118 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Mr. Pyles — I don't know that it 

 would, be necessary to make a motion 

 to instruct the committee to draft a 

 resolution. 



Pres. Huffman — If the committee see 

 fit to do that I think it would be in 

 order. 



Pres. Huffman — We all recognize the 

 fact, and know, w^hat Mr. France has 

 been to the toee-keepers of the United 

 States. 



Mr. Dadant — I do not believe that 

 very many people even in the National 

 Association know Mr. France intimately 

 and know how miuch he has done for 

 the Bee-Keepers' Association, free, that 

 is, without a cent of remuneration or 

 recompense, when he was General 

 Manager of the National Association — 

 if there was not money enough for his 

 salary, he has gone without a salary, 

 and has dug down in his own pocket to 

 pay for a report and for other things 

 when he did not know where the money 

 would come from; and I tell you you 

 do not find many people that are built 

 that way, and he deserves more credit 

 than any man I know of. 



Pres. Huffman^ — I know Mr. France 

 personally; have known him for years, 

 and he is a near friend of mine. I ask 

 the committee to w^rite up the resolu- 

 tion, as they expressed it, in regard to 

 that proposition, and hand it in to Mr. 

 Dadant. 



Shipping Bees in Carload Lots. 



"How to ship bees in carload lots?" 



Pres. Huffman — Has any one had any 

 experience? 



We ought to have Mr. AUers here 

 to tell that. We have a man here who 

 has been doing the same thing, they 

 tell me, so let us hear from them. 



Mr. Pyles — I never ship any bees in 

 carload lots, but this question is easily 

 answered, without having had any ex- 

 perience whatever; just answer the 

 question as it is asked — 'How to ship 

 them? Ship them by freight of course; 

 that is the only way to ship in car- 

 load lots. The question does ask any- 

 thing about the preparation. 



Mr. Dadant — The person who handed 

 in that question might suggest what is 

 desired to be known about shipping 

 bees in carload lots. 



Mr. Simmons — The idea was — the 

 preparation, of course; the shipping 

 part is of course understood; the only 

 •way to ship is by freight; the question 

 has reference to the preparation of the 



honey for shipment, and how to pro- 

 ceed along the route. 



Mr. 'Cavanagh — I see several looking 

 at me. I sprung a proposition to the 

 Root Company three years ago: It 

 was to migrate between the North and 

 the South at the end of the fall flow 

 here; drive the bees from their combs 

 into a cage which was so constructed 

 that the bees could cluster throughout 

 the cage and be supplied during the 

 journey with food and w^ater; and my 

 proposition was to make the cage com- 

 pletely surrounded by wire cloth, so 

 that there would be free ventilation; 

 put from about 4 to 6 hundred cages 

 in a refrigerator car, well supplied 

 with water and feed; shoot them 

 through on fast freight The cage was 

 to be constructed the same as a hive 

 so that when we put the bees in the 

 cage we smoked the bees down into 

 it, and on reaching its destination re- 

 move the cover from the cage, and 

 place an empty set of combs above. 

 This would necessitate having oile set 

 of combs in the North and another set 

 of combs in the South, andi in the 

 South where thenioths are bad would 

 necessitate keeping some bees' the 

 year round as a protection to the 

 combs. 



This great scheme was to secure the 

 Tupelo flow in the South from Florida, 

 or other fllowering plants in Texas, or 

 wherever the bees were temporarily 

 located, and returned the bees to the 

 North again in time to catch the 

 clover. It would be one continual 

 round of pleasure for the bees. The 

 idea was to work in summer and 

 winter and keep the bees busy all the 

 time, so that in the fall of the year 

 when we shipped the bees South, we 

 would have a full strong hive of young 

 bees in the very best possible condi- 

 tion to put to work, and' we could 

 divide the swarms in the South and 

 work to increase, or any other way 

 you took a notion. That is a theoreti- 

 cal stunt. The Root people have been 

 snipping bees around the past summer 

 and taking this up in a practical way, 

 and trying it out and meeting with 

 considerable success. They have 

 shipped 5 colonies of bees in cages 

 and have had them come through in 

 good condition ; demonstrating the fact 

 that shipping bees, any time, same as 

 we shipped horses. 



The great objection is the hard work 

 attached to it and having to run two 



