1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



269 



therefore took measures to test the 

 matter further. 



In the fall of 1855 I sent East and 

 had one hive of bees brought out, 

 which arrived in Sacramento Febru- 

 ary 1, 1856. Though most of the bees 

 had died or escaped from the hive 

 during the passage enough remained 

 to prove that by careful handling they 

 could be imported with little loss, and 

 that they would increase and make 

 large quantities of honey when here. 



I left San Francisco May 5, 1857, on 

 board the steamship Golden Gate, on 

 my way east, for the purpose of pre- 

 paring a stock of bees for shipping to 

 California. 



Sixty-seven colonies were prepared 

 from my own apiaries, situated in 

 Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. 



They were taken to New York and 

 shipped on board the steamer North- 

 ern Light, which sailed from that port 

 November 5, bound for Aspinwall. 



The bees were put on board in good 

 order, were placed on the hurricane 

 deck, kept well shaded and ventilated, 

 and arrived at the latter port on the 

 15th of the same month, being ten 

 days from port to port. Having ar- 

 rived at Aspinwall in the forenoon, 

 and ascertained that no passengers or 

 freight would be sent forward before 

 the next morning, I obtained permis- 

 sion to open the hives on the com- 

 pany's grounds, and let the bees fly 

 during that evening, which greatly re- 

 lieved them, and contributed to their 

 health during the remainder of the 

 voyage. 



The hives were closed up and 

 placed on board the cars, crossed 

 safely to Panama, and re-shipped on 

 board the steamer Sonora, which 

 sailed from that port on the evening 

 of the 16th, bound for San Francisco, 

 where she arrived on the evening of 

 the 30th. 



(There were other importations of 

 bees made during the winter of 1857 

 and 1858, a large proportion of which 

 died.) 



The bees had ample stores within 

 their hives, before they started, to last 

 them through their long journey. I 

 neither watered nor gave them any 

 additional food during the whole trip, 



except what they obtained while fly- 

 ing out in Aspinwall. 



During each day's confinement the 

 bees labored incessantly to gain their 

 liberty, but as soon as it was dark 

 they always became quiet, and re- 

 mained so during the night. 



At San Francisco the bees were 

 transferred from the Sonora to the 

 steamer New World, and landed in 

 Sacramento on the morning of De- 

 cember 2, 1857, thus terminating a 

 journey of 5.900 miles, which was at 

 that time the longest distance that 

 bees had been known to be trans- 

 ported at one continuous voyage. 



To the officers and agents of the 

 various transportation companies, 

 over whose routes I passed from 

 Newcastle, Pa., to Sacramento, Cal., 

 particularly Mr. J. F. Joy, agent, 

 Panama Railroad Company; Captain 

 Tinklepaugh, of the Steamship North- 

 ern Light, and Captain Whiting, of 

 the Sonora, I am indebted for their 

 valuable and efficient aid in securing 

 a safe transit, and probably the most 

 successful shipment of bees ever 

 made to California. 



On opening the hives, I found that 

 considerable numbers of bees had 

 died in each, and that in five all were 

 dead, having been destroyed by 

 worms which had hatched on enter- 

 ing the warm climate, from eggs laid 

 by the moth previous to starting. The 

 combs were entirely enveloped in 

 webs containing the worms, and were 

 a perfect ruin. A few worms were 

 found in each of the hives containing 

 living bees, but were soon extermin- 

 ated. 



Some hives were found to contain 

 so few bees that they were united 

 with other weak ones, till the number 

 was reduced to fifty. In the latter 

 part of January, 1858, I made a dis- 

 covery which has since been verified 

 in a number of instances. All the 

 bees in two hives swarmed out, leav- 

 ing them entirely deserted. On ex- 

 amining, I found young brood; the 

 combs were clean and healthy, and 

 each hive contained some six or eight 

 pounds of honey. But it was nearly 

 all sealed up. only a few cells contain- 

 ing honey being open. 



ading comb honey graded by 

 several As 



The cause of their deserting was 

 then a mystery, as they had appar- 

 ently all the requisites to do well. 



I finally suspected that, owing to 

 their long confinement and frequent 

 passing over the sealed surface of the 

 comb, it had become glazed so that 

 the bees were not aware that they 

 possessed so ample a store. 



(In the spring of 1859, and particu- 

 larly the present one, 1860, I have 

 known the bees (California raised) 

 from a number of hives, to leave in 

 like manner. The only difference was 

 that the hives were not over half full 

 of combs. But these were full of 

 honey and tightly sealed, like those 

 before mentioned.) 



Acting from this belief, I at once, 

 with a knife, uncapped a portion of 

 the honey in each remaining hive. 

 This was repeated twice a week for 

 the two following ones, and as the 

 honey became scarce, feed was given 

 to the most destitute. The result was 

 that no more hives were deserted. 



There was no indication of disease 

 of any kind existing in any of them. 

 Hence there is no doubt of the above 

 being a cause of bees deserting their 

 hives. The stock was still further re- 

 duced by sale, so that thirty-four 

 hives of bees remained on the first 

 of April. These were increased to 

 one hundred and twenty, most of 

 which were sold in the summer and 

 fall of that year. 



Again, on the steamer of September 

 20, 1858, I returned East for the pur- 

 pose of transporting another stock, 

 which had bten prepared for that 

 purpose during the previous summer. 

 On the 6th of December, in company 

 with my brother, W. C. Harbison, I 

 sailed from New York with one hun- 

 dred and fourteen colonies, and ar- 

 rived at Sacramento January 1, 1859, 

 with one hundred and three living. 

 Of this importation sixty-eight were 

 from Centralia, 111. Tht remaining 

 forty-six were from Lawrence Coun- 

 ty, Pennsylvania. 



Owing to the lateness of the season 

 of shipping, and unfavorable weather 

 during the first three weeks after our 

 arival, we were only able to save 

 sixty-two out of the whole number; 

 these, together with the six good 

 hives, remaining from the previous 

 year, we increased to four hundred 

 and twenty-two colonies, including 

 the sixty-eight old ones. Three hun- 

 dred of them filled standard hives and 

 the remainder averaged half full. 



The increase was all made on the 

 artificial principle (as laid down in 

 this work). Not a single natural 

 swarm issued from any hive during 

 the whole season. I also formed a 

 large number of colonies, for different 

 parties in Sacramento and vicinity, 

 which were attended with like suc- 

 cess. 



During the time between October 

 1, 1858, and April 1, 1859, there were 

 shipped from New York for Califor- 

 nia, over one thousand hives of bees, 

 not over two hundred of which sur- 

 vived on the 1st of May of the latter 

 year. 



All but three of the parties engaged 

 in shipping them lost money by the 

 operation, many of them being unac- 

 quainted with the business. 



