ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



117 



honey; averaged about 60 pounds per 

 colony extracted honey. 



In Louisiana one season we loaded 

 1,100 colonies on barges, and then 

 three or four seasons we shipped bs"^ 

 rail, two and four and six carloads at 

 a time. Mr. Baldridge has had some 

 experience in that. We shipped them 

 through in stock cars. The freight at 

 that time to Chicago was $110.00 per 

 car. 



We put 300 colonies in a car and 

 shipped some to Libertyville, some to 

 St. Charles, some to St. Louis, Chicago, 

 Kansas City, Mo. They all as a rule 

 went through in good condition, but 

 they were well ventilated. We shipped 

 them south in November, and shipped 

 them north the latter part of April 

 after the honey season was over. 



W^e bought twelve or fourteen hun- 

 dred colonies of bees down there from 

 the natives for $1.00 apiece and trans- 

 ferred them and put them into mov- 

 able frame hives. 



Mr. Baldridge has had some experi- 

 ence down there and up here in the 

 same line of business. 



Mr. Baldridge — I wish to state to the 

 audience that Mr. Bradley is the man 

 who had charge of the bees on the 



Mississippi River for Mr. . 



It had been well known that there 

 were bees shipped up and down the 

 river, but Mr. Bradley was the man in 

 charge and knows bees. 



Mr. Ahlers — I had the same man 

 with me that you had with you and 

 he is the man that left me when he 

 got homesick. 



Mr. Bradley — There is hardly a col- 

 ony of bees down there but that was 

 infected with foul brood the last year 

 I was there — there were hundreds of 

 colonies there. If is not safe to ship' 

 bees down there. 



Mr. Ahlers — There is not a case 

 within 200 miles of there that I know 

 of now or anywhere in that part of 

 Louisiana. 



Mr. Braldey — Mr. Baldridge knows 

 of an apiary at Materia Lodge, near 

 Louisiana, where nearly every hive per- 

 ished from foul brood; and in New Or- 

 leans and all about the city they were 

 all infected with foul brood. I had a 

 good friend by the name of Collins who 

 lost all his bees. We had to get our 

 bees away from there. 



Mr. Ahlers — I would like to remark 

 that this whole story would make a 

 very interesting book, though it would 



not be very profitable for any one to 

 finance it through as a deal. 



Mr. Baldridge^I don't think there 

 are many who had experience shipping 

 bees from the south to the north or 

 vice versa that care about following 

 the bee business. 



Mr. Bradley — Our business was not 

 a profitable business in shipping bees 

 north and south. We had about 20,- 

 000. Our fuel hill from New Orleans 

 was $600, say nothing about the steam- 

 boat crew we had to keep. We only 

 got part way up with our colonies and 

 we had to put the bees on the boat and 

 take them that way, where we put 

 them ashore for the Spanish needle 

 harvest. Our destination was St. Paul 

 but we were too late for the season. 



Mr. Baldridge — Mr. Bradley had a 



good backer; Mr. was a 



rich man and could stand this. 



Pres. Kannenberg — Any more about 

 shipping bees? 



Mr. Dadant — I would like to hear 

 from Mr. Ahlers about his different 

 manner of shipping, by the pound, or 

 small nucleus, which one has given the 

 best satisfaction? 



Mr. Ahlers — I shipped about a thou- 

 sand dollars -worth last spring from 

 Jonesville, Louisiana. The charges are 

 reasonable now and if any one wants 

 bees I believe that is the right way of 

 getting bees from the south in the 

 spring. A three frame nucleus that 

 will get here or to West Bend. 

 Wisconsin, by the loth of May w^ill 

 build up to three or four store colony. 

 I really believe the three frame nuclei 

 are the most profitable for any one — 

 clover honey, but if Spanish needle or 

 sweet clover is wanted I would say 

 two frame nuclei. I was selling my 

 nuclei too cheap for 2 lb. cages and 

 they didn't give satisfaction generally. 

 I mean to be pretty good to my cus- 

 tomers and I think I shipped too many 

 bees. 



Now by placing the combs with the 

 sealed brood on the upper story over 

 the excluder I managed to get all the 

 young bees in the upper story. It was 

 my idea to give people their money's 

 worth. These young bees are very 

 small when they are first hatched and 

 after they warm up there for a day or 

 two in the cage they seem to grow, and 

 will grow that cage full and smother 

 before they get to their destination, 

 and I have had some loss that way. 



