56 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



too rough it is perfectly safe. Take a 

 small load, not over a dozen colonies. 

 Let one man watch the hives with a 

 lighted smoker, and another do the 

 driving. You have no idea how easy 

 it is to smother bees by shutting them 

 up in warm weather, until you have 

 killed a few stands that waj'. If the 

 temperature is below 40 degrees it will 

 be safer and easier to shut the bees in. 



Don't leave anything but the bare 

 ground at the old location. If the dis- 

 tance is under a mile, a large number 

 of bees will usually go back to look 

 around; but if they have marked the 

 new home properly they will always 

 return. If they are to be moved in 

 warm weather it should be done very 

 late in the afternoon, so they will have 

 no chance to fly until theiiextday. If 

 it is done in cool weather, leave them 

 shut up until sundown. Put them on 

 the new stands; leave them alone until 

 some of them begin to fly, then go 

 around and give everyone a good smok- 

 ing- so they will know there is some- 

 thing doing. Then set up a board in 

 front of each one so that a bee can not 

 easily get out without bumping its 

 head. I believe this is the most impor- 

 ant part of the work, but it seems such 

 a little thing that it is often neglected. 

 It causes them to notice that there has 

 been a change, and to mark the spot 

 before leaving it. Many of them will 

 go back to the old stand; and if there 

 is a hive there, or anything that looks 

 like one, they will enter it and forget 

 all about the new location. If there is 

 none they seem to remember that there 

 is one more chance, and that is the 

 place they have just come from. 



Commenting upon the foregoing. 

 Editor Root says: — 



We have had reports before, going to 

 show that the entrances of the hives 

 may be left open; but when the colo- 

 nies are first loaded the bees should be 

 smoked; for at the first ''jounce" of 

 the wagon some bees might ofler 

 attack. 



Other reports, too, have shown that, 

 when bees are moved, there should be 

 no hives left at the old location. A 

 beginner trying the plan here des- 

 cribed should proceed with extreme 

 caution. 



I generally advise that, where bees 

 are to be moved less than a mile, the 

 moving be deferred till early in the 

 the spring, before the bees have had a 

 chance to fly. If they have been in the 

 cellar, all the better; for they can be 



put anywhere, and will stay where 

 they are put. 



The first year that I kept bees, I 

 went after them in the winter, and 

 brought them home in a sleigh. There 

 were six colonies, and, after getting 

 them home, I packed them in straw, in 

 a big long box standing east of the 

 house. When I unpacked them in the 

 spring, two colonies were dead. The 

 other four came through all right and 

 prospered; but, for various reasons, I 

 found it necessary to move them to the 

 other side of the house. One morning 

 in April, before a bee was astir, I 

 picked up the hives and carried them 

 to the opposite side of the house. When 

 they began to fly there was quite a 

 commotion around the hives, as the 

 bees were marking their new location. 

 There was also quite a commotion 

 around the old location, which, by the 

 way, was left simpU' a bare spot of 

 ground. These two commotions prob- 

 ably reached their height about ten 

 o'clock. By noon, only a few straggl- 

 ing bees were seen hovering over where 

 once stood their home. Not a bee ever 

 alighted on the old location, and I 

 doubt if a teacup full of bees failed to 

 get back to the hives. To all appear- 

 ances the colonies lost no bees. 



THE INVERSION OF CANE SUGAR. 



A Process That Takes Place When the 

 Sugar is fed to Bees. 



Bro. Abbott, of the Modern Farmer, 

 and myself have sometimes sharply 

 disagreed, but that does not prevent 

 me from admitting that he is making a 

 very creditable paper. I read and 

 admire many of the editorials, but, 

 like some of the rest of us, he occasion- 

 ally "makes a break," as in the fol- 

 lowing from his January issue: 



SUGAR SYRUP IS NOT HONKY. 



Editor Hutchinson of that excellent 

 but sometimes slow-going magazine, 



