1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



and comb-protector you will save labor, time, and 

 expenses, and thereby be enabled to market your 

 honey early in the season, when the best prices can 

 be obtained. You will reduce the cost, decrease 

 loss by breakage, but increase the demand, and 

 consequently obtain larger profits. 



P. G. Strohmeyer & Co. 

 New York, May 22, 1889. 



All right, friends Strohmeyer & Co. Send 

 us samples of your new improvement, just 

 as soon as you can, and give us some pic- 

 tures to give to our readers. You are ex- 

 actly on the very track where we wanted to 

 see you ; and we can stand considerable free 

 advertising, if you will just give us some- 

 thing practical, to prevent daubing and 

 breakage. 



MOVING BEES. 



CAPITAL SUGGESTION FROM S. I. FREEBORN, OF 

 BASSWOOD FAME. 



READ with interest every thing- touching- on 

 this point. I have often wondered if other 

 folks had the trouble that I did, and were alive 

 to the risks incurred in moving bees. It seems, 

 Mr. Editor, that others besides myself have 

 found that bees and horses do not always harmon- 

 ize. I can join with C. C. Miller in the sigh of re- 

 lief in the fall when through moving bees; but for 

 myself, I don't dread spring and fall moving as 

 much as summer moving, when stocks are more 

 populous, and weather warmer. 



THE KIND OF VEHICLE BEST ADAPTED FOR MOV- 

 ING BEES. 



I have had occasion at times to move bees during 

 every month in the year. I have moved by almost 

 every kind of vehicle —wagons, sleds, buggies, 

 spring wagons, and those without springs. I 

 thought at one time that we should use springs, or 

 put something soft under them, as straw or hay; 

 but of late years I have put nothing softer than the 

 wagon-box under them. I have tried several kinds 

 of racks, but have voted them unhandy and cum- 

 bersome. I have simmered down to two wagon- 

 boxes 11(4 feet long, made double— boxes like those 

 on farmers' wagons for hauling corn and other 

 produce. We find these handy for hauling bees, 

 apple-trees, and many other kinds of luggage. 

 They will hold 12 double Laugstroth or Gallup hives, 

 or 24 single ones. We have 100 screens of the size of 

 the top of the hives that we nail on after fastening 

 frames and bottom-boa rds. We pack well with hay 

 or straw around the hives, to keep them from rock- 

 ing. In this way we have moved hundreds of colo- 

 nies, and many times over as rough roads as there 

 are in this county, and that is rough enough. 



DISA8TERS IN MOVING BBES ; HOW TO AVOID. 



Previous to last season, we had killed but very 

 few colonies— probably four or five in 30 years. 

 Last season we met our Waterloo, killing 16 colo- 

 nies in one trip. Several causes served as helps to 

 this disaster: The distance was considerable (24 

 miles), there was too much honey; the weather was 

 very hot, and the colonies were extra strong. In 

 our first trip of this move, we left in the full num- 

 ber of frames; in the next loads we took out five or 

 six frames from each upper story, making them 

 cooler, and furnishing an empty space to cluster in. 

 The last moved had the advantage of being 6 miles 

 nearer destination than those moved first, with, the 



additional precaution of less frames. We moved 

 the last lot with success. 



As an offset to the loss of last season, I will give a 

 short account of moving 72 colonies in the summer 

 of 1879, which was my first experience in moving to 

 the mint (last of July, 10 miles distance). I wished 

 to move the strongest colonies, many bees lying 

 out. The question was, how to move such popu- 

 lous stocks and make it safe for them and the horses. 

 We solved the problem by nailing some wire screens 

 over empty hives, and fastening one on top of each 

 colony moved, making them three stories high, 

 with nothing but bees and air in upper stories. 

 The experiment was a success, as we broke only one 

 comb out of the 72 colonies in moving down, and 

 did not get a horse stung at all; but we used every 

 precaution to guard against the bees getting out. 



SHIPPING BEES BY RAIL. 



In regard to this matter I will flay I am not au- 

 thority, having done but little of it, and that only a 

 short distance. I have lately been in correspon- 

 dence with a gentleman who has been in the habit 

 of shipping his bees from Missouri to Mississippi, to 

 winter, taking in the early honey season there, and 

 then returning in time for white clover in Missouri. 

 He reported the venture as a success, but informed 

 me that he had great difficulty in keeping his bees 

 cool in returning. As they were then numerous, 

 and the weather warm, he was obliged to use ice to 

 keep them quiet enough to stand the trip. I have 

 also been in correspondence with a man from 

 Michigan in regard to 



MOVING BEES FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH, 



to take in the different honey seasons. His plan, as 

 he wrote me in early spring, was to buy bees in Ar- 

 kansas, take in the poplar and basswood harvest, 

 then move north till he struck white clover in its 

 prime; after clover, pack for Wisconsin and gather 

 in clover, basswood, mint, and whatever else he 

 could. I referred him to C. O. Perrine's venture on 

 the Mississippi, and others, cautioning him of the 

 loss of brood in long transits, and the difficulties of 

 having bees in condition to gather an immediate 

 harvest after a long trip. He has, I believe, modi- 

 fled his plans so as to take the early harvest in Ar- 

 kansas, and be satisfied with what he can get in 

 Wisconsin without stopping midway. 



GETTING HORSES STUNG ; AN INGENIOUS PLAN TO 



LOOSEN THEM FROM THE WAGON INSTANTLY, 



IN GASE OF EMERGENCY. 



In regard to the danger of getting horsoe stung 

 while moving bees, and the dire consequences that 

 might follow, I can heartily join with Bro. Root in 

 saying that C. C. Miller's caution is timely. Yes, I 

 should say be careful. If a man needs to be cau- 

 tioned when about to catch a mule by the hind leg, 

 or a rattlesnake by the tail, then it will be in order 

 to caution him about mixing bees and horses. 

 There is one part of Miller's tactics that 1 think I 

 will leave for you and him to practice— that is rub- 

 bing the horses' heads and noses when the bees are 

 after them. I prefer to be at the other end, with a 

 good hold of the lines. In the first plaee, I would 

 emphasize the caution— when moving bees, don't 

 leave the hives so then will leak Iters; but if, by some 

 mishap, they do get out,get bees amd horses apart as 

 soon o.s possible. To do this with all dispatch, we 

 have our whiffletree-pins greased so they will pull 

 out easily. We also have a piece of rope tied 

 around the upper end, extending up to within easy 

 reach of the driver; so in case of any stinging, the 



