Mar. 24, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



and these conditions may produce or cause the foul brood, 

 or under these conditions pickled brood." 



Mr. France — I remember saying that the conditions that 

 would be produced by a larva in that condition would be a 

 proper medium, and would advance the growth probably of 

 foul brood. 



Pres. York — That's it. It would develop there, but of 

 course not unless the germs are there first. 



Dr. Miller— I think Mr. France has very distinctly said 

 that foul brood would not be started in any case without 

 the germs. 



Mr. Moore — Will Mr. France tell the convention how 

 foul brood does start, how near to the source, or what is 

 the source, if he has found it, or the original foul brood or 

 any case of foul brood? 



Mr. France — I. have got after that as close as I can. 

 I have gone back and read, two weeks ago, a German book on 

 foul brood that is 123 years old. I confess I don't know 

 what would originate foul brood. I can find where it was 

 first imported to America, and from Canada to the United 

 States, and from Italy to the United States, but what will 

 originate a case of it I don't know. 



A Member. — It is like the smallpo.x. We know we have 

 it, but we don't know where it originates. 



Mr. France — Yes, you might say it is like smallpox. We 

 know where probable conditions produce it. There is some 

 in Canada where we can't account for it. One year an apiary 

 was overflowed by the St. Lawrence River, and that drowned 

 the brood ; at least it appeared there, and it had never been 

 in that place before. 



j\Ir. Abbott — Might they not just as well ask you the 

 question if you knew where any of the microscopic germs 

 came from in the universe? 



Dr. Miller — What good would it do if you did know? 



Mr. France — In most of the cases, through his manage- 

 ment, the bee-keeper has gotten it into his yard. 



MOVING BEES IN HIVES WITH LOOSE FRAMES. 



"What is the best method of preparing loose frames for 

 moving?" 



Mr. Abbott — Fasten them. 



Pres. York — By what method? 



Mr. Abbott — The easiest method for me is to take a ham- 

 mer and some nails. I have moved many and shipped them 

 half way across the continent. 



Pres. York — That is the Missouri method. 



Mr. Wilcox — There are a great many methods of fixing 

 them. Let them alone six months before the time and they will 

 fasten themselves by brace-combs, and if moved a short dis- 

 tance they won't require any additional fastening. In other 

 cases I have found it very convenient to use end-bars of the 

 brood-frames, Just as we have the material for making brood- 

 frames, tack the ends and slip them down, and it just fits the 

 space. They are all wedged up fast together, and when you 

 are ready to open the hives just pull them out. It is easier 

 done, and cheaper, and it is perfectly safe. 



SHIPPING BEES BY LOCAL FREIGHT. 



Mr. Abbott — While this question is up I want to touch 

 on a thing right in that line. You know, Mr. York, that you 

 and I went before the classification committee and got them to 

 ship bees as local freight. I want to know if any of the 

 bee-keepers have been taking advantage of that? Is it gen- 

 erally known? I went to ship six colonies into Central Kan- 

 sas and the agent said, "You can't ship these less than car- 

 load lots." I said, "Yes, I can." He sent me to the fore- 

 man and he said : "You can't ship bee? that way. You ought 

 to know better than that." I said, "I ought to know bet- 

 ter, and I think you ought to, but you don't seem to know. 

 I was there when they admitted them into the classification, 

 and I am right sure it has not been taken out." He said, 

 "You can't ship them that way; you will have to take them 

 back and ship by express," I insisted upon his looking it up, 

 which he did, and he says, "Why, it is there." I said : "You 

 might have known it, or I wouldn't have told you." He 

 hadn't even noticed that. There hadn't been enough going 

 on there. I wonder if the bee-keepers generally know that 

 they can do that? They didn't down there. Those bees were 

 in St. Joe hives, and all he did was to nail the cover on. 

 and they went to Central Kansas perfectly safe. I think it 

 cost the purchaser about $2 for freight, and the express 

 charges would have been about $10.00. So you can see what 

 Mr. York did! 



Pres. York — How many have taken advantage of ship- 

 ping bees by local freight? 



Mr. Baldridge — Has it been printed, the classification 

 that they could ship by freight? Has it been printed in the 

 American Bee Journal 7 



Mr. Abbott — I think Mr. York printed it. The manu- 

 facturers got us to go. I wrote the G. B. Lewis Company, 

 and I think it was printed in the American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Hutchinson — Over how wide a scope of country 

 does this classification extend? 



Mr. Abbott— All over. 



Mr. Hutchinson — Does that take in Michigan? 



Mr. Abbott — Nothing east of Chicago. 

 Mr. Whitney — I shipned 22 colonies from Ohio to Illi- 

 nois by the hundredweight. I didn't have a carload. I had 

 about 2,,soo pounds, and they occupied the whole car on the 

 Baltimore & Ohio from Shelby County, Ohio, to Kankakee. 

 I paid regular rates by the hundred. They didn't ask me to 

 take a car. 



Mr. Niver — In New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and 

 Pennsylvania, all through there, they don't ask any ques- 

 tions. I have shipped at different times different quantities, 

 and never a carload. There were no questions asked ; they 

 always went. 



Mr. Abbott — The rate is double first-class. 



MOVING BEES IN WINTER. 



"Can bees be moved in winter successfully?" 

 Dr. Miller— Yes. 



Mr. Thompson — The question came up last winter about 

 a carload, and I am not quite certain but what some were 

 being brought into Wisconsin in the winter, and the results 

 were to be watched, and I would like to know if there is any- 

 thing known of it now? 



Mr. France — I think the party who came from Canada to 

 Wisconsin moved in the winter, in December, when the ther- 

 mometer was below zero, and he had a loss of two combs so 

 far as the shipment of bees was concerned, but there were 

 other things broken. He came to this country, and they held 

 his bees for eight days in transit, and while on the way 

 he caught a serious cold, and could get only as as far as 

 Chicago. The bees were brought on to Wisconsin, unloaded, 

 covered up with straw and hay, and he hurried on here and 

 by the time he got back his 200 colonies of bees had gone 

 down to so. I had an opportunity to present the man with 

 60 colonies of bees by just going and getting them this 

 season. 



Mr. Wheeler — How was that? 



Mr. France — He came from Ontario, Canada. The bees 

 died from exposure after they were piled up. I knew of two 

 yards, one of 60 and another one of 11, that were diseased, and 

 the owners were disposed to burn up everything, and I had an 

 opportunity' to give this man the bees. I took them home, 

 and out of the diseased hives, and put them in his healthy 

 hives. The diseased material was left in the other yard. 



Mr. Thompson — Would it be possible to move them? 

 Under what conditions should the remainder of the winter 

 be spent, and are they in any condition in the spring? 



Mr. Wilco.x — Do you mean in good condition instead of 

 any condition? 



Mr. Thompson — I mean in condition to work. 

 Mr. Abbott — A customer asked me about moving his bees. 

 He was building a new house, and he asked me what I 

 thought would be the best thing for him to do with his bees. 

 I told him if they were my bees I would wait until it snowed, 

 and I should put them on a sled quietly and set them off 

 just as quiet, doing it myself, and then let them alone. I 

 was just wondering if I gave him good advice. 



Mr. Whitney — My first bees were two colonies in 

 Ohio. I bought them and moved them five miles in zero 

 weather on a sled. They came out all right in the spring. 

 Of course. I handled them carefully. 



Mr. Thompson — I was told by a prominent Wisconsin 

 bee-keeper that he would move bees at any time during the 

 winter, and put them in a cellar where the thermometer 

 wasn't lower than 60 for ten days or two weeks, and he had 

 no fear but what they would come out all right; that they 

 would winter safely. 



Mr. Longsdon — Mr. Thompson has told us how we may 

 move bees without harm. Put them in a cellar or warm place 

 until they get quiet and cluster. It is no trouble. But to 

 rouse them up in cold weather you are simply destroying 

 lots of them unnecesarily. Give them a warm place to re- 

 cluster in. 



