THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



151 



starting point for safe wintering, if deemed 

 advisable. It may be taken for granted 

 that opportunity for furnishing each colony 

 with a young queen will not be neglected. I 

 am aware tliat there is nothing very original 

 in this plan; and that M. M. Baldridge says 

 he wants nothing to do with boats; that O. 

 M. Blanton will say that lie sui)posed that C. 

 < ). Perrine had settled this question ; while 

 friend Heddon has, I believe, expressed the 

 opinion that such a scheme could not be 

 made profitable though a golden harvest be 

 encountered every ten days. Perhaps they 

 are all right, but give me the golden har- 

 vests and I'll take my chances with the other 

 conditions. I know that the labor, expense 

 and risk involved are not to be passed by as 

 trilling matters, but, to my mind, the inabil- 

 ity to forecast coming crops is by far the 

 most weighty factor in the problem. Never- 

 theless, as the willow, poi)lar and basswood 

 harvests seldom fail in their respective lo- 

 calities, as mentioned above, I am inclined 

 to be careless of even this consideration. 

 Indeed, at the risk of being dubbed a Utopian 

 schemer and apiarian "crank," I will en- 

 gage, health and family permitting, to take 

 twenty-five colonies of bees and ij;r)0() to 

 cover each season's exi)enses. and, for five 

 successive seasons, increase the number of 

 colonies, on the average, to ICX) each year, 

 and secure an average yield, each season, of 

 10,000 pounds of surplus, half coml), or for- 

 feit the amount above mentioned to the Bee- 

 Keepers' Union. 



Why can't I forget that you are expecting 

 me to tell your readers about my present 

 venture? I had hoped to be spared the reci- 

 tal of the story of comparative failure, for 

 a month or two, when, mayhap, a late flow 

 might allow me to retrieve my shattered 

 fortunes ; but the facts will come out sooner 

 or later, and even my failures may help 

 others to succeed. 



The 20th of last April, I took charge of 

 100 colonies located on the M. & (). road in 

 northwestern Tenn. I had bargained for 

 very strong colonies, in ten-frame L. hives, 

 with straight combs full of honey and brood. 

 Examination showed that not more than 

 one-fourth of tlie number answered this de- 

 scription. The remainder ranged from very 

 weak to medium, and several were on the 

 verge of starvation. Sixteen were in box 

 hives, while nearly all the others had combs 

 rixnning across the frames. I had been de- 

 tained at home several weeks on account of 

 sickness, and poplar was already in bloom ; 

 hence there was no time to look for a better 

 showing elsewhere. The party of whom I 

 had bought the bees said he was selling be- 

 cause he hadn't the time to care for them ; 

 but, from the scarcity of poplar and the 

 abundance of bees in the neighborhood, an 

 over-stocked location might also have been 

 mentioned with propriety. It took over 

 two weeks to straighten crooked combs, get 

 rid of drone comb, transfer from box hives, 

 etc. Luckily, the honey tlow was kept back 

 during this time by cool weather. That from 

 poplar lasted two weeks longer ; after this 

 the gums aud clover furnished a little for a 

 similar period, during which the brood 

 nests were extracted in jiart and prepara- 



tions for shipping completed. In round 

 numbers, 2,000 pounds of comb honey and 

 l,r)00 of extracted were taken. Queens had 

 been clipped and but little increase allowed. 

 Ninety-four colonies were handled. Previ- 

 ous to shipping, about twenty of the strong- 

 est colonies were divided, queens having 

 been reared for that purpose. 



With a view to controlling temperature, a 

 refrigerator car had been ordered. When 

 about to load, I learned that no steps had been 

 taken to provide the car with ice as agreed 

 upon. Only r)00 pounds of ice could be had 

 in the place, and wliat there was proved use- 

 less for the purpose. It was already late, 

 aud I feared hot weather if longer delayed. 

 Neither stock nor ventilated car being avail- 

 able, I determined to start, relying on open 

 doors for ventilation. There were small 

 doors at the top, at each end of the car, as 

 well as the side doors. The mercury ran up 

 to i>jV outside, and the colonies farthest 

 from the doors became overheated. Night 

 coming on, the temperature moderated, and 

 the loss would not have been great had di- 

 rect connections been made at junction 

 points and a circuitous route avoided. Forty 

 hours would have been ample time in which 

 to have reached my destination ; as it was, 

 in spite of protest and entreaty, several long 

 and unnecessary delays were permitted, and 

 ninety hours were consumed in making the 

 trip. 



Upon arriving at this place (Wauzeka, 

 Wis.), .June 11, seven of the best colonies 

 were melted down, and, upon an average, 

 fully one-half of the working force in the 

 other colonies was dead ; but, as the bees had 

 been furnished uu'th sweetened water twice a 

 da]i on the voiife, the brood was commonly 

 In (jodd condition. (Italics ours. Ed.) Clo- 

 ver was in full bloom, but cool weather again 

 kept back the honey fiow, and gave the bees 

 a chance to build up in a measure. Several 

 weak colonies swarmed out, and nineteen in 

 fair condition were added to the lot by pur- 

 chase. 



I had been led to believe that an unoccu- 

 pied field awaited me at this place, and was 

 much disappointed in finding nearly 200 col- 

 onies already on the range. To make matters 

 worse, my supply of sections, crates, etc. 

 was allowed, through the gross neglect of 

 railway officials, to remain three weeks at a 

 station near by. When finally secured, the 

 bees were beginning to swarm for lack of 

 room, and basswood was about ready to 

 blossom. To cap the climax, the sections 

 (not my own make) were found to be so 

 wretchedly inexact as to be almost worthless. 



The swarming fever took possession of the 

 apiary and lasted through basswood ; but 

 out of more than 100 swarms that issued, 

 only eight were hived in new hives ; the rest 

 were either returned or used in strengthen- 

 ing weak colonies. 



After working almost night and day du- 

 ring this time, having the aid of a 17-year- 

 old helper, only 4,o(X) pounds of section hon- 

 ey (not all sealed at that) and 1,200 of ex- 

 tracted were taken. As the hives are large 

 and the bees lacked for room, at least 1,000 

 pounds more extracted might be taken and 

 yet leave enough for winter stores. 



