GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



830 



fining a queen to the upper or loAver liiye 

 the bees wiU gTadually work toward the 

 part containing a queen, but not until all 

 llie brood is hatched out. 



In cooler weather it is not necessary to 

 nse a newspaper, but unite direct and cage 

 the queen. 



In cold weather, there wdl seldom be any 

 fip-hting and not much trouble fi'om the bees 

 returning. The newspaper scheme, how- 

 ever, is iuuch preferable, but should be ap- 

 plied in September or August. If the 

 weather is at all warm it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to punch a hole thru the paper with a 

 pencil or else some bees may smother. 



November, 1911 



thru they are) either all dead or nearly all 

 alive, with their attendants. Tliis vvould 

 lead to the supposition that the last men- 

 tioned were not fumigated, wliile the others 

 were. 



We are writing to the Postoffice Depart- 

 ment to inquire whether all mail matter 

 for export is generally fumigated; and if 

 so, to what countries. 



SOME TEN YEARS ago we were able to 



deliver a much larger percentage of live 



queens to foreign 



QUEENS 



FOR 



EXPORT 



countries than we 

 have been able to do 

 in the last few years. 

 It was expected, of 



ooni-se, that when the great war was m 

 progress there would be considerable dith- 

 cullv in gettina- queens thru alive, and that 

 is precisely what did happen ; but even be- 

 fore tlie war began, queens were not going 

 thru to foreign countries as they had for- 

 merly do'ue. Part of this may have been due 

 to the fact that the Postoffice Department 

 requires the boiling of the honey that goes 

 into the queen-cage candy. Boiled honey is 

 not as good as unboiled ; however, we have 

 had praeticallv as good results with invert 

 sugar syrup as with raw honey for domestic 

 trade. But our deliveries have not been as 

 good for the export business. 



Mr. Isaac Hopkins, of the Neiv Zealand 

 ■ Bee journal, attributes the difficulty to mod- 

 em methods of grafting in queen-reanng. 

 But this cannot be the source of ihe trouble, 

 for precisely the same methods in rearing 

 queens were used ten yeare ago. 



Mr. A. Baratt, a correspondent of tlie 

 joiu-nal mentioned above, suggests that the 

 o-reater mortality is due to the queens being 

 bumped in the mail-sac-ks more severely on 

 account of the quicker ser\-ice. He also 

 suggests that the mail-bag's are now being 

 fumigated as they were not in eai-lier days. 

 It is"" our opinion that Mr. Baratt, aside 

 from the influences of the great war, has 

 suggested the two main causes for the great- 

 er ^mortality of queens for export. 



In reference to fumigation the question 

 might arise as to why some queens go thru 

 alive in a package while others are dead. 

 It is possible that some queens can stand 

 more than others; but it is rather signifi- 

 cant that when a package of queens goes 



3P 



THE READER'S attention is directed to 



the Demuth method of wintering refei-red 



to on page 842. We 



DEMUTH'S may add that the 



METHOD plan has been tested 



OF WIN- out in a limited 

 TEEING way, and found to 

 be good; but, as 

 stated in the article, we would not advise 

 any one to go further than to try out a few 

 as compared with other methods of winter- 

 ing. 



The sugg-estion has been made that, in- 

 stead of having the entrance of the inner 

 case so it will open up to the ends .of 

 the frames, the entrance slot should be 

 placed on the side in order to avoid a draft 

 thru the frames. We believe it is a good 

 idea, altho it would not permit of giving a 

 large amount of packing space all aixiund 

 the'']>acking-case as in the other way. 



It cannot be made too emphatic that in 

 i-educing from ten to six frames that the 

 combs on which the bees are to be wintered 

 should have sealed honey as well as some 

 pollen. Sealed sugar stores and a comb 

 of pollen may answer. 



OrR READERS will remember we have 

 always advised against doing tliis, as we 

 do not believe it is 

 SENDING practicable. A sam- 

 C021B i)le section of comb 



HONEY honey came to us 



BY MAIL this morning, Oct. 

 15, wliieh the send- 

 er desired us to pass on, as he wished to 

 know the quality and soiu'ce. Apparently 

 the outside of the package was all right; 

 but on opening it up there was a mess. The 

 section had been very carefully ^vrapped 

 in paraffine paper, and this paper was all 

 that prevented tlie honey from leaking into 

 the mail-bag. Around the paraffine paper 

 was a carton; around the carton several 

 folds of stout coiTugated paper ; and outside 

 of the whole there was wrapping papea- 

 folded and tied. In spite of all this pmtec- 



