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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



experiment seems to be open here for 

 some one. — G. L. Tinkek. 



1. As a general thing "yes," but not 

 always. 2. If it is heated in a water- 

 bath not over 50°, and sealed up, it wiil 

 remain for a long time without granu- 

 lating. I have some now that was 

 heated the same, put up the same, and 

 at the same time, all from the same 

 package ; some has granulated solid, 

 while the greater portion is clear, with 

 no signs of granulation. — H. D. Cutting. 



1. It may, and it may not. Wife says 

 we had some one winter that did not 

 granulate. 2. I do not know. You 

 might heat it and seal it up, or I pre- 

 sume you could keep it from granulating 

 by keeping it in a warm room. We keep 

 it from granulating in the stores by 

 taking it out as fast as it granulates and 

 replacing it with liquid honey. We 

 liquify this without removing from the 

 bottle, and sell it again on the next 

 round. — Emerson T. Abbott. 



1. As a rule, yes. But I have seen 

 samples, and now have two samples in 

 my collection, of my own producing, 

 that I know to be pure, that has never 

 candied or granulated. One of these 

 samples is of the crop of 1877 — or nearly 

 17 years old. 2. 1 suppose because 

 honey is a combination of the principles 

 of sweets, and I think that the more 

 cane sugar a sample contains, the sooner 

 it will granulate. I don't think it ad- 

 visable to try to prevent its granulation. 

 — G. W. Demakee. 



SMpping Oueen-Bees liy Mall. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY DR. J. p. H. BROVPN. 



As the season for shipping queens will 

 soon be here, anything that can be said 

 on the subject that will lend assistance 

 in the preparations for their journey, so 

 as to secure a safe arrival, will, no 

 doubt, be acceptable to the queen- 

 breeder. 



I have sent thousands of queens 

 througli the mails, in nearly every va- 

 riety of cage, to all portions of the 

 United States— to Canada, the West 

 Indies, and to Mexico — and I have had 

 my successes and my losses. 



I commenced with a cage provisioned 

 with honey contained in a sponge. The 

 losses averaged about 10 per cent. This 

 cage was formed by a 114 inch hole % 

 deep, with an entrance slot which held 

 the sponge. I came to the conclusion 

 that the bee-space was too small, and 

 changed to a larger cage with a special 

 repository for the sponge. I also gave 

 more ventilation. My losses were less, 

 and only occurred in sending long dis- 

 tances, and during dry, hot weather. 



I then added a water bottle. At first 

 a very small vial with a cork that had a 

 slot cut in, through which passed a 

 thread to emit the water. This was not 

 satisfactory. 



In provisioning mailing cages with 

 honey, I found it very difficult to get 

 honey of the right consistency so as to 

 "stand up," if I may so speak, in 

 changes of temperature. When it was 

 warm, the honey would often run and 

 daub the bees, and this is always equiva- 

 lent to death. Another point was to use 

 only honey of the very best grade. No 

 "doctored stuffs" would answer. 



I then provisioned with the finest pul- 

 verized sugar with sufficient honey 

 worked into it to form a mass about the 

 consistency of putty. I wanted it to 

 keep its position without running or be- 

 coming dauby. This sort of candy I 

 still use. and always make it up a day or 

 two before I use it. With this candy 

 and 13^-inch bee-space, queens can be 

 mailed with perfect safety anywhere 

 inside of a thousand miles, but where 

 the distance is greater a larger space is 

 necessary, with abundant ventilation. 

 But for a three thousand mile journey, 

 or over, I use a solid candy made of the 

 best granulated sugar, and have a small 

 tin water-vessel attached with two com- 

 partments, which enables the bees to 

 secure it in any position in which It may 

 chanced to be placed. 



The requisites for successful mailing 

 seem to be : 



1st. The provision, its arrangement, 

 and the bee-space, must be suited to the 

 distance and the probable length of time 

 of confinement. Greater care is re- 

 quired in hot weather than when mod- 

 erately cool. Larger cages admit of 

 better ventilation, for when the cage 

 gets into the mail-bag, along with other 

 matter — often crammed to its utmost 



