78 



THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



an extra team which brought the outfit 

 in at about three o'clock, and just in time 

 to miss the afternoon freight. 



PACKING MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES IN A CAR. 



The 400 sets of combs were packed 

 three deep the entire length of the car. 

 the first tier of hives setting directly on 

 top of these. As the first yard had 

 been confined a day the longest, I thought 

 best to put these in the upper deck. The 

 hives being one- and two-story, and the 

 usual variations in style, made it hard to 

 get an even surface for the upper tier. 

 Inch-boards were placed lengthwise on 

 the first tier of hives and the top tier set 

 on these. The reader can imagine that 

 there were no alleys in the center of the 

 car, and barely room enough to crawl 

 around on top of the bees. A space was 

 left near the door, and a kind of pen 

 made around the water tank which was 

 perched up on supers three deep. A 

 board was nailed across the door for 

 convenience in climbing in. The rest of 

 the space in the center of the car was 

 wedged tightly with hives and covers to 

 resist all end-jolting. It was well that 

 the hives were properly braced, for the 

 car received a bump in Chicago which 

 splintered the covers in the center, and 

 jerked the end-hives a foot from the 

 opposite end. I received damages from 

 the railroad company, later. 



NECESSITY THE MOTHER OF A USEFUL 

 INVENTION. 



We left Petersburg, in the Kickapoo 

 Valley, about 10 a. m. and got started 

 on the main line about noon. The sun 

 came out hot, and the bees demanded 

 lots of water. Finding difficulty in 

 reaching the under tier of hives with 

 water, necessity prompted the invention 

 of a squirt gun; superior in action to any 

 of boyhood days, yet quite inexpensive. 

 It consisted of a small baking powder 

 can with a hole punched in the bottom. 

 and fitted with a wooden plunger well 

 wrapped with cloth tightly and tied with 

 twine. Filled in the usual manner, this 

 gun would throw a stream of water 20 



feet. It proved efficient in reaching any 

 hive in the upper or lower tier, although 

 the watering of the latter had to be done 

 mostly at stations, and through the sides 

 of the car. 



The trip was completed without serious 

 mishap; the bees having been confined 

 four to five days in all. None were 

 smothered, though, as usual, some frames 

 had worked loose and killed bees. 



Several swarms escaped in Chicago, 

 and went hobnobbing after pollen and 

 water with the city bees. This was 

 caused by the jolt previously mentioned. 

 The car was left on the siding until 

 evening, so that the bees were finally 

 hived in Hebron the next morning. 



Although the day following was warm, 

 no teams were stung. All teams were 

 ordered ahead by telegraph, so that they 

 met me at the depot. We made only 

 eight loads of what had been 15 on 

 Wisconsin roads. Where bees are 

 liberated during shipment, it is essential 

 to use p/e/7t_y of smoke, and to start un- 

 loading early in the morning before the 

 bees begin to fly. 1 have frequently 

 subdued flying bees sufficiently for safe 

 use of teams by using a series of 

 smudges. Smoke will take the fight out 

 of an angry bee, whether in the hive or 

 in the air, but the latter position is 

 much harder to reach with the smoke. 



GETTING QUICK TRANSFERS AT JUNCTION 

 POINTS. 



Past experience in shipping bees has 

 proved the advisability of keeping after 

 railroad officials at junction points while 

 en route. The car may be routed, and 

 yet there may be failure to make quick 

 connections, through not getting the car 

 transferred to the other road. Usually 

 the yard office (to which I always go at 

 once) is able to state what train will take 

 the car out to the connecting line; or, at 

 least, it will usually find out, and arrange 

 to transfer the car. In large cities, where 

 an enormous traffic renders it impossible 

 to keep track of details, and the connect- 

 ing yard office is several miles distant, 

 you may need to 'phone, in order to 



