462 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



home, when I load up, we have to carry 

 the bees clear outside of the bee-yard. 

 We loaded 65 hives on the three wagons 

 here, and I had four men to carry them 

 out and lift them up to me while I placed 

 them on the wagons. I find that one 

 good hive of bees makes a load for two 

 men to carry. 



I should say, from my experience, that 

 unless a colony of bees is strong and in 

 condition to gather a crop, it will not 

 pay to move it. 



From one lot of these bees that I 

 moved, I had but recently removed the 

 crop of honey-dew, and did not replace 

 the supei'S until after I moved them to 

 the bottom. The bees were so cross 

 that it was almost impossible to put the 

 surplus cases in place. 



On page 737 of Oleaniiigs, Sept. 15, 

 in a foot-note to J. A. Green's article on 

 moving bees to new honey fields, are 

 some statements on which I would like 

 the opinions of the readers of the Bee 

 JouKNAL. Commencing in the first 

 column, about one-fourth of the way 

 down, I find the following : 



"After waiting a couple of hours, a 

 thunder shower came up, and then we 

 set to work in earnest, put the bees in, 

 fastened the covers and bottoms, and 

 laid the hives on the wagon. Two of us, 

 in about an hour and a quarter, pre- 

 pared 57 colonies in 8-frame dovetailed 

 hives, and set them on the wagon. This 

 would make only about a minute and a 

 quarter for each hive, after the rain set 

 in, so we could close the bees in. We 

 should have been enabled to do it in less 

 time, but the rain poured down so 

 furiously that we could hardly see to 

 work, to say nothing of being dripping 

 wet. Each hive had to be carried quite 

 a distance around a building, under some 

 low-spreading apple trees, and finally 

 we had to crawl over a rail fence before 

 depositing them on the wagon." 



Why in the world did they not lay the 

 fence down ? 



" Now, if these bees had been on loose 

 fram(>s, we should have spent all the 

 afternoon, and more too, in getting the 

 frames stuck up. As it was, we did not 

 even open the hives. We used the same 

 kind of entrance screen as you describe, 

 exactly ; and two wire nails held all 



securely in position As the frames 



were fixed — that is, Hoffman — in order 

 to nail the bottom-board on, all we had 

 to do was to turn the hive on its side. 

 Imagine, if you please, the fun of doing 

 this with loose frames. But let me say, 

 I drove no nails until the entrance 

 screens were fastened. Then I had 

 everything my own way. 



"After the hives were all on, the load 

 looked very much like that shown in 

 your picture, only the hiv<;s were piled 

 up two tiers high, in many cases. Add 

 to this the fact that they weighed on an 

 average from 60 to 75 pounds each, 

 and you will get some idea of the extent 

 of the load. As nearly as I can estimate, 

 there was something o^er 8,000 pounds 

 weight, including bees, honey and hives. 



As soon as we hitched on the big 



team, Mike, the bigger one, showed 

 right away that he knew that bees were 

 roaring behind him, and I feared he 

 would not stand much in the way of 

 stings. . . .It was now fast growing dark, 

 and the heavy black clouds gave indica- 

 tions of rain : and an intensely dark 

 night, with seven miles ahead of us, 

 with very bad roads, and one or two 

 railroad cuts that were anything but 

 easy to get over, were not very cheering. 

 I felt considerably nervous, and em- 

 ployed myself in running on top of the 

 load " 



Perhaps I ought to keep still and let 

 the unitiated find out for themselves, 

 but movina bees is a particular hobby of 

 mine, and I want to find out all I can 

 about it. In the first place let me do a 

 little figuring. Fifty-seven hives, weight 

 75 pounds each, would be 4,275 pounds, 

 weight of Mr. E. R., and the driver, 

 probably 300 pounds more, and you 

 have a load of 4,575 pounds net. In 

 addition to this all of these hives were 

 wet, and the wheels of the wagon would 

 pick up 200 or 300 pounds of mud. But 

 taking it at 00 pounds to the hive, would 

 place E. R.'s load at 3,720 pounds. 



" As soon as we hitched on the big 

 team, Mike, the bigger one," etc. If 

 you will turn to page 599, of Oleanings, 

 July 15, under the text, "A righteous 

 man regardeth the life of his beast," you 

 will find a pretty thorough description 

 of the other big team horse, " old Jack." 

 As he claims that the road was quite 

 hilly, and it had been raining, the hills 

 were no doubt quite slippery. 



Another point : He claims that there 

 was no ventilation except at the entrance. 

 I find by actual experience that a colony 

 of bees that are strong enough to be 

 worth anything whatever, at this time of 

 the year, would be completely suffocated 

 without more ventilation. A few bees 

 would crowd themselves into the en- 

 trance, and shut off all ventilation. In 

 other words, it is an impossibility to 

 move bees safely without more venti- 

 lation, and I think numerous authorities 

 will bear me out in this assertion. 



The queries that I wish to see an- 

 swered are : 



