312 SHIPPING AND TRANSPORTING BEES. 
The methods have been so far improved, that our friend 
Mr. Paul Viallon, a practical queen-breeder of Louisiana, 
sent us 150 queens in the season of 1885, by mail, with the 
loss of only three or four. The cages he used were the Peet 
Fig. 100. 
THE BENTON CAGE. 
(From the ‘‘ Revue Internationale.’’ ) 
cages. Yet the mails are so roughly handled generally, 
that we would not advise the sending of valuable queens in 
this way. 
The food given is the Scholz candy (613) made of 
powdered sugar and honey kneaded together. A sufficient 
number of bees must be put with the queen to keep her 
warm, but not enough to crowd the cage—six to ten bees 
are sufficient, in Summer. 
599. Of late years, at the suggestion of friend Root, the 
shipping of bees by the pound instead of in colonies, has 
been practiced, for the purpose of stocking Apiaries. Since 
the invention of comb foundation, a hive may be supplied 
with comb of the best quality, at comparatively small cost, 
and a choice queen, with a pound or two of bees, can build 
up a very fair colony, if purchased at the beginning of the 
clover harvest and properly cared for. They are shipped 
in wire-cloth cages (fig. 101) and fed with Scholz candy for 
the trip. 
