1878 - "Commodore" Perinne Rubs Root the Wrong Way

Amos Ives Root

A. I. Root had something to say about Perrine's floating apiary project at the end of this letter from Perrine describing his bee barges in more detail than previously posted.  

Perrine's penchant for blowing his own horn about future success continues to a problem for many people in the bee business! 

PERRINE'S FLOATING APIARY.

THE FIRST FLOATING APIARY ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT.

I PROMISED to give you some description of my bee boats. &c., &c., and will now do so, but pardon me if it is not full enough, as I have only a few hours each evening to attend to my correspondence, having to look to my apiarian interests through the day. 

I bought two gunwale barges, each about 110 x 34 ft. and decked them over 7 ft. from each side inwardly leaving 10 ft. open space, deck about 5 ft. from bottom, roof over open space about 7 ft. high forming a cabin, thus making roof 2 ft. above deck. I first have a space at each side of boat, on deck, of 2 ft. for outer gallery, to pass before the bee hives, then 2 ft. space for the hives, then 3 ft. space behind the hives for inner gallery; this takes up the 7 ft. There are 6 tiers of bee hives, one above the other. I have an upper outer and inner gallery 7 ft. above the deck, from which we are to work the upper 3 tiers of hives. 

This describes the outer tiers of hives; the inner, start from the top of the cabin roof and are 5 tiers high. The back end of the hives are flush with the cabin roof, or say the eaves, so that the inner gallery of 3 ft., spoken of, is between the backs of the outer and inner hives allowing both tiers to be worked conveniently between the fronts of the inner tiers of hives. There is 6 ft. space all the way up to the top of the boat, 12 1/2 ft. high, and this space is not roofed, allowing the bees to fly freely up and down through this space to and from their hives. The outer tiers of hives allow of free horizontal flight of bees. There is a roof 14 ft. high at the eaves, over the whole boat, except the 8 ft, space running through the middle. The arrangement at the ends is the same as at sides with trifling variation. 

The whole structure is supported by over 200 stanchions running from the bottom of boat to roof firmly secured by spikes, bolts and braces through stringer and carling. The hives are placed, as it were, on shelves firmly secured and easily removed. 

The hives are not perfectly shielded from sun and rain on the outside tiers, but rain will not hurt them and the sun can only strike the fronts; and as I have nailed on upper half of the space of the porticoes wire cloth and door to confine the bees below this, which when opened covers over the wire cloth and shields the front from the rays of sun, I have little to fear from the sun. 

Each boat will hold over 900 swarms under cover, and if I choose, I can put a few on the roof, making it over 1000.

I have now between 400 and 500, I will buy a few hundred swarms here and a little further up the river, which in all, with my own swarms, will give me by the middle of April—the time I propose to start up the river—about 1200 hives, or 600 on each boat. I expect to have, at least, fifty per cent increase going up the river. I am not counting on too big things. 

I hope to reach St. Louis early in June, and will continue my trip, arriving at St. Paul, Minn., about the last of July.

Bees are now and have been working on the different varieties of willow, so abundant in swamps in the South, ever since early in February, and will continue to do so, with some other tree bloom for a month yet, say 8 to 10 weeks on willow, and working hard every day they can get to work. 

Willows on  Mississippi. source

 Bees are all in good order in my apiary and have just begun to swarm. Of course some are stronger than others, the strongest have gathered within the past 10 or 12 days, 30 to 50 lbs. of honey, some in sections and some in large frames for extracting, and this before swarming time, with hives not full of bees. 

Four to 6 lbs. of honey per day is pretty good I think, and such beautiful honey too, not strictly white nor of a high bouquet, but a smooth pleasant honey somewhat like peach bloom honey.  Now and then some one objects to a slightly bitter after taste that is noticed when the honey is eaten by itself, but at table it is not noticed. It wears better than any honey I ever ate or gave to friends. 

I am going to insert here there are multiple reports that Perrine, as a dealer,  adulterated his honey with glucose...so maybe a slightly bitter taste would  be adjusted later?

I expect to work on willow for the first 600 or 800 miles, and perhaps get some white clover for a short  time about the last of May or first of June, and to  wait for basswood which I expect to follow from below Cairo to St. Paul, nearly 1000 miles and nearly two months. Those who know what basswood yields, can perhaps imagine my expectations as to quantity to be gathered by my then 2000 hives of bees. 

Cairo, Illinois -  Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers

My intention is to return from St. Paul to some point above St. Louis and stay during Aug. and Sept., returning south in October, when I think I have a reasonable expectation of having 3000 to 4000 hives of bees, probably more than were ever managed by one person. 

I will have a good tow boat of my own so as to control its movements. I will do my moving at night, stopping every day, probably, as it would not do to lose a day of work. 

In my experiments, labor and purchases, I have spent money liberally—nearly $15,000 since I first came down here—and if I succeed in demonstrating  the practicability of a floating apiary will you feel badly because I have made some money in the honey business in years past so as to be able to take a little money from my business to do this? But suppose I fail, will you say "foolish man. I could have told him so?" or will you give me credit for the 18 months of unremitting toil of brain and muscle, and try to encourage me to try another season to make a success of it? 

Towing boat by steam—up stream, is expensive: one party proposes to tow me up to St. Paul and back to New Orleans for $1000.00 but I can do it much cheaper owning a steam boat myself, perhaps for half that sum. 

Typical small paddle wheeler.  History of...

There will be a crew of 15 or 16. or perhaps 20 persons on the fleet, and as I expect to accompany the enterprise, "Commodore Perrine" as some of my friends here insist on calling me, will have his hands full. 

We are extracting from nearly 100 hives, and shall ship to Chicago, in a few days, between 2 and 3 tons of extracted and section box honey, and soon afterward, a shipment to Europe where my customers are awaiting new honey with their mouths open. 

Mr. Fred Grabbe (post about Grabbe to follow this) formerly of Kansas and Illinois, has been with me over a year, and has the immediate management of the bees, a man of large experience, practical, energetic and an untiring worker. 

I can not close without a word about the pleasant winters here -no snow—a few frosts, a little show of ice once or twice during the season, not too much rain, and in February flowers: and now all in full bloom, and to crown all, the air is now full of condensed orange bloom: some 20 trees about my house fill all space with their fragrance. 

Well, I have written more than I thought I would.  If your readers don't understand my description, or have curiosity to see, I hope to see all who will take the pains to come to see us any where along the river. 

Will try to keep them posted where to find the boats as we go along.

C. O. Perrine.

New Orleans, La.,

March 20th, 1878.

Many thanks, friend P., but have you not "mixed" something somewhere, when you intimate that I might feel badly if you should succeed, and say, "I told you so, if you should fail'?

 I fear you did not read what I said about floating apiaries a couple of years ago, when I asked who would first volunteer the money for the experiment. If anybody attempts to say "I told you so," Gleanings will be the very first one to square off for a fight—a friendly one—for whether you make a success of it or not, I am sure some one will. 

We certainly are as smart as the ancient Egyptians on bees, even if we never did build any pyramids, and now friend Perrine I want you to get just the very best photo of your floating apiary, that ever you can, and we will get the best engraver in the country to engrave it for May Gleanings. I do not believe in saying very much about what great things we are going to do, for it is much better to do them first and then tell about it; but I hope we may both be excused a little this time.