AUGUST 15, 1912 



503 



to figure that the bees could not pay for 

 themselves the first year. If that were 

 true, they would have to be wintered over, 

 and that would destroy Mr. Taylor's well- 

 laid scheme. But our correspondent does 

 not contemplate moving brood, combs, or 

 honey. He would move just the bees in 

 suitable shijiping boxes without combs or 

 honey, and in their stead supply queencage 

 candy. 



The scheme is not as wild as it looks. 

 There has been cjuite a little correspond- 

 ence between Mi\ F. B. Cavanagh, of 

 Hebron, Ind., and Dr. E. F. Phillips, of 

 the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, 

 D. C, and ourselves as to the feasibility 

 of shipping a carload of bees in pound 

 l^ackages or even five-pound lots, without 

 combs. Mr. Cavanagh's idea was to secure 

 a crop in the North, then move the bees 

 without combs after brood-rearing had 

 practically ceased in September, say, and 

 then ship all to the South; build them up 

 well, on another set of combs, secure a 

 crop of honey in the South, and after that 

 is secured stop brood-rearing by caging 

 the queens, and again move the bees North 

 in the spring and so on back and forth. 

 This would eliminate the northern winter- 

 ing problem, and enable the owner with 

 his bees to get two crops instead of one. 

 When bees are shipped without combs in 

 one-pound or five-pound packages, the 

 freight would be materially reduced. In- 

 deed, one could ship nearly a thousand 

 packages without combs. Of course, the 

 owner Avould have to go with them, and 

 wet them down with a watering-pot, for 

 bees in transit require a great deal of 

 water. 



We may say in this connection that, if 

 the beekeeper makes the right kind of 

 preparation, and gets in touch Avith the 

 various railroad lines over which the bees 

 are to travel, he can usually reduce the 

 days on the route to half the regular time. 

 Our last carload, for example, came from 

 Florida in six days; and if, for instance, 

 bees were to move from Nevada to Cali- 

 fornia, they ought to go through in two 

 days. 



Our Mr. Ernest Marchant, son of A. 

 B. Marchant, knows -how to move bees in 

 car lots; and there are many others in 

 the counti-y who can do the trick provided 

 they will follow the directions we can give. 

 The two carloads of bees which we se- 

 cured from the South produced enough 

 honey, although split up into nuclei on 

 arrival, to pay about a third of their en- 

 lire cost. We sold enough 1)ees out of 

 them to pay the rest of the expense, and 



now have considerably more than two* car- 

 loads (5f bees left with about 50U0 pounds 

 of honey in the hives. Mr. A. B. Mar- 

 chant, before shipping them north (had the 

 season been at all favorable, which it was 

 not), could have secured a crop of tupelo 

 honey. As it was, he obtained a light crop, 

 and then shipped the bees north. 



There is another feature about this prop- 

 osition that looks attractive. Bees shipped 

 without combs would not carry disease. At 

 the present time there is a great outcry in 

 California against the shipment of so many 

 carloads of bees from other States; and in 

 some cases, at least, American and Europe- 

 an foul brood have been imported. We 

 can not blame the beekeepers in California 

 for complaining; yet if the bees were 

 shipped in wire-cloth cages holding 

 about five pounds, and if they could be 

 shijtped through successfully (and we 

 believe they could), all danger of 

 disease would be eliminated, and the 

 cost of shipping 1000 combless colo- 

 nies would be no more than 250 colo- 

 nies on combs in hives. If the beekeeper 

 owned a set of combs and hives at each end 

 of the route, and could arrange to let all 

 the brood hatch by caging his queens before 

 shipping, he would stand a fair chance of 

 securing Iavo or three and possibly four 

 crops in place of one or two. Where is the 

 man of brains and capital to try it out?- 

 Perhaps a grouj) of beekeepers could chip 

 in bees and money and hire one of their 

 number to carry out the scheme. This 

 would divide the cost so that if the project 

 proved a failure such failure would not 

 fall upon one man. 



We believe it is possible to make a 

 scheme of this kind work, and make 

 money; but we would not advise any one 

 to enter into it on a large scale, as he 

 might meet with catastrophe. It would re- 

 quire experience as well as skill. 



There has been a big trade in bees 

 shipped by the pound and half-pound. 

 It has i^assed the stage of experiment and 

 now is an assured success; and, moreover, 

 it eliminates practically all the danger of 

 s})reading disease. 



It is possible that legislation will in 

 time require the elimination of combs, 

 brood, and honey when bees are shipped 

 from one State to another, or from one 

 locality to another. 



We should be glad to have this c[uestion 

 discussed ; and if there is any beekeeper 

 or group of beekeei^ers who feel inclined 

 to carry out the experiment we should be 

 pleased to give them all the informatinp 

 they may require. 



