503 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



hardiest known; get more honey than any oth- 

 ers: live longer: a strong colony can be divided 

 into twenty at the end of May. and each will 

 build up in a good season, without feeding, into 

 a ten-frame colony well stored foi' winter, and 

 yield one or two twenty-pound supers of honey 

 from the heather; fill sections fuller, and cap 

 them whiter than others; eat the hardest and 

 driest sugar: non-robbing, and leave 300 to 600 

 queen-cells at swarming. I believe an import- 

 ed queen can be had for about §40. - 



gENEI^^Ii C0RREgP0NDENCE. 



SHIPPING FULL COLONIES OF BEES BOTTOM 

 SIDE UP. 



PLAN OF SHIPPING BEES ANY DISTANCE. 

 ANY WEATHER, ANT) BY ANY 

 CONA'EYANCE. 



Slide the hive back on the bottom-board and 

 close the entrance. Fig. 1. Remove the cover, 

 but not the cloth; lay on an extra bottom- 

 board, face side down, 3. Fasten with screws, 

 3, into each side of the hive. Take hold of the 

 front end of the hive and turn it on the end, fol- 

 lowing the direction of arrow, n; then turn 

 again till it rests with the top side down. Fig. 3. 

 Have a piece of bunting (cheese-cloth), 4. ready, 

 which should be four inches larger each way 

 than the hive, and spi'ead it over the bottom of 

 the frames, 4, having first removed the bottom - 

 board. Now slip on the wire band. Fig. .3, and 

 crowd it down over the bunting and hive about 

 an inch. .5. Have i-eady a block, 3xK, and as 

 long as the hive is wide, with a sufficient num- 

 ber of holes to accommodate the number of 

 frames you have in the hive. Fasten this at 



FIG. 3. 



>0 



IT 



-Ij 



7 

 FIG. 3. 

 A PLAN OF SHIPPING BEES UPSIDE DOWN. 



each end with an eight-penny wire nail, then 

 slip a ten-penny nail down the side of each 

 frame, to hold them so they cau.not swing side- 

 wise. 



You may now load into a wagon or any other 

 vehicle all the hives you have so prepared, and 

 drive on the run. if you wish, to any distance 

 desired, and no bees will be killed, no comb 

 broken, no bees getting out to sting the horses. 

 When you are to ship on the cars, wire cloth is 

 to be used in place of bunting, with a few car- 

 pet-staples over the wire hoop. I have shipped 

 bees in July, when it was 100° in the shade, a 

 distance of 18 miles, and warranted their safe 

 arrival, and in a common lumber-wagon. They 

 reached their destination in good order. The 

 hoop should be made of tinners' stiff bale wire; 

 and the loops. 7, 7. 7, 7, should be put in so the 

 hoop may spread to accommodate itself to any 

 variation in size of hive, and should be turned 

 down, and not stand out at right angles with 

 the hive, as that would interfere with close 

 packing. J. W. Pouter. 



Ponca, Neb. 



[Although you do not say so, I presume the 

 reason why you turn the hives upside down is 

 to get the heaviest part of your combs — that is, 

 the part holding the sealed honey — next to 

 where the bottom-bar was formerly. This 

 brings the empty part of the combs to the top. 

 I have no doubt thei-e is an advantage in this. 

 It seems to me, however, that the work required 

 to get colonies in this condition more than 

 counterbalances the advantage.] E. R. R. 



PUTTING ON SECTIONS, ETC. 



DOOLITTLE GIVES US SOME VALUABLE HINTS 

 AS TO THE TIME OF PUTTING THEM ON. 



A correspondent writes: " Will you please tell 

 us in Gleanings just how we may know the 

 right time to put on the sections or surplus ar- 

 I'angement to our hives, so that we may secure 

 the best results in honey? I am a novice at the 

 business, and should like to have you explain 

 minutely in regard to this matter."' 



In the first plac(\ I would say, that, if our 

 correspondent does not have one of the many 

 good bee-books of the present, he should at 

 once procure one, and this will tell him more of 

 the minutiae of bee-keeping than is expected to 

 be found in any article written for the press. 



If we hav(( our sections all in ri^adiness to go 

 on the hive, each having a nice starter in it. 

 and all in the surplus arrangement, we have 

 only to wait till the time is ripe for putting on 

 the" sections. If we are not thus in readiness, 

 the first thing is to become so. I do all of this 

 preparatory work during the winter months: 

 and from past experience I would advise every 

 one else to do the same thing, no matter if we 

 do have a few moi'e dollars invest(^d in this way 

 than we should just like, when not knowing 

 how our bees will winter, or what the harvest 

 will be. I find that, in the long run. this course 

 pays much the best. Having them all in I'eadi- 

 ness we are to decide when to put them on thii 

 hives. To know just when to do this is often 

 difficult; for, if put on too early, brood -rearing 

 is materially retarded: and if put on while 

 there is no honey coming in, although there 

 may be plenty of bees so the brood does not suf- 

 fer, these bees, not having any thing to do. will 

 often go into the sections, and, apparently bent 

 on mischief, will amuse themselves in gnawing 

 down the foundation starters, thus causing a_ 

 delay in ejitering the sections for work, when" 

 the harvest does airive. The rule which was 

 given me when I commenced bee-keeping was 

 to put on the sections when the white clover 

 came into bloom: and for the bee-keeper who 

 uses box hives, or the one who never handles 

 his frames to know what condition his bees are 



