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 Feet 



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 suflBcient 

 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. 



699. 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 quahty, 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. 



