1900 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



769 



and bronchos, or mustang ponies to lie down 

 together peacefully was a fact that yet remain- 

 ed to be recorded. The journalist thought 

 that such a cargo should have been sent in 

 time of war. 



L/Uck would have it that the bull-man got 

 his morning paper ; the jack-man and the 

 mustang-man were also men of letters, and of 

 course received their morning paper, and your 

 humble slave of misfortune was also an en- 

 thusiastic reader. Having heard that posses- 

 sion was nine points in law, it very naturally 

 occurred to me to get my bees aboard that 

 boat at once. Forewarned is forearmed. 

 Such was my case. Having the ever-ready 

 bike at hand I mounted and flew like the news 

 of the morning to the office of the ship's 

 agents, and with the grave complaint that, the 

 two days preceding, the sun had occasioned 

 great loss to my bees, which, of course, was 

 true, and that they would either have to fur- 

 nish shade for the bees or let me load them 

 on the ship at once, which, after phoning down 



TROUBLE AT SEA. 



to the stevedore of the ship, was decided upon 

 at once. So I flew back, and with help soon 

 had the bees aboard — hives in flat and other 

 equipment stacked to one side to be loaded at 

 leisure. In the meantime the volume of vis- 

 iting bees steadily increased, and soon scented 

 the hives aboard the ship, and flew all in and 

 around them, alighting on the wire cloth to 

 learn what the bees inside were fanning so 

 faithfully about. At this juncture the bull- 

 man arrived on the scene to learn if the news- 

 paper reporter had stated the truth about the 

 bees. He was greatly alarmed, declaring it 

 would be impossible to put any kind of stock 

 on board with the bees flying as they were. 



I tried to explain to him that the bees were 

 gentle, and would not sting unless they were 

 disturbed, all of which was Dutch to him, 

 for he had known bees all his life, and they 

 had always stung, and these were no different 

 from any others. He left me, boat, bees, and 



all, going down to raise the agents for allow- 

 ing the bees aboard. It was not long after 

 this that a messenger boy brought me a mes- 

 sage to come to the office at once. I went, 

 but was framing all sorts of complaints in my 

 mind. Upon arriving at the office I found 

 things in a rather bad state. The ship's agents 

 had just received a cablegram from the agents 

 in Havana and New York asking that bees be 

 left for another trip ; but it was too late, and 

 I had too many kicks coming on my side, for 

 I'd been written and wired passage was reserv- 

 ed for me, and the number and size of boxes, 

 and I had also been informed that loading 

 would be completed and ship sail at a date 

 that had past, and still nothing was being put 

 on the boat, and I losing bees every hour. 

 We at last reached an agreement. I w^ent 

 back and partitioned off the part of the boat 

 I was occupying, with mosquito-netting, and 

 the bulls, jacks, and bronchos were put aboard, 

 and the place was bidden adieu on Monday 

 morning with a pretty sea ahead. All went 

 quite pleasantly until the evening of the sec- 

 ond day, when we encountered a gale and bad 

 sea. Our ship of twenty thousand tons dis- 

 placement leaped, wallowed, rolled, and soon 

 had bulls piled one on top of another, with 

 legs and horns broken — bleeding, goring one 

 another, and doing all sorts of injurious things, 

 and continually bellowing. Matters went 

 from bad to worse with all animals aboard. 

 The continual pitching of the ship so worked 

 the top layer of hives loose they enjoyed 

 themselves rolling and banging about. I went 

 in on top several times to refasten them, each 

 time receiving bruises more or less, and part 

 of the time I was badly sea-sick. I soon over- 

 came the sickness, though, missing only one 

 meal at the table. 



During the night things quieted down, and 

 the next morning the work of throwing over- 

 board dead cattle was commenced. Over fifty 

 head were hauled out and delivered to the 

 sharks. As to the bees, they were in a trou- 

 bled condition. Fresh water was given them 

 through the screens. Many had ceased to 

 hum. I sighted the mountains along the north 

 coast of the province of Pinar del Rio ; with 

 the captain's glass I could see the palms grow- 

 ing all over them. Later, on drawing nearer 

 to land we could see many interesting objects 

 on shore. While talking with the captain I 

 asked him what kind of sea we had had, and 

 he replied, "Twenty-five to thirty feet." 

 71? be contintied. 



PREPARING BEES IN SINGLE-WALLED HIVES 

 FOR WINTERING ON SUMMER STANDS. 



BY W. D. KEYES. 



Mr. Editor : — I notice on page 734 that Mr. 

 Thos. McGowan, Lock 4, Pa., did not suc- 

 ceed well last winter with his bees prepared 

 with the Hill device for outdoor wintering. 

 November 1, 1898, I had 28 colonies on sum- 

 mer stands with y% open space above brood- 

 frames ; and though most of them were very 

 strong, with plenty of stores, all perished ex- 



