APRIL 15, 1916 



299 



the part of customers; but I have never 

 found it so. Most of the small beekeepers 

 are in the game as much for pleasure as 

 profit; and when they feel they have been 

 squarely dealt with and get their money's 

 worth, they have no inclination to take ad- 

 vantage of the queen-breeder. 



There is nothing to interfere with any 

 queen-breeder guaranteeing pure "mating; 

 but we would recommend that all queens 

 that prove to be mismated be returned, and 

 that the queen in the first place, before be- 

 ing sent out, be marked by a peculiar cut in 

 the wings, so that positive identification will 

 be possible. 



While we believe in humanity, and believe 

 that most of the world is honest, we know 

 of an instance that occurred last summer 

 where one party was getting queens right 

 and left of numerous queen-breeders, telling 

 them that the queens were unsatisfactory, 

 and asking for a replacement. As a result 

 lie secured & lot of extra queens for noth- 

 ing. 



Wliere one lives in a locality well Ital- 

 ianized, he can afford to guarantee pure 

 mating at very little expense; and, natur- 

 ally enough, the public will patronize the 

 person or concern that guarantees its stock, 

 prices being equal. In time this will shut 

 out the irresponsible and careless breeders, 

 and compel all to reach a certain standard 

 or quit the business. 



The largest bulk of our complaints con- 

 cerning advertisers have been against a few 

 that furnish queens — not against those who 

 have advertised queens for many years, but 

 rather against a few of the late comers in 

 the field who do not realize nor perhaps 

 undei-stand the importance of having their 

 mating-yard where there are few or no 

 black drones. 



Carrying Bee Legislation Too Far 



Recent discussion in these columns, edi- 

 torially and otherwise, shows the great pos- 

 sibilities of sending bees in one, two, and 

 three pound lots by express. There is very 

 little likelihood that bees when sent in this 

 way will can-y disease if ordinary precaution 

 is taken ; and yet there are several states 

 where sliipments of beas in pound packages 

 are baiTed. Already we ax'e getting com- 

 plaints from these states, to the effect that 

 the beekeepers who are supposed to be pro- 

 tected are being handicapped in that they 

 can get no other bees from outside their 

 own state. The kind of legislation that is 

 too drastic is liable to be overturned, with 

 the result that there will be no protection. 



We are informed that European foul 

 brood has made considerable headway in 



one state; and yet the beekeepers in that 

 commonwealth propose to bar even queen 

 bees sent by mail. They would thus make 

 it impossible to send vigorous strains of 

 Italians to help combat this terrible disease. 

 Verily, the thing that would safeguard the 

 public becomes a menace. It is time that 

 the beekeepers of the country awake to the 

 folly of carrying things too far. 



But perhaps some will object by sa^'ing 

 that we have no proof that disease cannot 

 be carried in pound-package form. Some 

 twenty years ago we repeatedly shook out 

 bees from diseased colonies to clear them of 

 American foul brood. We did not call it 

 American foul brood then, because only one 

 kind of foul brood was known. These bees 

 were held in wire jDackages for twenty-four 

 hours, then given to clean hives on new 

 combs. We never once had a case of bee 

 disease develop in this way. The veiy es- 

 sence of the treatment by the Quinby, Mc- 

 Evoy, or Jones plan is to shake the bees 

 from diseased combs and put them into 

 clean quarters. When one receives a ship- 

 ment of bees without combs the Quinby 

 treatment is automatically put into force. 



Objection may be raised that disease 

 might be carried in qaeen-cage candy, but 

 not more than can be carried by queen-bees 

 in a mailing-cage. While there is danger, 

 the modern queen-breeder today, we be- 

 lieve, is exercising every precaution in that 

 he boils the honey or uses invert sugar in 

 making his candy. 



Perhaps it may be said that we are inter- 

 ested in the pound-package business. Ad- 

 mitting this, our interests are infinitesimal 

 as compared with those of the great public 

 at large, who ought to have the privilege 

 of doing an interstate bu.siness in the trans- 

 mission of bees and queens under certain 

 regiilations. 



The gTcat bulk of bee diseases is carried 

 by broken and smcarcd-up sections thrown 

 out in the back yard. In the same way 

 extracted-honey packages are sometimes 

 thrown indiscriminately where local bees 

 can get the honey smeared on the inside. 

 The modern glass packages, however, used 

 by the bottling trade, are usually of a type 

 that is useful in the household, and will 

 not, therefore, be thrown away. They will 

 be washed, and the rinsings go into the 

 sewers. The packages can then be used 

 again for the storage of jelly or canned 

 fruit. 



After all, the great danger resides in the 

 comb-honey packages. If we are going to 

 debar the shipment of bees in any fonn, we 

 might better bar the shipment of comb hon- 

 ey from one state to another or in any state. 



