70 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept. 



of several days. There was an ample supply of 

 loaf sugar left, but the spouge was quite dry. 

 We remoistened the sponge, and hastily put 

 the package on the toi3 of a stock of bees, next 

 the frames, intending to move the hive, and 

 give the newly-arrived queen all its foragers, 

 on our return home. It was the 14th inst. be- 

 fore we were able to liberate that queen, so 

 that she was fully nine days in the close con- 

 finement of the package in which she was 

 mailed with no other sustenance than the loaf 

 sugar and water. When we let her out, she 

 flew very briskly to the window of the room, 

 and buzzed about m a most lively manner. She 

 looked rather attenuated, but was otherwise, to 

 all appearance, in excellent .;, condition. We 

 caught her, daubed her well with honey, and 

 dropped her into the liive prepared for her, and 

 at this present writing, can give no further ac- 

 count of her. 



It is plain, however, that Mr. Quinby's plan 

 is not only feasible, but highly to be commend- 

 ed, since, as he says, it removes the only real 

 objection to sending bees by mail. Of course 

 people don't like to have their letters all 

 smeared over with honey. Even billet-doux are 

 not improved by such additional sweetness- 

 And we can readily imagine what a fuss partic- 

 ular gentlemen and fastidious ladies will make 

 if their letters are besmeared and bedaubed. 

 Mr. Quinby has demonstrated that this can be 

 avoided, and if it can be, surely it ought to be, 

 for it is the part of good citizenship to avoid 

 giving needless annoyance to one's neighbors. 



It is a very great accommodation and advan- 

 tage to bee-keepers to be permitted to transmit 

 queens through the mails. If handled with 

 due care, nobody need be stung, and the bees 

 will go in perfect safety. We cannot but think 

 that the Postmaster General, on proper repre- 

 sentations being made to him, will see the pro- 

 priety of including bees among transmissable 

 articles. If the proviso were made that they 

 must be sent without honey, and directions 

 given as to the due security of the package, 

 there would be no cause for complaint, and 

 even-handed justice would be meted out to all. 



Mr. Quinby would, we think, render an im- 

 portant service to apiculture, if he would carry 

 out his proposal, and send a package of bees by 

 mail to headquarters, preceding it by a commu- 

 nication stating his intention to do so, and 



explaining the matter in full. If that prove in- 

 sufficient, the matter should be taken up by 

 Bee-Keepers' Associations, and by the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society, and influence 

 brought to bear with a view of securing to 

 apiarians a postal privilege which is exactly 

 similar to privileges extended to parties in 

 other lines of business, and which there is real- 

 ly no valid reason for withholding or with- 

 drawing. 



A Curious and Painful Fxperience. 



It is with a particularly reluctant and sheep- 

 ish feeling that we proceed, under the influence 

 of an imperative sense of duty, and with a view to 

 the diffusion ol useful knowledge, to tell our 

 " sperance " in the matter of a bee-sting, lately 

 inflicted upon us by one of those irascible and 

 ill mannered insects, which some people, with 

 misapplied fondness, are wont to call their 

 "pets." 



Now, gentle reader, let it be promised, that 

 for some years past, we have regarded a bee 

 sting as a mere bagatelle. We have been stung 

 any number of times, in various places, and 

 of late the effect has been so slightly inconve- 

 nient, that we quite set the honey gatherer's 

 dagger at defiance. A sting in any fleshy part 

 of the body was no worse than the prick of a 

 pin, and even a sting in the face caused only 

 transient pain and very little swelling. 



But " a change came o'er the spirit of our 

 dream " the other day, " thusly." We were in- 

 specting a hive we had been fitting up for exhi 

 bition purposes the day before, when suddenly, 

 without any note of warning or opportunity to 

 take precaution, a bee buried its sting exactly 

 at the i^oint of the upper lip, right on the little 

 projecting tip of flesh from which the mous- 

 tache marks its center, and divides to the right 

 hand and the left. " Pretty well aimed," 

 thought we. " Only an Italian could hit the 

 mark like that." We proposed at first to finish 

 our inspection of the hive, and pay no attention 

 to the hurt, further than to pluck out the sting. 

 But in a very few moments, our ujDper lip felt 

 as if it was on fire, and the pain became very 

 great. We went in doors to look for the blue 

 bag or some washing soda. Found the soda, 

 but it had no eff'ect whatever. The lip swelled 

 very quickly, and the poison extended upwards 

 and downwards, very much after the manner of 



