THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



511 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Sending ftueens by Mail. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Having had considerable experience 

 this season in sending queens by mail, 

 as I have sent ont several hundred 

 without loss (with a single exception, 

 and that being chargable to an accident 

 occurring before the queen left my 

 place), I thought perhaps the readers 

 of the Bee .Journai, might be inter- 

 ested In a description of the cages 

 used, and the mode of making the 

 food for the bees during tiie journey. 



The cage is a block of soft wood, 

 either pine or basswood, three inches 

 long by two wide by IJ4' thick ; 5-16 of 

 an inch from one end is bored a '}£ 

 inch hole, going nearly through the 

 block the iJ-inch way, and 5-16 of an 

 incli from the other end is bored a 13>3 

 incli hole, going nearly through the 

 block the \}i way, which brings the 

 two holes within 1-16 of an inch of 

 eaciL otiier. By having the holes run 

 through tlie block from two different 

 sides, the block has more strength 

 than it otherwise would, and it also 

 gives room tor nearly double the teed 

 in the J^ inch hole, which could be got 

 in a hole running the same way as the 

 IJ2 inch hole does. 



Into the JJy! inch hole is poured melt- 

 ed beeswax, so as to coat the wood 

 with wax, and thus prevent the 

 moisture being absorbed from the 

 candy. After being waxed, a % inch 

 hole is cut so as to join the two auger 

 holes, for a passage-way for the bees 

 to their food, which is to be placed in 

 the ^ inch hole. After the food is 

 in the hole, a cork made of iiiiie % 

 inch in diameter by }4 thick. fv;i by a 

 punch which can be purchas d .a any 

 gun store, is driven in, afitr being 

 previously dipped in melted wax. 

 Thus we have, as it were, a minature 

 barrel, full of food, and the bees are 

 admitted thereto through the bung 

 hole. The wax -coating allows no 

 moisture to escape, and the form of 

 the hole and the way the bees are ad- 

 milted, keeps the food in place, so 

 that it cannot possibly get loose and 

 kill the bees. Over the' It^a inch hole 

 is placed a 1>8 inch square piece of 

 wire cloth, wliicli is nailed down after 

 the queen and bees are in. Next, a 

 piece of a section honey box, 3 inches 

 long, by 2 wide, by 3-16 thick (having 

 for ventilation a j4 inch hole bored in 

 it so as to come directly over the 1% 

 inch hole), is nailed over the side of 

 the Ijlock having the wire cloth on it, 

 and we have oui- cage completed. 



The candy is very easily made, and 

 will keep moist and in good condition 

 in the above described cage, forayear 

 at least. Take about 2 lbs. of pulver- 

 ized sugar, which can be obtained at 

 any grocery story, and put it into an 

 ordinary tin pan ; make a little hollow 

 in the sugar and put therein 3 table- 

 spooutuls of good, clover or basswood 



honey. Now mix with the spoon till 

 it gets quite thick, when tlie spoon is 

 laid aside and the batter is kneaded, 

 as a woman would knead dough for 

 bread. This kne;iding is kept up till 

 you can roll the candy in your bands, 

 as boys roll snowballs. When it is so 

 hard that it will retain its round shape 

 when placed on a flat surface, except 

 to flatten somewhat on the underside, 

 it is ready for use. 



To put it in the hole in the cage, get 

 a stick ?/8 in diameter, and pound it in 

 (keeping your finger over the feed 

 hole), till the barrel is full, lacking ^s 

 inch. Now drive in your waxed pine 

 cork, and you have it secure. In 

 driving in the cork, I generally use a 

 clamp on the cage to prevent the split- 

 ting of it, as the wax on the cork and 

 that on the hole makes it go in rather 

 snug, as it should do. 



With this food and the cages above 

 described, I have sent queens safely 

 to Texas, California and Oregon, as 

 well as to nearly all the other states 

 in the United States. The postage 

 required is but 2 cents. 



Sometime last February, Mr. Cam- 

 eron, of Scotland, wrote me to send 

 him one of my best queens by mail, if 

 1 was willing to try the experiment, 

 sometime during the summer. I re- 

 plied that I would do so, although I 

 had little faith that I could get a 

 queen to him by mail alive. Accord- 

 ingly, on Aug. i, I made a cage twice 

 as long as the one described above, 

 of a block 2 inches square. Instead of 

 using a ?4 inch feed hole as in the 

 above cage, I used two 1 inch in diam- 

 eter (one at each end) and bored two 

 1}4 inch holes in the center so they 

 cut together, which gave a larger bee 

 apartment. This cage gave room for 

 nearly four times as much candy as 

 the other, so I placed with the queen 

 2.5 worker bees as attendants, instead 

 of 10, as I usually do in the other 

 cages. I 



The bees and queen were placed in 

 the cage at 11 a. m., Aug. 1, and the 

 cage placed, wire cloth down, on two 

 ijj strips, being thus left till the next 

 morning, so iluit the queen could rid 

 herself of eag^^. tnd the workers clean 

 out the cage of anything therein 

 which tliey may dislike. 



In selecting bees to send with a 

 queen, 1 take those as near to 6 or 8 

 il,iys uld as I can, and catch them as 

 ttiev are tilling themselves with honey, 

 waiting till they have their honey sacs 

 nearly full. Having tried bees of 

 various ages together with those whicli 

 liave not filled themselves with honey, 

 I find that such bees give the best 

 result. 



But to return : At 6 a. m., Aug. 2, 

 I nailed the cover over the face of the 

 cage, wrapped it up in strong manilla 

 paper, except the two % holes (one 

 over each of the IJ.^ incli holes), tied 

 it up with good strong twine, and tied 

 thereto a tag bearing the address. As 

 queens are not supposed to go in the 

 foreign mails, I took the precaution to 

 register the package, so as to be sure it 

 should be forwarded after it left the 

 confines of the U. S. At 7 a. m., her 

 majesty started for her home in the 

 old world. On the evening of Sept. 4, 

 I received the following letter : 



Blair Athole, Scotland, Aug. 18, 

 1883.— "Y(ui have done it, my friend; 

 you have done it ! Shortly after 8, on 

 the morning of the IBih inst., I re- 

 ceived the package containing the 

 queen bee. You may be sure I very 

 quickly peered inside, and as quickly 

 had the satisfaction of seeing probably 

 the first ' live queen that ever crossed 

 the Atlantic' I delayed as little as 

 possible before I opened the cage or 

 royal palace, for such it seemed to be 

 — clean, sweet, and in perfect order. 

 On opening, I found the queen in 

 splendid trim, and so was her attend- 

 ant bees. Two only of the bees were 

 dead. Tlie candy was not half eaten, 

 and it had kept its place in the cage. 

 No spots of dysentery ; in short, 

 everything was first-class. This morn- 

 ing, while I held the frame in my 

 hand, I saw her depositeggs. Success 

 to her. With kindest regards and 

 many thanks for sending her majesty, 

 I am yours, etc., 



Angus Cameron." 



I have given the above with the 

 hope that the plan may be so improved 

 upon, and our postal laws so arranged, 

 that the time will not be far distant 

 when we can receive queens from 

 Italy through the mails, and thus save 

 the heavy expense now attending the 

 importation of queens from that and 

 other foreign countries. I firmly be- 

 lieve that queens can be so put up that 

 they will stand a month's journey in 

 the mails, and perhaps longer. 



For 3 years past I have sent many 

 queens to Canada by mail, and since 

 the first year I have had no more 

 trouble with their going safely, than 

 in the U. S. I see by a late Bee 

 .Journal that the Supe'rintendent of 

 the Foreign Mails gives notice that 

 it is not lawful to send queens by mail 

 to Canada. This could have been 

 known by any person having access 

 to tlic Postal Guide, without appealing 

 to the Superintendent. The Postal 

 (iiiide distinctly states that samples 

 niih/ of merchandise are mailed at 10 

 ceiits postage for every 8 oz., or less; 

 ii.-iice the sending of merchandise of 

 every kind to Canada, by mail, is 

 Illegal. 



llowever, all are aware that custom 

 often has more weight upon the 

 minds of the people than does certain 

 laws. For instance, we have a law 

 against working on the Sabbath, yet 

 liow many go into the field and labor 

 regardless of the law. So of our laws 

 against adulteration, we can say to 

 our sorrow that customs are stronger 

 than the law. In the time of slavery, 

 custom said the law allowing the mas- 

 ter to capture the slave, when he had 

 escaped, was not a righte(Mis law, and 

 many a bold man helped the slave to 

 escape. So it seems to have become a 

 custom with the most of the post- 

 masters in the United States and 

 Canada to look upon queens as mail- 

 able between the two countries. 



The first vear I mailed queens to 

 Caui^la, I los't several by their being 

 held by po.stmasters in Canada. 

 Finally, Mr. Williams, of Nixon, Out., 

 wrote 'me if I would put on the cage, 

 " Queen bee for the improvement of 

 stock," that there would be no trouble 

 regarding their safe delivery. Since 



