GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



make it a paying proposition. If one could 

 secure big crops south as well as north it 

 might pay; but the big-yield years are by 

 no means common. One cannot very well 

 run for increase and honey both at the same 

 time. We were fairly successful, however, in 

 making good increase and a fair crop of 

 tui^elo honey; but the weather conditions 

 that year were against us. 



The great exj^ense item in moving bees to 

 Florida is the dollar freight per colony 

 down, and the same freight back. There 

 was another unexjDected item we ran across; 

 Queens that have been laying well during 

 the summer in the North are unfit to con- 

 tinue doing good work in the winter time in 

 the South. Nature has so designed, appar- 

 ently, that queens, like every thing else, 

 must have periods of rest. No queen can 

 lay heavily all summer and all winter. About 

 all one can do is to change queens after 

 getting south, putting in younger blood to 

 take the place of the old worn-out stock. 

 But what is one going to do with a lot of 

 good tested queens that will be all right the 

 following spring, and do another summer's 

 work if they can only have a winter's rest? 

 During the winter time there is but little 

 demand for queens. The problem, there- 

 fore, of having queens breed winter and 

 summer continuously is a serious one, and 

 must be met when moving a carload of bees 

 from the extreme North to the extreme 

 South. As far as this goes we shall have 

 the same problem in Virginia. 



There was another drawback; and that 

 was, bees in the region of Apalachicola 

 could not always breed to advantage during 

 the coldest months. They actually went 

 backward during January and February. 

 Mr. Marchant was greatly worried as to 

 whether he would be able to make increase 

 from a lot of weak colonies. He succeeded 

 in making good increase after requeening 

 some of the stock, and after some of the 

 old queens had had a rest. If he could have 

 had young queens in all the hives, his in- 

 crease would have been much more satis- 

 factory. 



Another exjDense item was the cost of 

 attendance during the time of year when 

 weather conditions were not satisfactory. 



This year, instead of going to Apalachi- 

 cola with our bees we decided to go to the 

 Dismal Swamp in Virginia. A comparison 

 of climatic conditions, from the records of 

 the Government, show that the advantage is 

 slightly in favor of the Virginia locality, 

 notwithstanding it is very much further 

 north. The Gulf Stream has made a moder- 

 ate climate of Great Britain, and for the 

 same reason the coast of Virginia, where 



our bees are located, has practically the 

 same temperature as Apalachicola, with less 

 tlian half the freight to pay. We find, on 

 further investigation, that the Dismal 

 Swamp has practically all the flora, includ- 

 ing the tupelos of northern Florida, with 

 the addition of hundreds and hundreds of 

 species of honey and pollen bearing plants 

 that are not found in the vicinity of Apa- 

 lachicola. These plants make it possible for 

 bees to gather pollen or nectar practically 

 every day in the year; and after a thor- 

 ough investigation we came to the conclu- 

 sion that the Dismal Swamp offers advan- 

 tages in bee-breeding scarcely found else- 

 where in the United States. 



The freight rates to the Dismal Swamp 

 region are less than one-half what they are 

 to Apalachicola, with the great advantage 

 of more days of good weather. Instead of 

 engaging a high-priced man on the job 

 throughout the winter we have placed oui 

 bees in charge of a local beekeeiDer until 

 early spring comes on the latter part of 

 February or first of March. Then we will 

 send one of our most experienced ciueen- 

 breeders and begin active increase and 

 queen-rearing. 



It will, therefore, De seen that the Dismal 

 Swamp proposition involves less than half 

 the freight-rate expense, less than half the 

 labor expense, with the advantage of more 

 days of pollen and nectar. We may not 

 secure as much honey, but we shall have 

 more days for flying probably. 



One carload of bees started Oct. 20, and 

 arrived in splendid condition. The car was 

 ]iacked in an entirely different way from 

 the shipments of last fall to Apalachicola. 

 We were able to get into a 36-foot car by 

 the new way 320 colonies, and some 40 odd 

 nuclei. By the old way of loading it crowd- 

 ed things to get in 250. Another carload 

 started south Nov. 16. This last cai' was 

 made up of nuclei hardly suitable for win- 

 tering in the North. If we build these up 

 to nice strong colonies by spring we shall be 

 satisfied. 



Photos showing this method of loading on 

 the new plan that involves less expense and 

 less time in loading will be given a little 

 later. 



Reports will be made through these col-, 

 umns of the success or failure of this 

 experiment from time to time. Of course 

 the proposition may not pan out any better 

 than the one in Florida last winter; but we 

 shall certainly have a big advantage in a 

 lower freight rate going and coming, with 

 more nectar and pollen bearing plants fol- 

 lowing consecutiveh' throughout almost the 

 entire winter. More anon. 



