1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



337 



Troubles of the Queen Breeder 



Tlie associate editor has recently 

 visited a number of queen breeders 

 in Tennessee and Mississippi and 

 found that they have been working 

 under difficulties the past season. The 

 honey-flow has been very poor, mak- 

 ing it necessary to feed sugar almost 

 constantly, in many cases. There has 

 been so much rain, also, that they 

 have often found it impossible to 

 work with the bees for days at a 

 time. Under such conditions the num- 

 ber of good queen cells built would 

 be greatly reduced, from what could 

 be secured, under favorable weather 

 conditions. Even at best the queen 

 breeder can never tell in advance how 

 many queens he can furnish at a 

 given date. Orders were accepted 

 with the best of intentions and with 

 the full expectation of being able to 

 send the queens forward promptly.- 

 With bad weather the orders were of 

 necessity delayed or money returned 

 to the great disappointment of the 

 customer, and yet through no fault 

 of the breeder. Until one has had 

 actual e.xperience in rearing queens 

 he can never fully realize the prob- 

 lems which the breeder has to face. 



While it is v.ery trying to be unable 

 to secure bees or queens bought and 

 paid for months in advance of the 

 time when needed, we hope our read- 

 ers will bear in mind the difficulties 

 of filling such orders at a particular 

 time and give the queen breeder a 

 fair chance to make good any corn- 

 plaint before taking it up with us. We 

 use every precaution to make sure 

 that every advertiser is reliable, and 

 want to know in case any fail to live 

 up their agreements, but give them a 

 fair chance to make good before com- 

 plaining. 



A Letter From the Caucasus 



It is with great pleasure that we 

 give herewith the translation of a let- 

 ter received from Professor Gorbat- 

 cheff, which will show better than 

 newspaper articles what the condi- 

 tions are and have been in those 

 countries. It appears that the coun- 

 tries of the Transcaucasus have 

 formed into republics, and so this 

 letter was stamped with the postage 

 of a new government, the "Republique 

 Georgienne." The letter follows: 



Tiflis, July 15, 1920. 

 Mr. C. P. Dadant. 



Honored Sir: It was a matter of 

 great pleasure to me, the other day, 

 to receive the April number of the 

 American BeiJ Journal, two letters 

 from your office and three letters 

 from American beekeepers enquiring 

 into the possibility of importing Cau- 

 casian queens into America. It is al- 

 most five years since I have been able 

 to correspond with Europe and 

 America. Even today we have no 

 postal service with central Russia. 



You may imagine my joy before 

 those first swallows coming from a 

 civilized country. Being in the habit 

 of perusing each month some 20 Rus- 

 sian bee magazines and a dozen for- 

 • eign ones, I am truly starving for the 

 intellectual food which I secured from 

 this special literature. 



Your green-covered American Bee 

 Journal for April, bearing a portrait 

 of Moses Quinby, has given me as 

 much pleasure as must have given the 

 dove with its olive twig plucked off, 

 to Noah in his ark. 1 believe that 

 you, as well as those of our American 

 colleagues who take interest in bees, 

 will be glad to get some information 

 concerning us. 



None ot the branches of farming 

 industry was as much injured, during 

 that period of war and revolution as 

 was beekeeping. The best modern 

 apiaries were destroyed and in some 

 regions beekeeping is no longer e.\- 

 tant. 



From the information that I can 

 secure irregularly, it appears that the 

 apiaries of the north of Caucasus, 

 down to the countries of Kouban and 

 Tcrsk — those Californian bee coun- 

 countries, are also devastated. 



But beekeeping is a phceni.x, and it 

 comes to life from its ashes in the 

 midst of revolution fires. In the 

 Transcaucasus, that is to say in the 

 newly- organized republics of Geor- 

 gia, Armenia and Azerbijan, we recog- 

 nize at present a growing interest 

 for beekeeping. The requests for 

 bees and bee appliances come in large 

 numbers. Thanks to the intensifica- 

 tion of rural industry in the Trans- 

 caucasus, beekeeping is likely to se- 

 cure there an honorable position. 

 During the past two years the crops 

 were e.xcellent and the apiaries which 

 were miraculously spared yielded an 

 extraordinary crop, several apiaries 

 yielding 4, 5, and even 8 pouds (The 

 poud is equivalent to about 36 

 pounds. — Editor) while usually one 

 poud, taken from each colony, is con- 

 sidered a good crop. 



In closing, I will quote to you the 

 prices now current in Tiflis: 



A poud of honey (36 pounds), 4,000 

 to 5,000 rubles; former price, 8 to 12 

 rubles. 



A poud of beeswax, 6,000 to 8,000 

 rubles ; former price 18 to 24 rubles. 



Comb foundation, English pound, 

 300 rubles ; former price 32 to 40 ru- 

 bles. 



Dadant hives, 1,000 to 1,200 rubles; 

 former price, 8 to 12 rubles. 



Honey extractor, 10,000 to 12.000 ru- 

 bles ; former price, 24 to 30 rubles. 



(The ruble, normally worth 51^ 

 cents, is very much depreciated at 

 present. It is not now quoted on the 

 financial markets. — Editor.) 



Just now, central Russia cannot be 

 reached by way of the Caucasus. But 

 commercial transactions are getting 

 arranged with France. Transcau- 

 casus has great need of commercial 

 exchanges with America, and those 

 would be more easily organized than 

 with Europe. 



Accept my best wishes, 



C. A. GORBATCHEFF. 



Loss of Bees !n Shipping 



In buying bees in packages shipped 

 by express, the customer should al- 

 ways make sure that in case any con- 

 siderable part of the bees are dead on 

 arrival, that the agent makes note of 

 the fact on the express receipt before 

 paying. Too often beekeepers make 



claims against the breeders for loss 

 in shipment, yet because of their fail- 

 ure to have the agent note condition 

 of bees on arrival, the breeder is un- 

 able to secure settlement from the 

 express company. 



We believe that all our advertisers 

 are reliable and will make good any 

 losses for which they are responsible. 

 The express company is responsible 

 for losses in transit, and unless the 

 facts are noted on express receipt the 

 shipper has no recourse. 



Parcel Post Extracted Honey 



We are in receipt of a 5-pound can 

 of extracted honey of excellent qual- 

 ity from R. A. Bray, of Big Timber, 

 Montana. The honey came all the 

 way without any wrapper. The top 

 was fastened on in what is, to us, a 

 novel way. The friction top was sim- 

 ply fastened down with 3 small nails, 

 driven through the can at the top 

 and bent down on the depressed sur- 

 face of the lid. Honey, put up in this 

 way and carefully wrapped in cor- 

 rugated pasteboard, can probably 

 travel safely from one end to the 

 other of the United States. 



Extracts 



J. E. Crane, in July Gleanings, says: 

 "I do not know at present of an 

 apiary or a colony in our State (Ver- 

 mont) where American foulbrood ex- 

 ists." As they have had considerable 

 foulbrood in Vermont, that is an evi- 

 dence of what may be achieved with 

 methodical action and perseverance. 



"A colony which has built cells ap- 

 pears more unwilling to accept a new- 

 queen than one requeened as soon as 

 dequeened.— Elmer G. Carr, of New 

 Jersey, in Gleanings for August). 

 Same here, Mr. Carr. For safe intro- 

 duction we do not want the colony 

 queenless a single minute. 



Fifty Years Ago 



Fifty years ago the beekeepers 

 were using large space in the discus- 

 sion of the best kind of hive. Many 

 hives of many kinds which attracted 

 much attention then have long been 

 forgotten. The Thomas hive, the 

 Economic hive, Gallup s hive, the Ex- 

 celsior hive, the Diamond Frame hive 

 and dozens more have long passed 

 from public notice. Fifty years ago 

 the extractor was just coming into 

 use and frequent articles about "The 

 Honey Slinger" appeared in the mag- 

 azines of that date. The control of 

 queen mating was a live subject then, 

 and now and again some one appeared 

 with a sure method. 



Some subjects which have been dis- 

 cussed for fifty years are still unset- 

 tled. Size of hives and deep vs. shal- 

 low frames were the cause of much 

 argument then as now. 



Fifty years ago Langstroth, Quinby, 

 Charles Dadant and Henry Alley 

 were frequent contributors to the 

 .American Bee Journal. Dr. C. C. 

 Miller is about the only man who was 

 writing for this Journal at that time 

 who continue to do so until the pres- 

 ent. In the is-ue for October, 1870, 

 there are two articles from his pen. 



