1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



235 



when they are not able to do so they begin to 

 bite tiie wire cloth, and mal<e a fuss generally, 

 till the whole colony is aroused, and a commo- 

 tion caused to such an extent that the meshes 

 of the wire clolh are clogged up with bees so 

 that no air can gi't through; and when ihis 

 happens the bees become hot, or heated like 

 fermenting vegetation; the honey in thi'ir 

 honey-sacs is disgorged till the bees look like 

 "drowned rats," and they perish with a heat 

 sutficient often to melt the combs. If ever I 

 have felt sorry for bees it is where they have 

 perished in this way. There can be no assur- 

 ance that this m;iy not happen at any time, 

 unless the weather is cold enough to cause the 

 bees to cluster compactly; and were bees to be 

 shut in hives whtMi so clustered, the apiarist 

 would need to be on hand, when the weather 

 moderated, to take off the wire cloth, or a loss 

 would occur. I doubt whether there can be 

 any m^ans used, in unproi)itious wpathcr in 

 the spring, by which bi>es can be kept from 

 flying out of the hive, that will not cost more 

 than the bt^nefit derived will amount to. Where 

 bees are in chaff hives they are not so easily 

 enticed out every sunshiny day. when the air 

 is too cold for them to fly safely. If a wide 

 board Is placed sloping in front of the entrance, 

 so a-< to exclude the rays of the sun from the 

 entrance and lower part of the hive, bees will 

 not venture out unless the air is warm enough 

 for them to fly safely; but as these boards have 

 to be rtiinoved every time the weather is suit- 

 able for the bees to go out, I doubt about 

 enough bees being saved to pay for the trouble. 

 I have practiced this to Quite an extent in years 

 which are past, but of late I do not, because I 

 do not think it pays. Then, spring dwindling 

 is not the result of the loss of the few bees that 

 chance to go out for forage when the weather 

 is unpropitious (although the numbers are 

 quite materially reduced in this way when a 

 cloud suddenly obscures the sun and a cold 

 wind rises at the same time), but from the 

 result of poor wintering, where the vitality of 

 the old bees is worn out, so that they go out of 

 the hive to die, and not for forage. A real case 

 of spring dwindling can not be remedied by 

 keeping the bees in the hive, for they would die 

 in the hive just the same as though they were 

 allowed their liberty. At least, this is the con- 

 clusion I have arrived at after a careful watch 

 along these lines for nearly a score of years. 



SEPARATE MAIL-SACKS FOR QUEENS TO 

 AUSTRALIA. 



Question. — Can we secure a proper condition, 

 or surroundings, while queens are en route from 

 America to Australia? i. e.. can we know 

 whfi-e the mail-bags containing queens are 

 carried on the steamers'? Are the bees boiled 

 or frozen? We may have proper food in the 

 cages, proper ventilation, the right number of 

 bees with a queen, etc.; but if we can not con- 

 trol the mail-bag containing them, so but that 



they are left in the boiling rays of a tropical 

 sun for days at a time, we can never arrive at 

 perfect success in shipping queens to and from 

 Am(!rica. 



Ayiswer.—TUet above comes from no other 

 than W. S. Pender, of New South Wale-*, Aus- 

 tralia. th(i same man who was largely instru- 

 mental in .securine the lawful mailing of 

 queens to and tiom Australia, as samples of 

 merchandise, and at a rate of postage cheaper 

 on an average than that obtained for queens 

 in our domestic mails. When I tirst read the 

 above I thought that there could be no help in 

 this matter; but the more I think of it, the 

 brighter it looks. If the exporting of queens 

 could become a business of sufficient value to 

 warrant it, it seems to me there would be no 

 trouble to arrange with the postal authorities 

 at San Francisco, Cal., so that, upon the leaving 

 of the mails for Australia, all cages containing 

 queen-bees could be placed in a mail-sack 

 made of porous cloth, and the mail clerk on the 

 steamer see that this sack is kept in a cool 

 airy pace on the ship during warm weather, 

 and, in cool weather, transferred to a place 

 sufficiently warm for the comfort and welfare 

 of its occupants. I do not know that this is 

 just the place to discuss this matter; but as we 

 are all beginners in this matter of shipping 

 queens to foreign countries I thought it might 

 not be inappropriate. Who will be the one to 

 communicate with the proper postal authori- 

 ties at San Francisco regarding these matters? 

 Will you do It, friend Root? or can it best be 

 done through the Bee-keepers' Union? It 

 seems to me that, if we are ever to make a suc- 

 cess of shipping queens in the mails to Aus- 

 tralia, this part of the matter will have to be 

 looked after; for, with every other condition 

 the same, so far as I could see, some steamers 

 have landed 7.5 per cent of my shipments alive 

 in Sydney, New South Wales, while other 

 steamers have landed 100 per cent there dead. 

 These things can not be accounted for I'n any 

 other way than that suggested by friend Pender. 

 Would it not be well to agit'ite this matter, 

 Bro. Root ? 



MOVING BEES SHORT DISTANCES. 



Question— 1 have 12 colonies of bees packed 

 side by side. How can I move a part of them 

 a short distance, leaving the remainder where 

 they are? The bees have flown freely. 



ylnswe?-.— Should there come a few days of 

 stormy weather, so as to keep the bees in their 

 hives, then is your time to move them, for at 

 this season of the year bees mark their location 

 anew after every week or so of confinement. 

 Should no such time come, then I would move 

 the strongest of the colonies and let the weak 

 ones be strengthened by the returning bees 

 from those moved. If this is not advisable, 

 then move them in the evening or on some 

 rainy day when all are in their hives, then 

 stand a board up in front of the entrance. This 



