THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Ill 



HINTS TO COMPETITORS. 



Cyprian and Syrian bees will 

 stand a longer jonrney and better 

 than any others. I think bees ivith 

 queens will be more likely to, ar- 

 rive, in good order than those icith- 

 out queens. INIere death of a 

 queen need not necessarily' cause 

 the objection of a box, more will 

 depend on the condition of the 

 workers and the box. Such 

 packets are here classed as " sam- 

 ples " by the postal authorities, 

 and will be rejected by the latter 

 if over 8 i 

 2 in. high. 



From New York " via Bremen " 

 or '■'■ via Havre" are the only ad- 

 visable routes for unregistered 

 cages of bees ; '"• via Hamburg" 

 usuall}' takes longer. Letters 

 mailed east of the Mississippi 

 reacli us' in 12 to 20 days, usuaUij 

 about 14 to 16 days. I think 

 some of the fast mail steamers to 

 England would bring the time 

 down to 10 or 12 days from N. Y. 

 to Munich, but if sent by any 

 mail to England the cages should 

 be registered in order that English 

 post-office officials maj^ not have the 

 grim satisfaction of notifying me 

 that a packet addressed to me had 

 been detained in London and 

 would be delivered to me in person 

 at that office within two weeks, 

 which interesting trick tlie}' once 

 played on parties in America to 

 whom I had addressed packages of 

 bees ; also, these same officious 

 gentlemen are to be kept, through 

 the registering of the packets, 

 from arresting and returning the 

 latter, after five or six weeks, as 

 they once did over forty fine Syrian 

 queens I had mailed in Beyrout, 

 Sj-ria. Registered packets cannot 

 be stopped in England and no ad- 

 dition dare be made to the postage. 

 Since I learned this quirk I have 

 sent all queens to England by 

 mail without difficulty, and with- 

 out losses. Another point would 



be to ascertain the exact time of 

 sailing of the mail steamer from 

 New York and to mail queens just 

 in time to be sure and catch it. I 

 have no earthly use for the queens 

 I may get in this manner, so I can 

 pay nothing for them, and I would 

 advise all who try, to pick out the 

 blackest, runtiest, crossest hybrids 

 with as many lives as a Thomas 

 cat is said to have. Unfortunately, 

 old queens do not stand journey- 

 ing well, else they would be just the 

 '"critters" to use for such experi- 

 ments. (No disrespect toward 

 these estimable dames.) 



Now let's see how good the Good 

 candy is, or if there is any gooder 

 candy " wasting its sweetness," 

 etc. 



Yours, "with a beekeeper's 

 friendly greeting," as the German 

 bee-masters say to each other, 



FiiANK Benton. 

 Munich, Germany, Aug. 9, 1883. 



Editor of American Apiculturist : 



Dear Sir, 



The undersigned have formed a 

 copartnership under the firm name 

 of McCaul & Hildreth and will 

 carry on a general honey, beeswax, 

 maple sugar and maple syrup busi- 

 ness. There is no doubt the need 

 exists of a strictly distinctive busi- 

 ness of this kind, where products 

 can always be obtained and con- 

 signments made by producers to 

 best advantage. My long experi- 

 ence as manager of this department 

 for Messrs. H. K. & F. B. Thurber 

 & Co., and familiarity with the 

 honey trade, and connections with 

 all the principal beekeepers through- 

 out the country, enable me to 

 establish understandinglj' a honey 

 emporium where all the bee pro- 

 ducts can be handled to advantage. 

 I desire to thank my friends for 

 their confidence and patronage in 

 the past, and advise them of the 



