop on a wagon last summer for seven 

 days. They were cooped just when they 

 had fairly begun laying. If such treat- 

 ment will do injury to something as 

 strong as a laying fowl, it certainly will 

 injure something as delicate as a queen- 

 bee. Hence, a queen that is just be- 

 ginning to lay will be less liable to in- 

 jury in this respect while being trans- 

 mitted through the mails, than one that 

 is laying at a rapid rate at the time of 

 caging. Therefore, remember to always 

 order very young queens by mail. If 

 you are going to buy a $10 breeder, pay 

 a dollar or two more and have her sent 

 by express. 



Updegraff, Iowa. 



An Experience in Moving Bees. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY JAS. A. MINNICK. 



On page 249, Mr. C. H. Coleman asks 

 information about moving his bees. I 

 will give my experience, as I moved 14 

 10 and 12 frame colonies 12 miles on a 

 wagon in August, 1890; 5 colonies 

 were in 10-frame chaflf hives, and 9 in 

 12-frame Langstroth portico hives. 

 They were very heavy with honey, and 

 very strong with bees. 



I securely nailed a piece of wire-cloth 

 over the entrance, and removed the 

 cover and fastened a piece of wire-cloth 

 over the entire top of the hive by plac- 

 ing the wire-cloth on and nailing thin 

 narrow slats over it. I would say that I 

 securely fastened the brood-frames in 

 place by driving a thin 3-penny nail 

 through the ends of each top-bar; this 

 is not necessary where fixed frames are 

 used. 



I next placed a common hay-ladders 

 on a wagon, and put on a foot or more 

 of hay, spreading it as evenly as possi- 

 ble. It should be at least a foot deep 

 after it is packed down. 



I then placed four fencing-plank 1x6 

 inches lengthwise of the wagon, and 

 upon them I placed two rows of the hives 

 with the entrances outward, and lashed 

 them together by placing a scantling 

 lengthwise of each row half way between 

 the entrances and tops of the hives. 

 Now I firmly bound the ends of the 

 scantling together with clothes-line, 

 also across the center, and again secured 

 them to the standard of the wagon. 



Boards can be laid lengthwise on top 



