November, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



709 



not, will not make a great deal of money at 

 long-range migratory beekeeping; but he 

 will get health and strength, also a good in- 

 crease in bees — and sometimes a good in- 

 crease means a great deal when a crop of 

 honey is in sight in the North. Short-range 

 migratory beekeeping generally pays well. 

 Summerfield's Migratory Experience. 



One of tlie most extensive beekeejiers 

 from Ohio to Florida and back is F. W. 

 Summerfield, 2465 Broadway, Toledo, O. In 

 the spring of 1914, in one of my Florida 

 trips, I happened to meet him about 20 miles 

 north of Apalachicola on the Apalaehicola 

 River. At that time he was getting ready 

 to harvest his crop of tupelo honey. He 

 had come from Ohio in a forty-foot gasoline 

 cruiser, which he had been using around To- 

 ledo. This "was put upon a large flat car, 

 along with another car of bees. He and his 

 family lived in the cruiser, going overland 

 by freight to Bainbridge, Ga., where they 

 took to the water, traveling the rest of the 

 distance on the river until they reached a 

 point about 30 miles north of Apalachicola. 



Mr. Summerfield is a retired business man. 

 His health began to fail him; and so he 

 decided to move his family and his bees 

 south, spend the winter and come north with 

 the increase of bees and a crop of honey. 



His different years of experience ran 

 about as follows: In 1913, from the 190 

 colonies that he took to Florida he took 22 

 barrels of honey, left the bees in care of his 

 man, increased the 190 to 300 colonies, 

 which the next year gave him 68 barrels of 

 honey. So far, so good. Figuring 300 pounds 

 to the barrel, he took in all 27,000 pounds 

 of honey, and made an increase of 110 colo- 

 nies — not bad for practically within the con- 

 fines of one 3'ear. But in moving the bees 

 back to Ohio he did not get any honey. Oth- 

 erwise his venture was successful. 



The next year, 1915, he moved his bees 



South, secured only 15 barrels of honey — 

 not enough to pay freight on the bees down; 

 moved them back to Ohio and got no crop. 



Next year he went back, secured 30 bar- 

 rels of honey, increased to 450 colonies, and 

 left 150 in Florida. When he went back in 

 1916 he found the 150 in a starving con- 

 dition; but he built them up to 340, produc- 

 ed 90 barrels of honey, 600 young queens, 

 and 600 three-pound packages of bees, which 

 he sold in the North. The rest of the 180 

 colonies he sent to Ohio, got an increase of 

 a hundred, and also a fair crop. 

 Conditions Under Which Migration Pays. 



While, perhaps, Mr. Summerfield has not 

 made a great deal of money, he has not lost 

 any — that's sure. Pie enjoys the work, has 

 excellent health, and a lot of fun. One has 

 to take into consideration that there are 

 large expenses in moving bees from Ohio to 

 Florida and back. Those expenses can hard- 

 ly be much less than about $2.00 per colony 

 each way when you figure freight, loss of 

 bees and brood (as some bees die en route), 

 railroad fare of man going with the bees, 

 cartage or drayage, and carpenter work and 

 lumber to fasten the hives in the car proper- 

 ly. Ordinarily one car can accommodate 

 from 300 to 350 colonies; the larger the 

 number, the less freight charge per colony. 

 These expenses simply mean that to make 

 this migratory beekeeping pay, one must 

 secure enough honey to pay for actual time 

 spent on the bees covering an entire year. 



In California migratory beekeeping for 

 short distances has proved to be profitable. 

 Even for longer distances, w'here bees have 

 been moved from Idaho to California and 

 ba':'k, some have made good. One man took 

 $50,000.00 worth of honey wuthin the year. 

 But where there are cases like this there are 

 dozens where much smaller returns have 

 been secured — yes, cases of severe losses. I 

 shall tell of these later. 



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Fig. ■J. — ^Tlie Hiumuertteld bc't's after thev are moved to Floridii. 



