428 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAj 



CONDUCTED BY 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY, 



Beeville, Texas. 



Mailing Queens — Australian Letter. 



Mks. Jennie Atchley : — Your kind 

 letter of Jan. 4th came to hand on Feb. 

 7th. I have received eight queens from 

 America, but all were dead. You ask 

 my opinion about vpater being necessary. 



1 must confess that I dori't knoiv, but 

 think it may be, and I am led somewhat 

 to that way of thinking from the fol- 

 lowing : 



In August, 1893, I had landed from 

 Italy ten choice queens by steamer, and 

 nine were alive. The cages in which 

 the queens traveled were about 9x9x7 

 inches deep ; on each side were large 

 zinc ivater-bottles about 5x4x% inch 

 thick, with a nozzle about }.2 inch in 

 diameter at the bottom, over which was 

 tied two pieces of calico, through which 

 the bees obtained the moisture. The 

 upper part was widened to hang on the 

 top edge of the cage, and was nailed 

 thereto. Between the water-bottles 

 were three combs in frames, the top-bar 

 hanging in openings sunk in the top of 

 the cage, and the bottom-bar just fitting 

 between the sides of the cage ; the ends 

 were kept }4 inch inside of the ends of 

 the bottom-bar, thus giving M inch bee- 

 space around the ends of the frames. 

 The combs were fixed in these frames 

 by tying tightly with, string, and the lid 

 came down tightly on top of the frames, 

 and so kept them from sagging. 



Under the combs was a wire-cloth 

 screen, and under this a space of about 



2 inches to the bottom of the box ; the 

 screen allowed dirt to fall through, ven- 

 tilation was given through holes % inch 

 in diameter in the four sides of the box, 

 covered inside and out with wire-cloth ; 

 about 200 bees, perhaps more, accom- 

 panied each queen. 



The cages were crated, and a wooden 

 handle fixed at the top (so that they 

 would not be turned over), fixed to stout 

 fillets running up each side. 



You will here note that the food con- 

 sisted of comb honey only and water. 

 Let me here remark that a few weeks 

 after arrival all the honey was crystal- 

 lized — I do not know if it were so on ar- 

 rival. Now here is a problem : If I 

 can have sent from Italy (Bologna, 

 rather) ten queens, and have nine of 

 them arrive in first-class condition, with 

 plenty of bees alive also, and no other 

 food but comb honey and water, and 

 these be 42 days from date of departure 

 to their arrival here, and come by 

 steamer as freight, ivhy cannot we with 

 the same food land them here through the 

 mails in smaller cages in less than 35 

 days f Do you see the point? Honey 

 and water instead of candy. 



The above was rather better results 

 than most importers have had, but it 

 has been done, and should be done 

 again. Don't you think the above a 

 strong point in favor of water? 



Now as to candy: You Americans 

 can prepare it as you like, but it does 

 not suit our climate. Two queens I re- 

 ceived this season were smothered, 

 through the candy running, and others 

 landed with candy in a nice condition. 

 In a few days this would get very moist 

 or very dry, according to the weather. 

 I have found it one time " as dry as a 

 bone," at others, the same candy too 

 soft. Most of the queens sent to me 

 died within from 5 to 10 days from the 

 time of leaving America, judging from 

 the amount of candy consumed. Now I 

 will tell you where I think there may be 

 a difficulty in this queen traffic. We 

 mail them, the parcels are bagged or 

 crated and placed, I don't know where, 

 on the steamer — may be right over the 

 boiler— I have thought queens were 

 baked, arriving so dry, but being so long 

 dead may make them dry up consider- 

 ably. 



Water in cages may give bees a chance 

 of cleaning themselves when they be- 

 come daubed with honey, and it may 

 also cause the candy to run too much. 



This season opened up very well — 

 plenty of flowers, but the elements were 

 against me. I had crowded colonies all 

 through the 'winter, the bees storing on 

 every fine day. I never saw the bush 

 (forests) so full of bloom as in the spring, 

 but very little honey was stored until 

 the middle of December. On Oct 27th 

 I extracted 13 tins, each 60 pounds ; 

 on Jan. 2nd, 15 tins, and Feb. 10th, 17 

 tins — total, 45 tins (2,700 pounds) to 

 date. If warm, dry weather, we may 

 get more. This is from 40 colonies, 

 spring count, and increased to 63 colo- 



