GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTQRE 



Fi(j. 2. — Oiio-pound cage dissected, sliowing internal construction 

 of new style. 



our earlier experiineuls were any thing but 

 satisfactory. The cause of our former fail- 

 ures we now know was due to two condi- 

 tions — lack of water in hot weather and 

 the absence of suitable supports in place 

 of combs for the cluster. 



Years ago shipment of bees in pound 

 packages during hot weather was nearly 

 always attended with loss, requiring at least 

 fifty per cent of replacement. During the 

 past summer we discovered that we could 

 eliminate this loss almost entirely by giving 

 the bees a bottle of water. In some cases 



Fig. 3. 



-New style one-pound cage for shipping 

 without combs. 



there was a failure be- 

 cause the bottle did not 

 feed the water fast 

 enough. The most suit- 

 able container for the 

 water seems to be an or- 

 dinary self-sealing tin 

 can. The top of the can 

 (or what will be the bot- 

 tom), after filling with 

 water, is perforated by a 

 hole a little larger than 

 one made by a good-sized 

 pin. This bottle, after the 

 case is filled with bees, is 

 secured to a wooden cap 

 that closes the hole in the 

 top of the cage. See Fig. 

 1. The middle cage shows 

 a tin can with a perfora- 

 tion in the bottom. Across 

 the top is soldered a sheet 

 of tin. This acts as a sup- 

 port for the bottle after 

 it is inverted and set down 

 in the hole in the cage. 

 A wooden cap covers the 

 Iiole. The style of tin 

 bottle shown in Fig. 1 is 

 not used now — that is to 

 say, we now employ a regular self-sealing 

 can instead, the bottom of which is secured 

 to a wooden cap that closes up the hole in 

 the cage. 



The other requirement we found neces- 

 sary was some means of sujiport for the 

 bees while in transit. Years ago we dump- 

 ed the bees into a wire-cloth box, when they 

 would shortly form into a cluster like a 

 little swarm, thus hanging on to each other 

 for the whole trip. While bees can hang in 

 the form of a swarm for a short time, ex- 

 perience has shown that it is more natural 

 for them to hang on to something, and why 

 notf Just notice how a swarm will show 

 an inclination for a large bushy limb witli 

 little limbs projecting in all directions. 

 With that idea in view we instructed one of 

 our men to make uj? some cages with a 

 series of wooden slats passing centrally 

 through the cage. In Fig. 1 these slats are 

 shown only indistinctly; but in the more 

 modern cages (see Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) the 

 slatwork consists of a series of fences — slats 

 about % inch wide, and spaced about half 

 an inch apart. A series of these fences are 

 slipped down into grooves in the ends of 

 tlie cages. See Fig. 2. Two of the central 

 fences are cut out to make room for the 

 water-bottle, as will be seen. 



In this connection it is proper to remark 

 that the cages shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, G 



