March, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



ble amount of time. While the heat has a 

 tondeney to rise, the form of hive that you 

 show in the photograph would havo the saii e 

 objection that a vertical hive wouLd havo. 

 The lower end of the hive wouhi be cooler 

 than the upi)or end. The very feature that 



with the ('(i\ 

 ills' Frames. 



•V lu'iiiiived, Show- 



is good in the horizontal or long-idea hive, is 

 that the temperature is the same practically 

 all the way thru it, one end or the other, and 

 the very fact that the hive is large enouj.',li 

 to take 10, 12, 15 or 25 frames, tuakes it 

 unnecessary to have extra supers or do any 

 lifting— Editor.] 



POUND PACKAGE EXPERIENCE 



Water in Transit Should Certainly be Provided by 

 the Shipper 



During the past season I had the privilege 

 of receiving for the Superior Honey Co. of 

 Ogden, Utah, over 1,100 pound packages of 

 •bees, shipped to Utah from Texas and other 

 Southern states. This was an interesting ex- 

 l^erience to me. during which I believe I 

 learned a few things that might be helpful 

 to those engaged in the combless-package 

 business another year. 



These packages were all shipped when the 

 weather was (jiiite w^arm, and some when it 

 was verj^ hot. The first shipment was receiv- 

 ed during the first days of June, and the 

 last about the middle of July. They came 

 from nine different sources and in various 

 styles of cages and methods of shipping. The 

 greatest variance was in the methods of 

 supplying feed. I also had the chance to ob- 

 serve the difference in bees supplied with 

 water in transit and those that were not, 

 that is, bees that were fed candy alone, and 

 those that were fed candy and water; bees 

 shipped with syrup cans instead of queen 

 candy; also bees shipped with pieces of comb- 

 honey for feed. I received bees in small 



cages and large cages, and with the excep- 

 tion of 18 two-pound packages they were all 

 one-pound packages. 



The fact that over 50 per cent of 

 these bees, taking an average of the whole, 

 were dead when they arrived here (some 

 shipments being all dead) indicates that the 

 venture was far from satisfactory at either 

 end of the transaction. 



The cage in which the most successful 

 shipment was made had the water bottle. 

 A fortunate thing happened in this shipment 

 that to me proved this conclusion: Water 

 is necessary for successful, long-distance 

 shipments during warm or hot weather. In 

 this particular shipment the cages were crat- 

 ed in lots of three, having a cloth strap 

 handle tacked on each lot to carry them by. 

 By a mistake the shipper tacked the handle 

 on the wrong side of two of these lots so 

 that the express handlers carried them up- 

 side down all the way, the bees not being 

 able to get any of the water. The six pack- 

 ages in these two lots were the only dead 

 ones in this shipment of 90. Those bees 

 that could get the water were in fine condi- 

 tion. Another thing that strengthens my 

 conclusion is that this same shipper had pre- 

 viously sent three shipments without water 

 and they nearly all arrived dead. Another 

 later shipment with water arrived in fairly 

 good condition. The cage illustrated and 

 used by this shipper measures 9x14x4 inches, 

 being a large cage for one pound of bees. 



The next best results were obtained where 

 the syrup can was used, but out of several 

 that I received that way none quite came 

 up to the one mentioned above where the 

 water bottle was used. One shipper who sent 

 105 packages in four shipments by the syrup- 

 can method had a loss of 22 per cent. I 

 received several shipments in which only 

 candy was used. In these the bees were all 

 dead on arrival. 



I know nothing of the conditions that the 

 bees had to pass thru enroute, but I think 

 that the express men shouhl be educated to 

 take better care of them. Instead of putting 

 them in a far corner of the car and piling 

 baggage in front of them, the expressmen 

 should be taught to sprinkle them occasion- 

 ally and keep them where they could get air 

 in hot weather. 



Most of the shipments to me were about 

 five days on the road; a few were seven. A 

 number of them went by way of Kansas, a-d 

 it is possible that they experienced some hot 

 waves on the route. In no case, as I re- 

 member, did they consume all their food, and 

 some of the shippers put in much more than 

 was necessary. If they had all been supplied 

 with water I think we would have had a 

 much better story to tell. 



In introducing pound packages I tried 

 every method I could find recommended in 



