THE AMERICAJM EEE JOURNAL. 



of flowers, yet I also believe thiit not 

 over one-half of the different species 

 of plants and trees require the aid of 

 the bee to fertilize their flowers, and 

 that only those which require the aid 

 of the bee secrete any honey ; hence 

 I said that it was not true that every 

 flower secreted honey. In this we see 

 the wisdom of - the Creator— bees 

 created to fertilize flowers which 

 could not be fertilized in any other 

 way, and honey placed in these flowers 

 to draw the bees to them. Thus we 

 have the clover among grasses secret- 

 ing honey, while the timothy, orchard, 

 red top and other grasses do not 

 secrete honey, for they are fertilized 

 by the " breeze." 



All the fault I have to find witli the 

 first author quoted, is that he repre- 

 sents that both the breeze and the 

 bees may be needed to fertilize the 

 same and all plants ; while I believe 

 that plants and trees which can be 

 fertilized by the breeze, do not need 

 the aid of the bees, and that those 

 requiring the aid of the bees cannot 

 be fertilized by all the breezes which 

 ever blew. To be sure, bees collect 

 pollen from many flowers which do 

 not require their aid, but, as I said 

 before, honey is only secreted by 

 those which do. Take the flower of 

 the squash for instance : Gregory, 

 who is certainly good authority, tails 

 us that squashes can only be fertilized 

 bo the aid of bees and insects, and 

 proving the same by giving experi- 

 ments tried where fine netting was 

 placed over the female flowers on 

 certain hills, when not one of the 

 flowers thus treated produced a 

 squash ; while other hills near them 

 gave a good crop. Any one, looking 

 at a squash flower, will at once cotue 

 to the conclusion that it is impossible 

 for the wind to carry the pollen from 

 one flower to another ; hence we find 

 it secreting honey to attract the bees. 



Prominent among this class of 

 flowers which needs the bee to fer- 

 tilize them, we have the clovers, 

 fruit-trees of all classes, basswood ov 

 linden, buckwheat, and fall flowers 

 generally. Of the class that does not 

 need the aid of the bee, I will men- 

 tion grasses of all kinds growing in 

 this locality (except the clover), grain 

 of all kinds (except the buckwheat), 

 and many of the trees in the forest, 

 such as beech, ash, elm, etc. With 

 the grain I would include corn. I 

 know that some writers tell us that 

 bees get honey from corn, but after a 

 careful watch for nearly a score of 

 years, I have failed to find a single 

 bee containing any honey in her 

 honey-sac while at work gather- 

 ing pollen from corn tassels. If 

 the stalks are bruised or cut in any 

 way, sometimes there is a sweet sub- 

 stance that exudes, which the bees 

 fet, but this cannot properly be called 

 he secretion of nectar. 



In the above I have given my views 

 regarding the matter, and stand ready 

 to be corrected by any who can show 

 that I am wrong. I am no botanist, 

 therefore I cannot give a scientific 

 article on this subject ; but if there 

 are any good botanists among the 

 readers of the American Bee .Jour- 

 nal, I, and I think that all of its 



readers, would be pleased to hear 

 from them on this subject. 

 Borodino,© N. Y. 



Rcitd at thL' Detroit Coiivpntlon. 



Selling anflSMpiiiiig Bees liytlie Pound, 



E. M. IIAYHURST. 



The possibility of shipping bees 

 without hives or combs, was first 

 brought to the attention of the bee- 

 keepers by an editorial in Gleanings 

 for May. 1879. In this editorial, Mr. 

 Root suggested the use, as a shipping- 

 cage, of a common dish-screen, pro- 

 vided with a wooden bottom and sup- 

 plied with candy and water. Soon 

 after reading this, I prepared a half- 

 pound of bees and a queen, as thus 

 suggested, and sent them to Mr. Jioot 

 as an experiment. They were re- 

 ceived without the loss of a single 

 bee. This settled the matter with 

 me, that bees could be sent safely in 

 this way, if all the conditions were 

 right. 



I sent a number of half and one- 

 pound packages that season, with 

 good success. The dish-screen was 

 soon abandoned for the much more 

 convenient section-box and wire-cloth 

 cage, as advised by Mr. Boot in Glean- 

 ings for June, 1S79. Here I would 

 like to call attention to the fact that 

 our common friend, Bro. Boot, is 

 father of this business, aird that 

 nearly every advancing step made by 

 his now healthy "youngster," has been 

 made at his suggestion. 



Without detailing to you the many 

 heavy losses and great discourage- 

 ments which I met with during the 

 following three years, and owing to 

 which I very nearly abandoned the 

 business as ruinous, I will state that 

 I now have the matter so well under 

 control that it is as safe and profitable 

 to me as any other department of bee- 

 keeping. 



I still use the well-known section- 

 cages, each being crated so as to 

 protect it somewhat from accidents. 

 When a number of packages are to 

 be sent to one address, several of 

 them are placed in one crate ; I have 

 sent as many as 25 one-pound pack- 

 ages in one crate, but generally I 

 divide large shipments into crates 

 containing 12 or 15 packages. These 

 crates are so arranged as to admit of 

 ample ventilation for each package of 

 bees. 



For feed, I use the " Good " candy, 

 made of the best pulverized sugar and 

 clover or basswood honey. This candy 

 enables us to dispense with the water 

 which was necessary with the can- 

 dies formerly used. When the bees 

 are not likely to be confined more 

 than 24 hours, no feed is really neces- 

 sary, although a little candy" is put 

 into all cages, to guard against pos- 

 sible delay's. The proportion used 

 for long distances is about 4 ounces 

 of candy per day for each pound of 

 bees. 



I now think that most of my heavy 

 losses in former years were due to 

 over-feeding, or "rather, to gorging 

 the bees with honey. I used to be so 

 afraid that they would starve in win- 



ter, that I would feed them all the 

 honey that they would take, after 

 they were caged; notwithstanding the 

 well known fact that bees when 

 gorged with sweets are much more 

 likely to become panic-stricken when 

 confined, and disgorging, smother 

 themselves. (Jn the other hand, I 

 now use every pi'ecaution possible to 

 prevent the bees from filling them- 

 selves while being caged. Bees caged 

 without a queen have this same 

 tendency to panics, and will often run 

 themselves to death ; hence I send no 

 more bees without queens. 



Next to over-feeding, perhaps the 

 greatest cause of losses is the ex- 

 posure of the bees to the hot. sunshine 

 by the caiTiers ; on this account I 

 place conspicuous cautionary cards 

 on each crate, calling attention to 

 this fact. I also send printed 

 " Directions " attached to each crate, 

 for the benefit of the purchasers, 

 many of whom are quite inexperienced 

 in handling bees ;' these are very 

 necessary, but do not always save the 

 bees. One friend wrote me this sea- 

 son that I had failed to put queens 

 into 4 or 5 packages sent him ; he said : 

 " I know this to be so, because all of 

 the bees clustered in one place." 

 Further correspondence developed the 

 fact that after preparing his five hives 

 as directed, he turned all the bees 

 loose at once by throwing them into 

 the open air, expecting each nucleus 

 with its appropriate queen to find the 

 hive intended for it ! Another friend 

 lost 3 out of 5 nuclei by turning them 

 into hives containing their full com- 

 plement of combs, smeared and be- 

 fouled by the bees that died during 

 the winter, and without giving them 

 any brood to care for. Only two of 

 the lot had grit enough to stay in their 

 new quarters and clean up. 



In regard to the profits to be derived 

 from the business : ' After an experi- 

 ence of seven years, I believe that 

 when we can retail extracted honey 

 at home for 8 or 10 cents per pound, 

 we cannot afford to retail our bees 

 for less than $3 per pound, in May, 

 and assume all the risks now required 

 of the shipper. Probably the persons 

 most benefited by the business, are 

 those who have trouble in introduc- 

 ing queens, and they are not few ; to 

 such it is certainly a very great ad- 

 vantage to buy a half-pound of bees 

 with each queen, so as to enable them 

 to obtain the improved kinds without 

 the risk of introducing. These little 

 nuclei can be made working colonies 

 at once, by giving them 2 or 3 combs 

 of brood and stores (without bees) 

 from other hives. By adding other 

 combs of brood as fast as the bees 

 can care for them, they can be quickly 

 built into full and profitable colonies ; 

 indeed 2 or 3 combs of brood and 

 stores, is help enough in ordinary 

 seasons, if the bees are purchased 

 early, and in extra good seasons a 

 half-pound of bees with a good queen 

 will often grow into a fine colony for 

 winter— a small beginning, but not 

 quite so helpless as the one made by 

 one of my neighbors. He sent to me 

 for an untested queen ; shortly after- 

 wards he called at my yard and com- 

 plained that the queen did not do 



