180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



In landing queens alive by post In America. You 

 deserve to succeed, after so much trouble and ex- 

 pense." 



The first queen-bee I attempted to send by mail on 

 such a lonpr sea-voyage went from Cyprus to London 

 (nearly 3000 miles) in June, 1880; and by reference to 

 the Britiish Bee Journal for July of that year there 

 will be found, as above stated, an illustration of the 

 cage then used, and a report by Mr. C. N. Abbott, the 

 editor, to whom the box was addressed. He wrote: 

 "Although buried in the hold of the ship for ten 

 days, under tons of mail matter, the queen and her 

 retinue arrived at our office as fresh and lively as 

 might be wished, but one worker being dead, and 

 not a specK In the box to suggest dysentery or dis- 

 ease." The same season I sent queens by mail from 

 Cyprus to Germany, which takes even longer. Dur- 

 ing 1881, further experiments were tried, also with 

 good success. Again in 1882, from Beyrout, Syria, 

 larger numbers of queens were sent to various coun- 

 tries of Europe, and the success of sending by mail 

 on such long sea-voyages further demonstrated. No 

 other person has aided me so much in determining 

 the conditions necessary to success, the exact causes 

 in the case of failure, etc , nor given me as many 

 valuable suggestions in regard to this matter, as the 

 Sheffield gentleman whose name I have already men- 

 tioned, Mr. John Hewitt. Had others given as 

 prompt, exact, and full reports regarding queens 

 mailed to them, I would have been much less time 

 determining upon the best method of packing. In 

 reporting in regard to a certain queen I sent him by 

 mail from Beyrout to Sheffield he said: "When I 

 opened the box the queen and most of the workers 

 took wing, and the former circled about fully five 

 minutes before resting. I do not partake of your 

 fears, that queens will be injured by such long con- 

 finementon a journey by post." At that date I even 

 began to believe I could send them by mail from 

 Beyrout to America, with no interruption on 

 the way. In this opinion I was encouraged by 

 Mr. Alfred Neighbour, of London, who had already 

 received a large number by mail from me. Accord- 

 ingly a number of packets were mniled by French 

 post in Beyrout, marked "Via Havre." I hoped 

 they would escape touching England. But every 

 one of these experimental packets was unfortunate- 

 ly sent to England (with some forty others which 

 were addressed to Mr. Neighbour), and thence re- 

 turned to me in Beyrout. It seemed strange to me, 

 considering that, in some respects, the juurney from 

 Syria to England is a more difficult one than that 

 across the Atlantic, no one in America seemed 

 to think the latter could be accomplished. I am 

 well aware the plan has been mentioned in the bee- 

 journals on several different occasions — that both 

 Mr. A. I. Root and Mr. A. J. King have come for- 

 ward in their i-espective bee-journals with a plan 

 each, whereby they felt almost sure of getting 

 queens across the Atlantic by mail in safety. But 

 what's the reason we have never heard further, so 

 much even as a report of an actual trial of their 

 proposed plans? I have had queens that were 18 

 days, and even 19 days, by mail from Syria arrive in 

 fine oJtJer.' If, after working hard for more than 

 three years on this problem — trying to determine 

 upon those conditions which would give the smallest 

 percentage of losses in sending by mail on long sea- 

 voyageH, I have succeeded thus well, I beg leave 

 mtidestly to agree with friend Hewitt, *'thatlde- 

 aei-ve success." 



This year the first queen which T tried to get across 

 the Atlantic by mail was sent to Mr. A. J. King, N. Y. 

 City, on the 31st of May: a second followed June 6th, 

 and a third one was sent June 9th, all imported Car- 

 niolans. Mr. King reported these bees all dead, but 

 failed to explain satisfactorily the cau=e. He also 

 wrote: "I don't think you can make a success of 

 mailing queens from there." But I had no notion 

 of being so easily persuaded into giving up the plan. 

 I hnd hitherto used a simple strip of wood contain- 

 ing three holes opening into i aeh other. In oneend 

 candy was placed, while the opposite end heli a wa- 

 ter-bottle, and the bees were in the middle space, a 

 few air-holes having been made in the sides. In 1880 

 I used glass water-bottles with a wick; afterward I 

 substituted tin bottles with a pin-hole; then at the 

 suggestion of Mr. Hewett. of Sheffield, I coated the 

 pin-holes with snlder to prevent their closing with 

 rust. Wire cloth and a car.1 confined the bees and 

 covered them from view. Sugar made into white 

 candy was the food T used. For a time I tried cream 

 of tartar to keep it from graining, but found this 

 very detrimental. ITie sugar, if pure and properly 

 "sugared off," becomes a soft candy, upon which 

 the bees can ordinarily subsist for some time with- 

 out water. In August the idea came to me of put- 

 ting the food, to keep it soft and moist, into small 

 tin boxes closed at the ends, and furnished with 

 small openings on the sides, and cages to hold two 

 such food-bottles as well as two water-bottles were 

 constructed in accordance with a model, nearly 

 square in form, furnished by Mr. Hewitt, and in this 

 cage I have succeeded in sending by mail a consider- 

 able number of queens alive to America. A few 

 weeks later, however, I perfected a cage in the form 

 of that I Brst used in Cyprus and Syria, which, with 

 two excellent points suggested by my ingenious 

 English friend, Mr. Hewitt, I pronounce far ahead 

 of any of my former efforts. I mailed to this srentle- 

 man in one of the newest cages a young Cyprian 

 queen raised in my apiary here, and received from 

 him a letter, from which the following is an extract: 

 "The Cyprian queen came safe to hand on the 24th. 

 I mu-.t consrratulate you on the improved cage. I 

 consider it far better than my square one. It seema 

 to answer every purpose, and I have nothing but ad- 

 miration for it." Having some fifty of the square 

 cages — the Hewitt form — on hand, I concluded to 

 use those up be ore having a great number of the 

 later pattern made, and it may be of Interest to hear 

 some of the reports from them. I select the follow- 

 ing: 



Dkcatur. III., Aug. 27. 



Dear Sir:- One queen reached me to-day in most 

 excellent order. I am quite sure that one bottle of 

 water and sug-ar would be ennusfh. There was but 

 one dead bee in the case. The others were as livel.v 

 as though just taken frum the hive. I hope the 

 others will come soon and in as good condition. 



E. A. GaStman. 



This queen, an Italian, was mailed here Aug. 13th. 

 One mailed on the same day to Pennsylvania, 

 brought the following : 



COATESVILLE, Pa.. AUiT. 38. 1883. 



One cage arrived yesterday, " Italian No. 3." Bees 

 allalive but one. 'worker, and in good condition. After- 

 noon mail, " No. 2" arrived. Bees all dead hut one 

 worker. Both cages and supplies in good condition. 

 No. 1 came via Havre, other two via Bremen. 

 Looking for others by every mail. Geo. H. Rkes. 



No. 2 above referred to was mailed on the 10th of 

 August, three days before No. 3. 



Mazkppa, Minn., Sept. 21. 



The Italian queen you sent by mail Sept. 3J cam© 

 to bund Sept. 18ih, ail ri^bt; 14 or 15 live bees la the 



