AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



461 



two wagons. We had to haul the bees 

 about 9 miles. 



It was probably 10 p.m., when we got 

 all of our bees loaded and ready to start. 



I had all of the roofs fastened on, and 

 the bottom-boards hooked up before 

 dark, and plenty of ventilators on (I use 

 the flambaugh ventilator). It was a 

 warm evening, and the hives were large, 

 and chock full of bees — there were 

 bushels and bushels of bees in them — 

 which were in just the right condition to 

 gather a heavy crop of honey. I had 

 converted a large amount of my honey- 

 dew crop into bees. These bees were 

 lying out on the outside of the hives, and 

 our hardest job was to get the bees 

 inside, and the entrances closed. This 

 took us until after 9 p.m., and we used 

 a couple of Bingham smokers for all 

 they were worth. 



I leave no ventilation at the entrance 

 whatever — simply nail a strip of wood 

 over it. I use 11 brood-frames, the 

 length of the simplicity and depth of the 

 Quinby. On top of these I had a case of 



II 6-inch deep surplus frames ; next, a 

 Hambaugh ventilator, then a roof 4 

 inches deep, over this. Whenever the 

 bees found themselves confined, and 

 were jolted on the wagons, they would 

 cluster up in the roof, when there would 

 be a current of air right under the cluster 

 where it ought to be. 



How any one could get enough bees in 

 a little 8-frame " dovetailed hive," with 

 a flat roof fitting right close to the brood- 

 chamber is more than I can understand. 

 The colonies must be very weak, or 

 simply nuclei. 



With only 23 hives on one wagon, I 

 had a load for my team, and it was a 

 good team, too. I unloaded my bees 

 almost a quarter of a mile from any 

 house — and this is close enough to place 

 them- — and I was careful to get them 

 back off of the road. After placing our 

 hives on the ground, and getting our 

 teams away out of reach of the bees, we 

 pulled off the entrance sticks and left 

 for home. By sunup we were back 

 within a mile of home, when I discovered 

 that one of my horses was sick — a fine 

 6-year-old, that I was offered $150 for 

 not a week before. 



By walking and leading her, and a 

 good deal of coaxing we finally got her 

 home. We rubbed her good, gave her 

 just a little water, and as she began 

 eating*, and seemed so much better and 

 so comfortable, I made up my mind that 

 she was all right. And as I was very 

 tired, I laid down and went to sleep. In 

 about an hour I was called on account of 

 the racket in the stable, and in another 



hour my mare was dead. Moral : Do not 

 over-load in moving bees at night. 



I moved down 195 hives. I find it 

 almost impossible, in closing up so many 

 hives, to get every one bee-tight. After 

 the first night I used three teams and 

 wagons, and had a driver for each team. 

 One hive — a two-story simplicity that 

 had been in use about 6 years — had its 

 bottom-board so badly decayed that a 

 hole was broken through it large enough 

 to run a man's double fist into. I soon 

 had my big Bingham in full blast, and 

 playing on the bees, as it was bright 

 moonlight, and the bees bothered the 

 horses some. I managed to get a short 

 board crossways under the hive, so as 

 to close the leak. I take water down 

 once a week and fill the barrels that I 

 have there to water the bees, as the 

 lake has gone clear dry — a thing that 

 was never known before by the oldest 

 settlers. 



A few hives I did not have the surplus 

 cases on. I found it to be, to say the 

 least, not the most pleasant job that I 

 ever undertook. Unless well protected, 

 a person has no business anywhere near 

 an apiary that has been recently moved 

 in warm weather. On this account I 

 shall not move my bees out of the bottom 

 until cool, frosty weather, as the bees 

 do not seem to be so thoroughly aroused 

 in cool weather by moving them. 



It ought to be the duty of every api- 

 arist to see to it that his bees annoy 

 other people just as little as possible. 

 There is no disputing the fact that the 

 air full of angry, stinging bees is enough 

 to arouse the ill-will of almost any dis- 

 interested party, and I have no doubt 

 that some people have just cause for 

 complaint. I know that if I should 

 move my bees back now, as warm as it 

 is, I should have trouble wherever 1 

 should place them, whether at home or 

 at the out-apiaries. 



I should not think of moving bees 

 home to Winter. It does not pay. My 

 out-apiaries are all in places well shel- 

 tered from the wind. I have often 

 heard bee-men and others say that they 

 could do lots of work that would pay 

 them to do, that would not pay if they 

 had to hire the work done. In my ex- 

 perience I find this to be a false notion. 

 I find that any kind of hard work that 

 it will not pay to hire done, will not pay 

 me to do myself. In other words, I can 

 accomplish enough more, and do it 

 easier, by having plenty of good help to 

 take the heavy work off of my hands. 



Now, in moving bees I have help 

 enough so that I do not have to lug my 

 hives to the wagon myself. Here at 



