1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



501 



as it is not satisfactory to put staples on the 

 back end for moving on a car. When both 

 sides of the bottoms are stapled, two staples 

 to a side, as shown in Fig. 1, there will be 

 no danger of their being bumped off in tran- 

 sit. 



FIG. 1. 



As many wire-cloth frames will be needed 

 as there are colonies to move. These are to 

 be nailed on the top of the hive, after re- 

 moving the cover, and are for ventilation. 

 Ask the hardware man for black window 

 screen (other colors may do just as well, but 

 I prefer the black); and if the right width is 

 purchased it will cut to good advantage. 



The wire cloth should be the size of the 

 top of the hive, outside measure. As the 

 lath are li inches wide, cut four pieces 1| 

 inches shorter than the length of the hive, and 

 four H inches short of the width, and make 

 the frame as shown in Fig. 2, in such a way 

 as to mismatch the pieces at the corners, 

 which will be double thickness. With the 

 inch nails that are sold for bee keepers' work 

 nail through both sets of lath and the wire 

 screen, especially at the corners. If bass- 

 wood lath is used and the nails clinched, the 



screen ordinarily ought to last a lifetime, 

 and it will be much more handy than simply 

 a piece of wire cloth fastened with loose lath 

 or strips that are always being lost. The 

 screen is to be fastened on the top of the 

 hive with four 5-penny box nails, one at each 

 corner, driven into the side board of the 



hive. As this screen affords ample ventila- 

 tion for May moving, a lath is nailed over 

 the entrance to shut the bees in. It is very 

 harmful to keep bees shut in their hives, and 

 we aim to plan so that all of the entrances 

 are left open until the morning the car is to 

 be loaded. If the colonies to be moved are 

 far from the depot they are moved in by 

 wagon, unloaded in some convenient place, 

 the entrance-blocks removed, and the bees 

 allowed to fly until the morning they are to 

 be put in the car. It is very important to 

 have every thing handy, for the work should 

 all be done in one day, and the bees started 

 toward their destination at the earliest mo- 

 ment. 



HOW TO MOVE BEES ON A VTAGON. 



Some may want to know how we move 

 bees from an outyard to the car. This is 

 done on a common low- wheeled farm-wagon. 

 We put on a set of bolster-springs and then 

 a flat hay-rack. If there is no front rail or 

 dash, a narrow board is nailed across the 

 front edge of the rack to keep the tirst row 

 of screened hives from being jostled out of 

 position. 



The hives are loaded so that the frames 

 are crosswise of the rack; and if they are of 

 the Langstroth pattern, ten or twelve rows 

 of four hives each can be put on crosswise. 

 One tier high will make an ordinary load. 

 When all are on, a narrow strip of board is 

 also nailed along both sides and the back to 

 keep the hives from sliding off. 



THE KIND OF CAR TO SHIP IN. 



The agent of the railroad company should 

 order a single-deck stock or cattle car for the 

 day the hives are to be loaded. A non- ven- 

 tilated box car should not be used, for hot 

 weather may come before the bees get to the 

 journey's end, and there would then be trou- 

 ble in ventilating. As an illustration of the 

 importance of making use of a ventilated car 

 I will cite an instance that happened here in 

 Michigan a year ago. A party moved a car 

 of bees in a regular box car, and provided no 

 screens for the tops of the hives. The combs 

 in seventeen of the best colonies melted 

 down, and other colonies were so reduced in 

 strength that they were of but little use that 

 season; in fact, there would not have been a 

 single colony to go through without smoth- 

 ering had it not been that the trip took but 

 two days, and these two days were during 

 some of the coldest weather in the spring, i 

 believe, then, that it is best to have in all 

 cases a well-ventilated stock-car, and to pro- 

 vide screens for the top of each hive. 



LOADING THE CAR. 



The car should be placed, as nearly as pos- 

 sible, to the colonies so that they can be con- 

 veniently loaded. In placing the hives in 

 the car every thing must be braced rigidly 

 to prevent shaking and jarring any more 

 than is necessary. It is important to remem- 

 ber that there is no side shaking to speak of, 

 so all of the bracing should be done with the 

 intent of preventing the lengthwise shaking. 

 A few hundred feet of 2x4 scantling will be 

 needed, and also a few 16-ft. pieces of 2X6 



