In a message dated 99-01-30 22:24:12 EST, you write:
 
<< A member of our bee club up here in
 Massachusetts, now deceased, did make some serious attempts
 to hive bumbles with the intent of seeing if he could migrate them
 around to local cranberry bogs. >>
 
   Good for him!  Those who do raise bumblebees are highly secretive about the
culture. There's a thriving market in them, although the last couple years the
growers have been knocked back by disease problems.
 
<< I understand that bumbles are
 superior pollinators vis-a-vis honey bees.>>
 
    They are brawny, compared to honeybees. Studies by Dr. Amrose in North
Carolina showed a bumblebee visit roughly equivalent to three honeybee visits.
Of course you are comparing colonies of 50-100 against colonies of
20,000-30,000.
 
   There are three places where bumblebees shine as pollinators: 1) on crops
that honeybees often ignore, such as tomatoes, 2) on crops that need buzz
pollination to release the pollen, such as rabbiteye blueberries, and 3) under
glass, where honeybees must have intense management to succeed.
 
Dave Green
www.pollinator.com