FEBRUARY 15, 191fi 



137 



lug a queen. The cost of getling Ihat colo- 

 ny of bees to the North will run somewhere 

 about $1.50. If we add the risk that one 

 takes, delays en route, and double time of 

 a man on the basis of 40 cts. an hour, and 

 his railroad transportation, the entire cost 

 per colony runs up to nearly $2.00. This 

 will make the total cost about $6.50 per col- 

 ony placed in the yard. 



Let us now look at the other pi-oposition 

 of sending bees without combs by express. 

 If we could send bees and brood without 

 combs or hives we could figure out the 

 proposition a little more exactly. As this 

 is impossible the only thing we can do is to 

 figure the brood in the form of bees. We 

 usually reckon that about 3 lbs. of bees, 

 with necessaiy crating, will aggregate 7 

 lbs. On this basis 30 lbs. of bees will run 

 about 70 lbs. 



Our traffic manager, after corresponding 

 with different railroad and express compa- 

 nies, has prepared a table of prices in ship- 

 ping combless bees from three or four dif- 

 ferent points in the South to various points 

 in the East. The following is the table: 



Live Bees from 

 Fitzpatrick, Ala., to 



2 lbs. 5 lbs. 7 lbs. 10 lbs. 



Cleveland 45 .57 .66 .77 



New York 47 .60 .71 .84 



Chicago 45 .56 .63 .74 



Medina, 45 .57 .66 .77 



From 



Kansas City, Mo., to 



Cleveland ." 45 .56 .63 .75 



New York 47 .63 .72 .86 



Chicago 44 .51 .57 .65 



Medina, 45 .56 .63 .75 



From 



Jacksonville, Fla., to 



Cleveland 48 .63 .74 .89 



New Y'ork 47 .60 .71 .84 



Chicago 47 .67 .71 .86 



Medina, 48 .63 .74 .89 



From 



Apalachicola, Fla., to 



Cleveland 48 .63 .74 .89 



New York 48 .65 .77 .93 



Chicago 47 .60 .69 .83 



Medina, 48 .63 .74 .89 



For example, a 3-lb. package from Fitz- 

 patrick, Ala., which would be equivalent to 

 7 lbs., would run about 66 cts. to Cleveland ; 

 71 cts. to New York ; 63 cts. to Chicago ; 66 

 cts. to Medina, and so on the prices run 

 from 60 to 75 cts. from all the different 

 points. 



But some will argue that three pounds of 

 bees from the South is not equal to an ordi- 

 nary colony in the spring in the North. 

 Well, suppose we make it 4 lbs. Even then 

 the express per colony will be less than 

 $1.00. 



Compare this figure with the freight. 

 $1.50 to $2.00 per colony, and you will see 

 that the combless package of bees by ex- 

 press is considerably cheaper, providing, of 



course, that the shipper guarantees arrival 

 in good order. There are three or four 

 breeders in the United States who are will- 

 ing to do this. 



But there is still another way of looking 

 at it. Two thousand pounds minimum of 

 bees, combs, hives, and all by freight from 

 Apalachicola, Fla., to Medina, Ohio, would 

 run up to $349.20. Two hundred and 

 eighty-five 7-lb. packages (each containing 

 3 lbs. of bees) by express, aggregating 2000 

 lbs. would run up to $253. To the freight 

 sliipment we must add 50 to 100 per cent 

 more. To express shipments Ave add nothing. 

 It will be seen that the figures stand largely 

 in favor of sending by express. But this 

 is not all. Bees sent bv express will not 

 take over tAvo or three days from the South 

 to the North, while by freight it will take 

 from a week to ten days to get them thru, 

 with a corresjionding damage to brood and 

 bees. Still again, Avhen bees are sent by 

 freight, unless extraordinary care is taken 

 to water them at intervals, the unsealed 

 brood is destroyed and sometimes sealed 

 brood is scorched by the bees becoming too 

 hot. 



There is one more point to be considered, 

 and it is important. When one wants to 

 move 300 colonies he cannot very well shake 

 off all the bees and let the brood die; and, 

 moreover, he cannot send the bees by ex- 

 press unless he has a full complement of 

 combs and hives at the other end of the 

 route. But the average beekeeper in the 

 North who has lost heavily by Avintering 

 can easily recuperate his losses by getting 

 his bees by express. 



Last, but not least. When full hives, 

 combs, and brood are shipped, there is also 

 danger of transmitting bee disease. There 

 is very little likelihood of such danger by 

 express. 



A California Man Succeeds in Sending 

 Bees by the Pound in Large and 

 Small Lots ; Invert-sugar Queen-cage 

 Candy Not an Unqualified Success 

 in Shipments 



In reference to shipping bees in pound 

 packages, which appeared in our columns 

 recently, Mr. J. E. Wing, of San Jose, Cal., 

 one of the most extensive queen-breeders in 

 the country, and Avho has done a large busi- 

 ness in shipping bees successfully without 

 combs, writes: 



I haA'e been reading the editorial on page 

 744, Sept. 15, and Mr. W. D. Aehord's arti- 

 cle on page 1031, Dec. 15th issue, on the 

 pound-package business with interest, as I 

 do quite a bit in that lino myself, Out of 



