128 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



ing the bees "in clover" the entire summer. The difficulties to be 

 overcome are largely those of transportation. There is no single 

 line of railroad running north and south for a sufficiently long dis- 

 tance to make a success of migratory bee-keeping. When shipping 

 bees by freight, on the migratory plan, the delays at junction points 

 are not only vexatious but disastrous. It is for this reason that 

 longing eyes have been cast at the Mississippi river and her steam- 

 boats, and, once, Mr. C. O. Perrine tried moving several hundred 

 colonies up the Mississippi on a barge towed by a tug. The plan 

 was to run up the river nights, and "tie up" during the day to allow 

 the bees to work. There are several reasons why the plan was a 

 failure. The start was made too late in the season, and accidents to 

 the machinery of the tug caused delays. In order to overtake the 

 bloom it became necessary to confine the bees and run day and 

 night. The confinement for so long was very disastrous to the 

 bees. Those who aided in the enterprise believe that, rightly man- 

 aged, the plan might be made a success. Mr. Byron Walker, who 

 has had much experience in moving bees from the South, greatly 

 favors the Mississippi plan of migratory bee-keeping. He 

 would not put the bees on a barge and tow them with a tug, but 

 would load them upon a regular steamer running up the river, set- 

 ting them off at some desirable point, and then shipping them by 

 another boat to another point farther up the river, as the flow beg^n 

 to wane. In the fall he would take the bees back South for the 

 winter. 



Right here a hypothetical question comes to mind. Supposing 

 that an apiary moving up the Mississippi secures as much as six 

 ordinary crops of honey — six times as much as a stationary apiary — 

 would this be more profitable than six stationary apiaries ? In other 

 words, which is the more promising field for enterprise, following up 

 the season, or establishing out-apiaries? Upon this point there arc 

 many things to be considered, and varying circumstances would lead 

 to different decisions.. To establish six apiaries would require con- 

 siderable capital, and the labor of caring for the honey crop would 

 all come at one time, while there would be only one "chance" of 

 securing a crop. With the migratory plan, only one apiary would 

 be needed, and the work of caring for the surplus would not come all 

 at the same time. With the stationary apiaries there would be no 

 expense for transportation, which is a big item. 



