88 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



sites, etc., and I knew where every colony of bees were in this terri- 

 tory and the owner, and whether or not they could be bought. 



There was only one man in the whole territory who kept bees 

 in modern hives and he was the most wealthy man in all the country 

 and did not want to sell his bees, which, in all, were 40 colonies. I 

 said to myself, "I will buy your bees at some time in the near future," 

 (and sure enough I closed the deal for them the next year). 



Three More Bee-Yards Are Established. 



I decided to establish three more apiaries at the best and most 

 convenient sites from my home and other yards. On two of these 

 sites there were already located box hive apiaries, one consisting of 

 43 colonies. I could buy these bees at a little better than $1.00 per 

 colony, with the privilege of establishing permanent apiaries there, 

 and I closed the deal. There were several bunches of bees within a 

 few miles of these and another apiary site 1 had picked out and 

 asked for. 



I bought and gathered up and placed them at nearest site, doing 

 all my moving at night to avoid danger of bees escaping from the 

 old, crude box hives. I fastened the bees up late in the afternoon 

 when they were all in by smoking them at the bottom of the hives and 

 settting the mouth of the hives on a piece of burlap placed on the 

 level ground and fastened around the hives by drawing it up on all 

 four sides and tacking pieces of leather cut as long as the sides of the 

 hives were wide across all four sides about six inches from the 

 bottoms. All other openings were closed by packing them well 

 with soft rags and all loose covers were tacked on. Then they were 

 loaded on the wagon and hauled to the apiary sites and placed where 

 they were expected to remain. All told, there were a few over a 

 hundred of these colonies, and for convenience in transferring they 

 were set right on the ground. 



When I was ready to move these bees 1 added to my business 

 for the first time a good horse and wagon and a pair of good bolster 

 springs, for up to this time it was most economical to have my neces- 

 sary hauling done. As will be seen all the way through, my ambition 

 was to establish a great bee business with the least possible amount 

 of expense, in the most economical manner. From the two most 

 remote yards from my home yard I moved 50 colonies of bees to 

 these three new yards, making about 50 colonies all told in each of 

 the new yards. The two yards I moved bees from were where I ex- 

 pected to make the most increase, which would about cure the bees 

 of swarming at these yards, and I would not have to visit them very 

 often during the season, for I was to do all the apiary work myself. 



To prepare the bees for moving I made 25 wire covers out of 

 galvanized gauze wire, cut in pieces as wide as the hives and two 



