1878 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CTLTURE. 



nice queen cells just hatching, and they 

 must \n\t the queens somewhere, and they 

 thouglit I certainly could get along with 

 just a few more. 



One "evening toward the first of xVugust, 

 our friend Charlie came in with another 

 great bundle of queen cages, and, as I 

 ihought of the queens spread all aroimd in 

 the honey liouse with every thing that we 

 coukUhink of given them, just to make them 

 hold on to life a little longer, I am afraid I 

 got into one of my ugly* moods. It is noth- 

 ing very strange, for I "do have such moods, 

 and am afraid I always shall, now and then. 

 Said a bad "impulse", 



''Of course that fellow had received your 

 postal card, and knew better than U> send 

 you those queens. I would send 'em right 

 back, and let him bear the expense, to see 

 how he likes it.'' 



But a better impulse said, "Steady, my 

 boy ; you are perhaps better able to take 

 the shock of this event than many of your 

 pui)ils, and yt)u liave no right to assume that 

 they had received your notice. You have 

 often said calamities were sent on purpose 

 to teach us useful lessons. Had you not bet- 

 ter brighten up and grasp the situation 

 squarely, and see what the lesson is that is 

 to be learned!:"' 



As I mused, I got into a better mood, and 

 went lip stairs around into the wax room. 

 The hands were all gone for the night, and 

 it was still and quiet. I remembered how 

 Mueller had asked God for everything he 

 needed for his work among the people, and 

 it occurred to me, that it could not be a 

 wrong act to kneel down there, and ask my 

 Heavenly Father to help me to be a better 

 friend to those who entrusted their queens 

 to me, and to ask him to tell me what to do 

 with them, not only for my sake, but for the 

 sake of all these "bee friends all over the 

 land. I did so, and after that I never bor- 

 rowed any more trouble, as to what I should 

 do with the queens. I did not know at once 

 what was to be done, but I felt as if some 

 "old liand''' was going to tell me just what 

 to do, and so I looked cheerful. 



I suppose I began to give the matter earn- 

 est study, but it seems as if some one talked 

 to me, something as follows: The queen 

 and bees, to stand long confinement in 

 small quarters, must have clean, pure, 

 fresh food. The honey that is used to 

 soak the sponges often acquires a musty 

 or sour smell during warm weather, and 

 the bodies of the bees that come the 

 longest journeys are often much distend- 

 ed, especially, after they begin to die badly. 

 The candy made with floiu" answers nicely 

 when first made, but, after it gets dry and 

 hard, the bees have nothing wherewith to 

 moisten it, and so they die, as you have so 

 often seen. Cages prepared with fresh can- 

 dy every day you send out bees might do, 

 but this would be well nigh impracticable ; 

 for the cages could not well be used again, 

 and those kept in stock or sold would en- 

 danger the lives of the queens, imless tliey 

 were used at once. Honey mixed with the 

 candy, althoiigli it answers well for short 

 voyages, will never do for California and 

 Texas, and tlie bees fed with it often have 



j distended bodies, even when sent but short 

 I distances. Hayhurst's queens seem bright- 

 est and most natural, and his cages are prob- 

 I ably filled a few at a time, and just before 

 I they are sent off. The experiments made 

 with coffee or loaf sugar, years ago when 

 the dysentery prevailed, seemed to indicate 

 that it is a sure remedy for the distended 

 ^ bodies, and that, as a diet, it is more wliole- 

 ; some than honey. How shall we keep the 

 candy from getting dry? Wetting it, just 

 i before being sent out, often daubs the bees, 

 ahd answers for but a short time, even then. 

 { Putting in a sponge filled with water does 

 ' better, but that will get dry and hard, even 

 while coming from tlie Southern states, to 

 say nothing of crossing the great dry des- 

 serts on tiie way to California. Some plan 

 to enable the bees themselves to mix the 

 sugar and water daily, just as they need it, 

 is what is wanted; can this be doneV My 

 mind wandered on" a glass honeycomb; but 

 the motion of the ears would shake the wat- 

 er all out. I thought of a large glass bead,; 

 with the water held in by capillary attrac- 

 tion ; and, finally, I went into the drug store 

 and asked for some very small vials. They 

 were' out of half dram, but had dram 

 vials. I thought these too large, but finally 

 took some, and soon had one filled with wat- 

 er with a groove cut in one side of the cork, 

 that would just let a bee get his tongue in. 

 It A\as placed over a 10c candy cage, as 

 shown in the right hand cut below. 



THE "■BOTTL.E" queen CAGE. 



As soon as I got it nicely fixed, a friend 

 sent three hybrids by mail. Although they 

 had had a long journey, and one bee was 

 dead already, they were given a bottle each 

 and i>l;iced back of the type writer. They 

 found the orifice in tlie cork, almost at once, 

 and were very soon scampering about in the 

 cage as lively as could be. They have been 

 now caged in the same way, 10 days, and 

 are as brisk and lively as oiie could desire. 

 After it was settled "that water and candy 

 was all tliey needed (and I was surprised to 

 find that a dozen bees would consume a 

 dram of water in about 10 days), the 

 problem was how to fasten the bottle in the 

 cage for shipment, so that it could never 

 shake loose, and yet so tliat it could be taken 

 out to be filled. Our friend. A^'i^. who 

 handles the queens, solved this problem, by 

 pushing a pin through the end of the cage, 

 and through the cork of the bottle, as seen 



