JUNE 15, 1912 



371 



Fig. 1. — Owl Creek apiary of A. B. Marchant, near Sumatra, Fla. But for some hard work in raising 

 the hives up on empty supers this yard would have been lost. It was intended to fill the carload order for 

 bees from this yard; but water made this impossible. 



SHIPPING BEES BY THE CARLOAD FROM THE 

 SOUTH TO THE NORTH 



Migratory Beekeeping 



BY E. R. ROOT 



While I was at Mr. Marchant's in Flori- 

 da, I engaged his son Ernest, who was his 

 father's lightning operator at extracting, to 

 come and work in our yards. The demand 

 for bees last year was usually heavy — so 

 much so that our colonies were compara- 

 tively weak — especially for so severe a win- 

 ter. Along the last of February we sent 

 Mr. Marchant down to his father's to bring 

 back a carload of bees in three-frame nu- 

 clei. AVe had figured that we could put 500 

 such boxes of bees in an ordinary car. 

 Nucleus boxes, including the queens, were 

 shipped in the flat by freight, nailed up in 

 Florida, and after the bees got to breeding 

 well the boxes were filled with bees and 

 brood. On the 6th of May the bees were 

 loaded on to tlie boat at Patrick's Landing, 

 and then carried up the river to Bainbridge, 

 where they were nut in a car for Medina. 



Unfortunately for Mr. Marchant there 

 were heavy rains and floods tln-oughout the 

 entire South, particularly in the Appalach- 

 icola region. The Owl Creek yard, from 

 which the senior Mr. Marchant expected 

 to make up tliis order of 500 nuclei, came 

 near being drowned out as will be evident 

 from Fig. 1, which view was taken when 

 the water was at its greatest height. A. B. 

 Marchant is seen at the left, and Ernest 

 Marchant is at the right. It appears that 



they had a strenuous fight in saving the 

 bees. This they did by raising the hives up 

 on supers to keep them out of the water, 

 for the hives were already on liive-stands 

 that raised them 18 inches off the ground. 

 The water kept rising until the gasoline 

 launch was called into play to help out. It 

 was imjDOSsible to make any general land- 

 ing, and hence our order for nuclei was fill- 

 ed from another yard. The first carload ar- 

 rived on the 13th of May, being just a 

 week on the road. The bees were loaded 

 into an open cattle car, one tier being plac- 

 ed on a framework just above the fioor to 

 seeui'e bottom ventilation, and another tier 

 about four feet above the first tier. In the 

 center of the car was a little space for a 

 cot, some bedding, a barrel of water, a bee 

 smoker, several sizes of big nails, and a 

 heavy hammer. Mr. Marchant was sup- 

 posed to ride in the caboose; but the weath- 

 er was so changeable that he took up his 

 headquarters in the ear with the bees. 



When the bees started it was insufferably 

 hot, and they needed sprinkling. Then it 

 rained; and Avhen the car almost reached 

 its destination a fall of snow came on. The 

 result was that Mr. Marchant was kept 

 busy in shading the bees from the sun with 

 strips of muslin which he carried with him; 

 next changing the muslin to cut off the wind 

 and the rain, and finally throwing the mus- 

 lin over the tops of the hives, including all 

 his bedding, to keep out the snow and cold. 

 He had all conditions of temperature from 

 100 in the shade down to freezing; and as 

 he relates his experience he says the com- 

 mon cattle car, to jnit it mildly, is no "Pull- 



