GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



he arrived at Apalachieola last November. 

 A blizzard of snow came on in Medina just 

 about as we shut the bees up Nov. 19, as 

 lias been explained elsewhere. They lay in 

 the snow for some four or five days, and a 

 couple more days in our warehouse. All 

 told they were confined for two weeks. The 

 cold blizzard in the North was followed by 

 a hot spell in the South, and the i^oor bees 

 were compelled to go from one extreme to 

 the other. The loss on the first car down 

 was nearly 25 colonies out of the 300, so the 

 increase was made up practically from 275. 

 Only a few of the entire number were fair 

 colonies. Practically a majority of them 

 were four and five frame nuclei. When the 

 cold weather of February and March came 

 on, it seemed very improbable that much of 

 an increase could be made. No wonder Mr. 

 Marcliant had the " blues." But a good 

 flow from black tupelo and better weather 

 conditions helped much. He felt that he 

 must succeed, and did to the extent of 

 making 275 weak colonies into 800 fair 

 colonies and 500 three-frame nuclei. This 

 would make the equivalent of nearly 1000 

 colonies all told. Mr. Marchant had figured 

 on bringing back three carloads from the 

 one. and in securing; enough honey to pay 

 the freight. He not only did this in a bad 

 year, but actually made an increase of four 

 carloads and secured enough honey to pay 

 the freight down and back on the bees, fie 

 did not, however, rear any queens. These 

 were furnished him by his father. 



The first car started north on the 8th of 

 May, and arrived in Medina on the 13th in 

 splendid condition. There were only about 

 five combs broken down, and they were old 

 ones. All the new" combs had been extracted 

 down until there was very little honey left 

 in them, or just about enough to carry the 

 bees through to Medina. The loss of bees 

 was almost insignificant, or about two 

 pounds out of twenty colonies. 



Weather conditions were favorable. The 

 next carload of bees started on the 19th, 

 and will arrive in Medina on Monday after- 

 noon the 25th. But the weather is extremely 

 warm at this writing, May 20; and if the 

 second car comes in as good condition as 

 the first, we shall be very happy. The hot 

 weather will mean, of course, that Mr. 

 Deyell, who comes with the second car, will 

 have to wet down liis bees much oftener. 

 This will be accomplished as explained else- 

 where in this issue. The last two cars will 

 start either on the 26th or 29th. There will 

 be one man to each car, but they will move 

 together. If we can get through the last 

 three carloads as well as we did the first, we 

 shall consider our experiments a big suc- 



cess. In the mean time we are awaiting 

 them with some anxiety; for no one can tell 

 what extremely hot weather will do. 



As previously exijlained, we loaded the 

 first car as near llie locomotive as we could 

 in order to avoid as much as possible the 

 suffocating gases from the engine in going- 

 through tunnels; but in doing this small 

 cinders were scattered all over the hives and 

 throughout the car of bees. A large portion 

 of the cinders sifted through the wire cloth 

 and down into the combs. When we exam- 

 ined some of the hives after being unloaded 

 we found the cells were filled with hundreds 

 of little black cinders. Wliether the bees 

 would remove them was the question. A 

 few days afterward we had the satisfaction 

 of seeing the bees taking the cinders out and 

 depositing them on the bottom-boards. At 

 first we were inclined to wire Mr. Marchant 

 to put the remaining cars of bees at the rear 

 end of the train ; but we have since conclud- 

 ed that the front end is all light after all. 



IMPORTANT REQUISITES FOR MOVING A CAR 

 OP BEES. 



In moving bees in car lots it is very 

 important to have all arrangements made in 

 advance. The first thing to settle is the 

 route. This should be carefully studied in 

 order to get through freights and direct 

 connection from one road to another. To 

 do this it requires considerable correspon- 

 dence with the railroad companies. It is not 

 always the shortest cut that will make the 

 quickest delivery. Sometimes it happens 

 that a little out-of-the-way route with 

 through or fast freights and good connec- 

 tions will be much quicker than a more 

 direct route with poor connections. The 

 bees will keep quiet as long as the train is 

 moving; but if the car is left standing in a 

 railroad yard for 24 hours during hot 

 weather they may cause serious trouble and 

 loss. When the car is on the way fresh air 

 will, of course, circulate over the hives. 



The combs must not be heavy with honey 

 and the colonies must not be strong. A 

 strong colony is almost sure to die before it 

 reaches destination. 



It is also very important to get an agreed 

 freight rate from the point of starting to 

 destination. Without this there may be 

 overcharges and no end of tiouble. 



A special car of suitable size and lumber 

 for platforms must be ordered before the 

 bees start. Do not attempt to shut the bees 

 up until a car is secured and on the siding. 

 Next, have your carpenters engaged to put 

 your platform or staging inside of the car. 

 Nothing less than two by four stuff bolted 

 together should be used. 



