SHIPPING QUEENS. 811 



The shipping boxes in which bees are usually sent from 

 Italy, are about three inches deep, by three inches in width, 

 and four inches in length, with two small frames of comb, 

 one with thick sugar syrup, the other dry. From fifty to 

 seventj--five bees axe put with one queen in each box. Air 

 holes are cut into the sides of the boxes, and these are fas- 

 tened together in a pyramidal shape, with an outer covering 

 of tin, to which is fastened the handle. Queens thus put 

 up, have reached us after thirty-six days of confinement with 

 very little loss, and it is in this way that the greatest num- 

 ber of imported queens are received. 



The usual transit from Italy to New York, takes from ten 

 to fourteen days. If the importer receives his bees, through 

 a custom-house broker, they will not be delayed in the cus- 

 tom-house, but, if this precaution is neglected, the bees may 

 be held at the custom-house for clearance, and the poor 

 insects will die, martyrs to the protection (?) of the coun- 

 try's interests. 



697. We might mention in connection with this, an oft- 

 repeated incident, so touching and sweet, as to seem more 

 like a romancer's fable, or a poetic idyl, than a mere fact. 

 On receiving the boxes containing Italian queens, we noticed 

 that frequently all the bees shipped with the queen had 

 died, she being the only one alive in her prison. We after- 

 ward found out that the faithful little subjects had denied 

 themselves nourishment, and starved to death, sacrificing 

 themselves, that their queen might not be deprived of food. 



Mailing Queens. 



598. To Mr. Frank Benton is due the credit of first 

 maihng queens safely across the ocean, but the mailing of 

 them, with more or less success on the American continent, 

 has been practiced for years. Messrs. J. H. Townley and 

 H. Alley, appear to have been the first to succeed, as early 

 as 1868. 



