1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1023 



HOW THE ROOT CO. SENT 500 COLONIES 

 BEES TO CUBA WITHOUT THE LOSS 

 OF A COLONY. 



OF 



BY E. K. ROOT. 



In our last issue I promised to tell some- 

 Ihiiiy about how this was done, and the 

 purpose of the enterprise in general. 



Mr. A. L. Boyden, who has made a number 

 of trips to Cuba, said there was a demand 

 for good bees in good hives; and after one 

 of his late trips suggested that we send 



THE ROOT CO.'S SHIPMENT OK BKES AT H 

 CUBA. 



down about 300 colonies, for we had nearly 

 lOOU in the various outyards in and around 

 Medina. Being in Cuba again thi fall, he 

 looked the situation over, and cabled back 

 to prepare 500, which we did. 



As a precaution before making so large a 

 shipment, we sent ten colonies by express, 

 put up in difl'erent ways — wire cloth nailed 

 to top and bottom; wire cloth on top only, 

 with a common bottom-board, and entrance 

 screened. The manager of The A. I. Root 

 Co. 's office at Havana, Mr. F. H. de Beche, 

 a native of Havana, and an experienced 

 business man and a bee-keeper of many 

 3'ears' experience, was to re- 

 port which method of preparing 

 the colonies gave the best re- 

 sults. 



Now for results: Our mana- 

 ger reported that those colonies 

 with top screens only, and com- 

 mon entrances, came through in 

 bad order. Those with the top 

 and bottom screens on the new 

 Danzenbaker bottom-board came 

 through in fine order, and it did 

 not take us long to decide wh.it 

 pinii to adojit for the whole fOO 

 colonies yet to go. 



We were still uncertain wheth- 

 er we should send so many at 

 once. Would it not be better to 

 send only 100? But the difficulty 

 here lay in the fact that the cost 

 of delivery would be greatly in- 



creased; so we decided to risk the whole 500 

 in one big shipment, and send along two of 

 our men — Mr. Wardell, the manager of our 

 bee-yards, and Mr. Stephen N. Green, one 

 of our office men. The shipment was put 

 up and prepared with double screens 

 throughout, and started for New York Oct. 

 20, consisting of two carloads of b«.es. 

 These were the ordinary fruit-cars having 

 a door at each end as well as one on each 

 side. They arrived in New York in good 

 condition; were loaded on the steamer Mex- 

 ico, of the Ward line, and started for Cuba. 

 Mr. Boyden had previously made 

 arrangements with the Ward people 

 to see that the bees were given spe- 

 cial consideration and attention on 

 the part of the deck hands; and ev- 

 ery facility was indeed afforded our 

 men to make the bees as comforta- 

 ble as possible. 



To make a long story short, the 

 bees arrived in Havana in good or- 

 der. By. a previous arrangement, 

 effected^ by Mr. de Beche, they 

 were hurried through the custom- 

 house and started by rail to their 

 permanent destination, selected in 

 advance, some 100 miles from Ha- 

 vana, to Paso Real, about 20 miles 

 beyond J. H. Martin, better known 

 as the Rambler; but, unfortunately, 

 the cars in Cuba were not so well 

 adapted for moving bees as those 

 IE IN T^Q were able to obtain for the trip 

 from Medina to New York. The 

 ventilation was poor, and the climate hot 

 — necessarily so. Mr. Wardell feared that 

 many of the bees would suffer, and the3' 

 did to some extent; but out of a total of 500 

 colonies for the entire trip, Tioi a colony 

 ivas lost 7ior a single comb broken, and only 

 a bushel and a half of dead bees; and there 

 would not have been near that amount if 

 they had been able to secure better-ventilat- 

 ed cars for the last 100 miles. 



Now, perhaps it may be interesting to 

 know just how the bees were prepared in 

 individual hives. We used the ordinary 

 Dovetailed eight and ten frame, with wire- 



THOSE 500 COLONIES IN THEIK N' EW HOME IN CUBA. 



