503 



GLEANINGS IN^BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



timber. The 2x4's will need to be 16 ft. long 

 for a 36-ft. car and 14 ft. long for a 33-ft car, 

 for they must be long enough to reach from 

 one end of the car up to the doorway. These 

 2x4's are to be placed lengthwise of the car 



FIG. 3. 



over the first tier of hives, to act as a sup- 

 port for the second tier. The 2x6 pieces are 

 to go across the car between the last row of 

 hives and the doorway. In this way each 

 tier of hives can be keyed up tight with cov- 

 ers, etc., so that there will be no unneces- 

 sary jostling. 



After sweeping out the car, fill one end 

 nearly to the door with one tier of hives 

 placed directly on the floor. Before reach- 

 ing the doorway with the last row of hives, 

 cut one of the 16-ft. 2X6 pieces in two in the 

 middle, which will make two pieces 8 ft. 

 long. One of these will be just the right 

 length to reach across the car, and it should 

 be placed flat on the 

 floor against the car- 

 door-post and on the 

 side of the post toward 

 the bees. There will 

 probably be a space 

 between the edge of this 

 two-inch piece and the 

 last row of hives put in, 

 and this space should 

 be filled in with covers 

 or bottoms or some oth- 

 er material, for it is 

 very important to have 

 the hives placed and 

 held so close together 

 that there can be no 

 movement endwise of 

 the car. Six ten-frame 

 hives, if there are no 

 projections on the sides, 

 can be placed in each 

 crosswise row, for, of 

 course, the hives should 

 be loaded with the 

 frames parallel with the 

 rails. If eight - frame 

 hives were used, possi- 

 bly seven could be put 

 into each crosswise row. 



After the first tier of hives is loaded so that 

 the floor is covered on one end of the car up 

 to the doorway, and keyed up firmly, as be- 

 fore explained, seven of the 2X4 scantlings 

 are to be placed parallel with the car on top 

 pf this first tier. One of these is put at each 



side of the car, and the other five spaced 

 equally between them, so that the next tier 

 of hives may rest on them. (If these 2x4's 

 were placed crosswise, the hives would be 

 more likely to get shaken off. ) In order to 

 give a larger surface for the rows of hives to 

 rest on, the 2x4's should, of course, be laid 

 flat. This will allow a two-inch space be- 

 tween the first two tiers of hives, which is 

 ample to give good circulation. The subse- 

 quent tiers are loaded in the same way. 



By this plan we have moved three cars of 

 bees from Remus to the northern part of the 

 State during the month of May. However, 

 when we do any further moving we propose 

 putting 2x4's crosswise of the car also, be- 

 tween each tier, so that there will be 4 inch- 

 es of space instead of only two. In this way 

 there will be openings at the sides as well as 

 at the ends of the car, and we are sure it 

 will be suflicient, since there would be circu- 

 lation from all four sides and also up and 

 down at the ends of the hives where the 

 hand-hole cleats hold them apart 1^ inches. 



If bees only were to be moved, probably 

 four hundred colonies could be put in, using 

 both ends of the car. However, we once 

 moved nearly two hundred colonies of bees 

 in one end, while about one-half of the nec- 

 essary fixtures belonging to them were placed 

 in the other end. The rest of the fixtures 

 were put into a regular box car without any 

 crating. The goods in this second car were 

 billed at 600 pieces weighing 4000 pounds. 

 We paid by the hundred-weight and not for 



O. H. TOWNSEND S PLAN FOR LOADING THE HIVES IN THE CAR. 



It will be noted that the two tiers of hives are separate, and that access can 

 therefore be had to any hive in the car. 



a full car. Since I did not wish the car of 

 bees to arrive before the other car did, I ask- 

 ed the agent to blanket the shipping-bills; 

 but he said he knew no way of doing this. 

 However, I asked him to pin the two bills 

 together, which I believe he did finally. As 



