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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Sending ftueens by Mail. 



FRANK BENTON. 



The communication on tlie above 

 subject, on page 511 of the American 

 Bee Journal for Oct. 17, conveys 

 the idea that " the first live queen 

 that ever crossed the Atlantic " by 

 mail, was the one sent Aug. 2, by Mr. 

 G. M. Doolittle. The following is 

 verbatim from a letter in my posses- 

 sion. Xotice the date. 



" Beeton, July 6,1883.— Mk.Frank 

 Benton, Munich, Germany.— Dear 

 Sir : We received a queen from you 

 in a mailing-cage. Most of the bees 

 Were dead. I think there must have 

 been at least double as manv bees as 

 could get food and water. 'The live 

 ones were in fine condition . . .Too 

 many bees are worse than not having 

 enough. I have instructed the boys 

 to send you a cage of bees, and you 

 can report 



With kind regards to Mrs. Benton 

 and yourself. Yours very truly, 

 D. A. Jones." 



The queen above referred to was an 

 Imported Syrian, mailed here durhig 

 the month of June. She had pre- 

 viously stood a long journey by mail, 

 having been prepared according to my 

 instructions in Beyrout, Syria, and 

 had come via Alexandi-ia and Trieste 

 to Munich, a distance of about 2,-500 

 miles, part of which is in a sub-tropi- 

 cal cUmate, very trying to bees in 

 confinement. About 30 workers were 

 sent with the queen ; an experience of 

 several years ni sending queens by 

 mail on sea-voyages of 2,000 to 3,000 

 miles having convinced me that more 

 than 20 workers give better results 

 than a smaller number. 



The food was pure sugar candv. 

 Ihe water was in a tin bottle, having 

 a pm-hole, the latter made in the mid- 

 ale of solder to prevent its closing 

 With rust. The cage itself was a stri p 

 of pine .5>^ inches long, 1% wide, and 

 1/8 thick, containing three auger 

 holes 13-4 inches each in diameter, the 

 bottom of each being left about ig of 

 an inch thick. The middle hole. 

 Which contained the bees, had several 

 small air holes on each side. The 

 candy was in one end, and the water 

 Dottle 111 the other. A wire-cloth and 

 a card covered the open side. 



This cage was illustrated in the 

 iSntish Bee Journal for July 18.S0, and 

 a comparison shows that Mr. Doolit- 

 tle s cage does not differ in any es- 

 sential point, though he did not 

 Choose to supply water, and used a 

 oifterent kind of food. 



The queen I sent went from Bavaria 

 (after the long journey from the East) 

 to the western part of Canada, and 

 could not have been less than IG or 17 

 aays on the way. I had previously 

 sent queens by mail from Cvprus and 

 isyria to various parts of Europe, 

 some of which wcve even 1-t davs— the 

 tune Mr. Doolittle's was on the way 

 to Scotland— and since then I have a 

 good many letters from parties in the 

 LJnited States, telling me of the safe 

 ^^ival of queens that had been IS. and 



and others 19 days on the way by 

 mail ; one even that states a queen 

 which was 21 days on the way, " ar- 

 rived in fine condition, but two of the 

 workers dead." 



Thus it is seen that, so far as is now 

 known, the first queen that ever 

 crossed the Atlantic by mail alive did 

 not come from America to the Old 

 World, but went from this side of the 

 water, westward. I have spent too 

 much time, and lost too many queens 

 in testing this matter to resign 

 quietly the claim of having sent out 

 the first queen that ever crossed the 

 Atlantic alive by mail, though Mr. 

 Doolittle and Mr. Cameron doubtless 

 supposed, at the time they wrote, that 

 theirs was resdly the first'. 



Mmiich, Germany, Jfov. 8, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Cuba. 



a. w. osburn. 



As the sun was hiding itself behind 

 the far-off western horizon on the 18th 

 of last month, we dropped our anchor 

 in the snug little harbor at Havana, 

 and the staunch sea-craft, the steam- 

 ship Niagara was at rest. Night shut 

 down upon us, for the first time, in a 

 tropical country. 



We left New York on the 13th with 

 100 colonies of bees, with a complete 

 outfit to begin bee-keeping in Cuba. 

 J. and P. Casanova furnishing the 

 capital for the outfit, myself to furnish 

 what assistance I, could to place the 

 enterprise on a working basis, and it 

 is to be the first apiary established on 

 this island, managed after the modern 

 American style. 



Oiu' bees stood the voyage well, 

 although they were rolled and tumb- 

 led for five days and nights, and 

 many times had more than they 

 wanted of salt water, for they were 

 stored on the second deck, and when 

 the old ship could no longer stand 

 erect, she would lay over on her side 

 for a rest ; then the bees would be 

 compelled to take a bath whether 

 they wished it or not. 



On the 20th we arrived at this 

 place, and were able to release our 

 bees. All were alive but 3 colonies ; 

 ill three days more, five empty hives 

 were placed with the three first, mak- 

 ing 8 colonies dead, and 02 alive to 

 start off in this land where flowers 

 are so plenty, where the sunshine is 

 perpetual, and where the withering 

 blight of drouth never comes, or Jack 

 Frost makes his appearanpe. 



Although I have been here over a 

 mouth, I am not able to tell your 

 readers much about the honey flow, 

 only that from the moment the bees 

 were released, there has been no 

 dearth of honey, and, in fact, it would 

 seem there was too much honey, for 

 the bees are literary running the 

 queens out of the hives ; as fast as a 

 j'oung bee hatches, they fill the cell 

 with honey. I do not know that the 

 queens fully realize that in November 

 they are ex'pected to keep their hives 

 full of brood. But the bees are get- 

 ting sick of this kind of work, and are 

 superseding many of the queens. 



The old Cubians tell us that this 

 honey flow begins the first of this 

 month, and lasts until February or 

 the first of March (only think of the 

 best honey flow coming in winter and 

 lasting ail winter). To you, in the 

 North, it will seem like a dream, 

 when you are huddling around your 

 hard co'al stoves to keep warm, and 

 your bees are either chaff-packed out- 

 doors, or stowed away in some under- 

 ground cellar to keep them from 

 freezing, you can hardly realize that 

 here in Cuba we have our bees under 

 sheds to protect them from the sun. 

 and every evidence points towards 

 success for the busy little workers. 



I am not telling anything that in a 

 few months I shall have to take back. 

 There is one thing I will say, that 

 from what I have seen already, I 

 think the bee-keeper will never see 

 honey flow in Cuba as it flows in the 

 North and in California some times ; 

 but still it may. Since I have been 

 here, I think the bees have got the 

 most of the honey from the palm-tree, 

 and they tell us it is in bloom the 

 year around. But at this time they 

 say the " boss ■■ honey plant is open- 

 ing—that is what they call the bell- 

 flower. It yields honey (they say) in 

 great quantities, and of a rich and 

 delicious flavor. So far, the honey I 

 have tasted has been of fine quality, 

 but a little dark ; then, again, some of 

 it is white and clear, and to my taste 

 superior to white clover or basswood. 



You probably know the prejudice 

 there is in the Northern markets 

 against the honey that has formerly 

 been shipped from this country, and 

 no wonder, they keep their bees in 

 hollow logs, and when they wish to 

 take surplus, they take long knives 

 (the log is open at either end) and cut 

 the honey out — honey, brood, pollen 

 and all — then the honey is squeezed 

 out, and the remainder made into wax. 

 You can easily imagine how the 

 honey looks, and what the flavor 

 would be under such treatment. 



The native bee of Cuba is a Simon 

 pure black ; there is no German or 

 half-breed about them. But even 

 with the black bees, and their primi- 

 tive way of handling them, the time 

 was be'fore the war here in Cuba, 

 when they had lots of honey in this 

 primitive way, and it is reported that 

 in the lower end of the Island, one 

 man kept 20,000 colonies, and at the 

 commencement of the war, he sold 

 his bees for $200,000 in gold. I gave 

 you the above as it was repeated to 

 me, not vouching for its truth. But 

 it is not impossible, in a country 

 where you can breed bees at any time 

 of the year, and where there' is no 

 time that they do not get a good 

 living. 



During the winter mouths, they 

 tell me, that it is not uncommon for 

 them to take 1-5 gallons of honey 

 (which would be about ISO pounds) 

 every lo days. They " rob "' them, and, 

 of course, "the bees have new comb 

 to build every time. If they do that, 

 Cuba is not 'so slow a honey coimtry, 

 and what might we expect when 

 managed in the movable frame hives, 

 and the extractor used to throw the 

 honey out. 



