Vol. XYII. 



MAY 15, 1889. 



No. 10. 



TERMS: 81.00 Per Annum, IN Advance; I Tpc+n h7y o h o rl -tin 7 R 7" ? f Clubs to different postoffices, not less 

 2Copiesfor81.90;3for$2.75;5for$4.00; \ IL&TCLOII/& flVU; LJl J. O JO. than 90 cts. each. Sent postpaid, in the 



j U. S. and Canada*. To all other eoun- 



1 tries of the Universal Postal Union. 18 



per year extra. To all countries 



10 or more, 75cts. each. Single num- 1 

 ber. 5 cts. Additions to clubs may be ' 

 made at club rates. Above are all to 

 be sent to one postoffice. 



PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY 



\A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO. 



, not of the U. P. U., 42 cts. per year extra. 



OUT-APIARIES-NO. VII. 



HAUIilNG bees; management of horses among 



BEES. 



T HAVE hauled a good many loads of bees— so 

 !|P many that I probably shall never get much 

 W more used to it than I am now; but I con- 

 ■*• fess to you that I give a sigh of relief every 

 spring when the last load is hauled, and the 

 same thing happens in the fall. I'd like to impress 

 this on your mind pretty strongly; for if you are 

 not very careful you may get into such trouble that 

 you will wish you had never had any thing to do 

 with bees. I mean trouble in getting horses stung, 

 for you need anticipate no special trouble if you 

 move your bees by rail. I think I would rather not 

 have a very fractious horse to haul bees, although 

 if no bee ever gets out in any way, there is no more 

 danger than in hauling so many boxes of potatoes. 

 But I never expect to become such an adept at the 

 business that occasionally a bee will not sting my 

 horse, and I am not sure whether a horse becomes 

 used to bees so that, after being stung a few times, 

 he will care less for them, or whether he becomes 

 more nervous about hearing them fly around him 

 after experiencing their sting. I am more inclined 

 to the latter view; so at such times I am quite will- 

 ing to endure a horse that is lazy and not easily 

 stirred up. 



I am not sure whether all horses need the same 

 treatment when attacked by the bees; but I sus- 

 pect they do, from what little I have learned about 

 others, and the experience I have had with two of 

 my own. A bee attacks a horse at the head oftener 

 than anywhere else, and his first impulse is to get 

 to some post or tree where he can rub his head. A 

 careless observer, seeing a bee attack a horse which 

 is hitched to a wagon, would say that the first im- 

 pulse of the horse is to run; but I think he tries to 



run for the sake of getting to some object where he 

 can rub his head. So when a bee stings a horse on 

 the head, or even annoys it by flying about it, the 

 first thing is to run to his head, and, with one or 

 both hands and forearms, rub his head all over, un- 

 less you know where the sting is, and then you 

 will do better to devote your attention to that par- 

 ticular spot. You say that a sting only pains worse 

 to rub it. Never mind; we're not trying to save 

 the horse pain, but to save him from running and 

 smashing things. Let me caution you to look out 

 that the horse does not knock you over with his 

 head, for in trying to rub his head he will strike 

 against you. If you are driving on the road, and 

 a hive springs a leak, unhitch your hor§e as lively 

 as you can ; get him to a safe distance, and hitch 

 him till you get every thing secure. I once had an 

 old hive break so badly on the road, that the only 

 thing 1 could do was to unhitch and take the team 

 some distance ahead, unload the hive, and leave it 

 on the roadside (till next morning), then draw the 

 wagon a short distance by hand before hitching on. 

 You know how persistently a cross bee will some- 

 times follow you around. Now, don't go near a 

 horse till you have got rid of such a bee, even if 

 you have to make a detour a long way around. 



I have learned to be cautious with a horse, even 

 if there is not a hive in the apiary. One fall, after 

 all the colonies had been hauled home from the 

 Wilson apiary, we went over to bring home the last 

 load of empty supers. My wife and her sister were 

 loading on the supers, and I was occupied at some 

 distance when I was surprised to hear them calling 

 out that the horse was being stung. Charlie had haul- 

 ed home the last load of bees alone, and in an emp- 

 ty or nearly empty super that he had taken off one 

 of the hives, there were a pint or so of bees. The 

 horse was hitched with his head close to the pile of 

 supers; and when this super was slig-htly lilted, 



