OLiilANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Fig. 4. — Unloading first car of bees from "Virginia. Triidc Lodj- placed on old touring 



cattle, no charge is made for the transporta- 

 tion of the man in charge. By the same 

 token, the attendant who goes with bees 

 should not be compelled to pay regailar rail- 

 road fare in addition to the freight. Unless 

 the beekeepers of the country can get better 

 rates, there will probably be but few car- 

 load shipments of bees. With lower freight 

 and the elimination of railroad fare going 

 and coming, migratory beekeeping would be 

 practiced to a considerable extent ; for then 

 it would be possible for the large producers 

 to catch an early crop of honey in the 

 South, and move northward and catch an- 

 other crop ; and in some rare cases, perhaps 

 he could make tlu-ee jumps; but it is not 

 possible under existing conditions. Marked 

 copies of this article will be sent to the 

 leading railroad companies, and unless they 

 will make some liberal concessions they will 

 probably not get much more business, as we 

 cannot stand these excessive i-ates. At pres- 

 ent it costs on the average about $2.00 per 

 colony to take it south, and $2.00 to move 

 it back. One must be sure of a good crop 

 before he undertakes to pay $4.00 per colo- 

 ny to catch an extra honey-flow in the 

 South as well as in the North. It is seldom 

 that a crop of honey will equal that figure 

 per colony; and were it not for the chance 

 of making increase in the South, and a 

 further chance of selling the bees after ar- 

 riving north, the movement of be^s in car 

 lots would never be attempted, and prob- 

 ably will not be continued unless more 



equitable rates are secured. We have al- 

 ready moved, up to date, nine care; and 

 while this is not the biggest record, perhai s 

 we have done enough of it to believe we 

 know something about the cost and difficul- 

 ties. 



Well, we will suppose the cars of bees has 

 arrived at its destination. It is very im- 

 poi'tant that complete arrangements be 

 made in advance. As soon as the bees can 

 be unloaded and placed on their stands for 

 a flight, the better. If the car arrives late 

 in the afternoon, every hive should be 

 placed on its si and, or a temporary stand, 

 at least before nightfall. This can be easily 

 done by the use of one or more automobile 

 trucks. There should be a force of strong 

 men. Two in the car to pass out the colo- 

 nies, two at each truck, and one or two men 

 to help unload and place on their stands, 

 would help materially. We unloaded our 

 two last cars of bees, with the help of two 

 trucks, in about an hour each. After the 

 hives were all in place, and after nightfall, 

 the entrance-screens were removed, and the 

 bees allowed to come out. We find it better 

 to release tlie bees at night rather than 

 during the day. This can be easily done by 

 means of a strong screwdriver and an elec- 

 tric pocket-light to show the exact location 

 of the tacks that secure tlie entrance-screen. 



In this connection it is well to explain 

 that the bottom screen has a slot in one 

 end of tlie frame. This slot is left open 

 after tlie bottom screens are put on the 



