IS'.K' 



(U.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5J1 



ami about \Vasliinf.'liin have assurod us tliat 

 tilt' holds ai tlial time will ln'ovi'irrowdcd, and 

 acoDniinuiiatioMs will tlioi'i't'Drr ix' poor. It lias 

 hct'U sii^u:('>tcil tliat some other dat(>. thorcfofo, 

 be si'ici'tcd when icducrd I'nilroad rates will he 

 nearly if not quite a-^ jxood aiul still the aei-oiu- 

 iiiodatious at the capital not ovi'rorowdod. We 

 are satislied of this one thiiip. however: Our as- 

 soi-iaiiou of itself is not lar^^' enouju'h to secure 

 the necessary low rate to induce bee-keepers to 

 attemi to any considerable de.iiree. We oufjht, 

 therelore, to select some date w hen there will 

 be some ■■ big doings ■' at the national ca|)ital, 

 when generally reduced ralt'S will be allowed. 

 Let us be thinking the matter over, because 

 there are many bee-keepers who will want to 

 go to Washington, and take their wives, sweet- 

 hearts, and friends along. 



e 

 for 



THAT NKW lUNGUA.M SMOKKR. 



A FEW days ago Mr. Kinghara sent us one of 

 his latest improved Doctor smokers, with the 

 curved snout, and device for lifting the cone oft' 

 from th<> tire-box, with the request that we try 

 it in the apiary. At first we were not favorably 

 impressed with it: but the more we tried it, the 

 more we liked it. We have two Doctor smokers 

 in the apiary — one with a straight nozzle, and 

 the other with a curved one: but we notice that 

 our boys take the latter. •" How about the 

 Clark?" you may ask. Oh. yes I we use that 

 too. There are certain kinds of work where 

 our boys prefer the Clark, and for certain kinds 

 the Bingham. For a large volume of smoke, 

 and for general subduing qualities, we believe 

 there is nothing equal to one of the large Bing- 

 ham smokers. Our boys always u.se them when 

 working over cross colonies. " Take care there!" 

 you will say: "you will be hurting your trad 

 in Clark stuokers." Yes; but the Clark sells fo* 

 about one-fourth th(^ price of the Bingham, and 

 ought not to be expected to do the work of a 

 high-priced implement; and, besides, even if it 

 should kill the trade entirely, we propose to 

 tell the truth, uo matter which way it cuts. 



QUEEN.S TO FOKEIttN COUNTHIES; IS TIIEKE 

 TKOCBLE AHEAD? 



One of our customers in Jamaica ordered of 

 us one Carniolan queen, one Doolittle queen, 

 and one of our own select tested Italians. Not 

 having tin- Caruiolans, we ordered Mr. F. A. 

 Lockhari. of Lake George, N. Y., to send one of 

 his select tested direct; and to make sure eveiy 

 thing would be all I'ight. we sent him one of 

 our export cages with directions for mailing, 

 etc. We had several times before sent queens 

 to Jamaica, and, of course, had no doubt that 

 we could do so again. In a week or ten days 

 we received a letter from Mr. Lockhart. stating 

 that the queen which he had sent had been re- 

 turned to him, and marked "Prohibited by 

 Country of Destination." Having previously 

 sent queens to the same island, as above stated, 

 and not liearing of any trout)l(! from the Doo- 

 little queen, and therefore supposing she went 

 through all right, we wrote to the Second As- 

 sistant Postmaster General, and the following 

 is the answer we received: 



POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT. 



OFFICE OF FOREKiN .MAILS. 



Wasliiiig-toii, U. C, June 20, 1892. 

 S(»\'— Referring to your letter of the ITth instant, 

 to the Second Assistant Postni;ister General, asking 

 for an expliinalion of tlie circumstance tliat s(jme 

 packages of " live bees" addressed for delivery in 

 Jamaica, W. I., which you have caused to be mailed 

 iti this country, liave been despatcJied to Jamaica, 

 while others liave been retuined to you marked 

 "Prohil)ited l)y Country of Destination." I have to 

 inform you that '"live bees "are transmissible l)y 

 mail to those countries only which have given notice 



thai llielr legislation perinits live l)ces to be admit- 

 ted to tlie mails. The p isinl olhcials of .laniaica 

 have not given such noi u-c. and conse(iuetit ly live 

 l)ees ari' not allowed to I e loiwarded by mail to 

 •latiuiica. The only explanation that can be given 

 of 1 he fact Ihat sui'li packages have been allowed 

 to go forward to t hat island is, that the Tiature of 

 the contents of said i)ackages escaped observation 

 at the iiostoflice in New York. 



The foregoing siali-inent applies ecjually to pack- 

 ages of bees addressed for deli\ery in the Austra- 

 lasian colonies, none of those idknnes having as yet 

 indicated thi'ir willingness to allow packages of live 

 l)ees to be admit ted to the mails exchanged between 

 them and foreign countries. 



1 am, very respectfully. 



Your obedient servant, 



N. M. ilKOOKS, 



Supei'intendeiit of Foreign Mails. 



We have known that the Australian colonies, 

 as well as some of the other foreign countries to 

 wliich we nave sent queens, provided no legis- 

 lation whereby queen-bees coul(J be mailed to 

 their ports. In the absence of any statement, 

 we have taken the liberty to send the queens 

 riglit along, just the same, paying letter post- 

 age. In all probability Mr. Lockhart marked 

 his cage " Queen-bee," and that is just exactly 

 what would excite the attention of red-tape olh- 

 cials. Our queens are all sent in plain boxes — 

 simply the address and necessary postage at- 

 tached. If the aforesaid olhcials should put 

 these boxes to their ears, tliey would probably 

 be able to detect the buzzing of bees. While we 

 do not make any attempt to explain, we do not 

 try to conceal the contents of tlie package, or 

 disguise it for something else. The countries 

 not making legislation admitting queens are 

 depriving a certain class of their citizens of real 

 substantial benefits; and it is only because 

 their bee-keepers have not taken the necessary 

 pains to see that suitable legislation is made in 

 their favor. We trust that the Australian bee- 

 keepers will give their attention to this matter 

 at once — especially so as they have a new bee- 

 journal that will be able to represent their 

 interests. 



AUTOMATIC SWAKMERS, AND HOW THEY WORK 

 AT THE HOME OFTHK HONEY-BEES. 



We have had two swarms come out and hive 

 themselves automatically. (( la Piatt. The de- 

 vices have worked to perlection. The swarm we 

 mentioned on page 4.")(;, last issue, as having 

 come out, not only hived itself, but the entire 

 swai"m seems to have taken up with their new 

 quarters and gone to housekeeping, while the 

 parent hive has nothing but young bees, sealed 

 brood, and queen-cells, just as it ought to have. 

 The other swarm must have come out while we 

 were at church on Sunday. At any rate, in the 

 fore part of the week we found it in its new 

 quarters as successfully and nicely hived as if 

 we had put them there ourselves. 



For the first time we began to feel really 

 hopeful and enthusiastic in regard to the au- 

 tomatic swarmers; and it now appears to us 

 that the idea lirst made public by E. L. Pratt, 

 of hiving the be(!S automatically in a hive, Wie 

 entrduce to ivliick tlieij luive loyig been accus- 

 tomed, is the key to success; and even Mr. Al- 

 ley, in his latest swarmer. we notice, has adopt- 

 ed the Pratt idea, although, if we remember 

 corniclly, he at first condemned it. Mr. Pratt"s 

 automatic swarmers, both on the same princi- 

 ple, wen; illustrated on page 199, March 1, and 

 page 318, May 1. Of the two, we rather prefer 

 the latter, as does also Mr. Pratt, we believe. 

 The last named requires only one bottom-board; 

 and any one who lias the ordinary Dovetailed 

 hives and furniture can construct it by buying 

 of Mr. Pratt his bee escape honey-board. We 

 should mention, also, that these swarmers are 

 so constructed that the hives may be lett for 



