1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



885 



Simplicity hives, one-story, very full of bees, 

 and very heav3' with honey in frames 7iot 

 wired. How to take them (a little over 20 

 miles) on a wag-on heavy enough to haul 

 sixtj' hundred over these California g^rades 

 in the heat of the day, in the hottest part of 

 the 3'ear, was the question, and here is how 

 I did it with almost entire success. 



To prepare the wagon I put boards 

 across the middle in front, and back of a 

 space large enough to receive the hives, and 

 filled it with haj' 6 or 7 in. deep. I took an 

 empty hive, tacked a piece of wire cloth 

 over the top, took off a hive-cover and put 

 the empty hive on, fastening it by tacking- 

 two strips up and down each side, and 

 nailing the entrance up tight. I then took 

 pieces of heavy paper, such as is used un- 

 der carpets, and tacked to the sides of the 

 hives, letting it bow up like a wagon-cover 

 6 or 7 in. above the wire cloth, and pro- 

 jecting- at each end. I set the hives on the 

 hay, and moved up the board across the 

 wagon-bed so the}* would keep the hay 

 close up to and under the hives, and passed 



a wire around the hives so they could not 

 slide about. 



I did not get started for home until a lit- 

 tle after 1 p. m., and it was dark when I 

 got home. The day was warm enough to 

 make my horses sweat more, with the three 

 colonies of bees, coming home, than going- 

 in the day before with a load of nearly fif- 

 ty hundred. Before I had been on the road 

 an hour, in one of the hives the bees had 

 found a leak at one of the entrances, and 

 several dozen got out and buzzed about my 

 head and face some, and two stingos were 

 the result. I was on a long- grade, and 

 meeting- a good many teams, so I could not 

 stop, as I should block up the way, and 

 might get some one into trouble; but as soon 

 as I got to the bottom of the grade I got the 

 leak stopped, and saw no more of the bees; 

 but I think I found them all on top of the 

 screen when I came to open the hive the 

 next morning. 



When I reached home I set off the bees at 

 the yard, and the next morning at daylight 

 I placed them where I wanted them to 



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THE CALLBRFATH HIVE-STAND AS MODIFIED BY FRANCIS DANZENBAKER.— SEE EDITORIALS. 



