THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



267 



them less to put them in early. That they 

 have not yet reached so advanced a staye of 

 "hibernation" as my friend Clarke calls it. 

 Rousing a man just as he is on the point of 

 falling to sleep is not so uuich of a shock as 

 it is to awake him from a sound sleep, is tlie 

 idea, but I don't take mucli stock in it, un- 

 less we are to use it in comjiaring the bring- 

 ing in of bees early in the fall with that of 

 bringing them in at mid winter. In short, 

 I think it unimportant when the bees are 

 brought in, provided they have really settled 

 down for winter's inactivity and they are 

 not left out until freezing weather sets in. 



When the time arrives for carrying in the 

 bees how shall it be done? If there are only 

 a few colonies and they are near the cellar 

 they may be picked up and carried in by 

 "main strength," but if there are many to 

 carry or the distance much, some other plan 

 is needed. If there are two persons to do 

 the work it simplifies matters, as the hives 

 may be carried between them upon a hand 

 barrow. The barrow used by my brother 

 and myself is made of two pieces of fencing, 

 each six feet long, the ends being shaved 

 down to a convenient size for handles. The 

 two pieces of hoards are placed upon their 

 edges, about fifteen inches apart, and then 

 fastened together by two cross-pieces nailed 

 in between them. As the bee cellar is in a 

 side hill, four hives could be placed upon 

 the barrow and carried directly into the cel- 

 lar. Where the cellar is under a building 

 and must be entered by going down stairs, 

 this sort of a barrow would not answer very 

 well unless there were stakes put in to keep 

 the hives from sliding, and the frames were 

 not of the swinging style. Mr. H. R. Board- 

 man has a cart behind which he can walk 

 and from the front of which project arms 

 that may be thrust straddle of a hive and 

 the hive thus raised from the bottom board 

 and wheeled into the cellar without so much 

 as touching the hive with the hands. Mr, F. 

 H. McFarland, of Vermont, has a sort of 

 neck-yoke to each end of which a hive may 

 be attached by wire loops that pass under 

 the hive. Mr. Doolittle and Dr. Miller have 

 each, I believe, some sort of a device that 

 enables them to use their strength to the 

 best advantage when carrying bees into the 

 cellar. I have forgotten just how their ar- 

 rangements are arranged, the same as I have 

 in regard to quite a number of other devices 

 that have been devised for this purpose. 

 Carrying bees into or out of a cellar is hard 



work at best, and if there is any "best way," 

 either for one man or for two, let us find out 

 what it is. 



If an attempt is made to carry bees into 

 the collar during warm weather, or when the 

 temperature is rising and the cluster expand- 

 ing, there is trouble from the bees leaving 

 the hives on account of the disturbance. 

 When the temperature is falling and the 

 cluster contracting is the time to move them 

 in. If the bottom boards are loose (and 

 they ought to be) and there comes a day 

 when " its growing colder all the time," just 

 raise each hive an inch or two, putting a 

 block under each corner. This will allow the 

 cold to " get at " the bees, causing them to 

 cluster more quickly and compactly, when 

 they may be carried into the cellar without 

 leaving a little cluster upon the bottom board 

 or very many bees leaving the hive. 



No, I would not bring in the bottom boards 

 with the bees, and I would stack up the hives 

 as practiced by Mr. Boardman. That is, if 

 I had room enough. Set the bottom row of 

 hives a foot or more apart. Let the distance 

 apart be such that when the next row is 

 placed upon the first, each hive may set over 

 the opening between the lower hives. In 

 other words, the ends of the upper hive will 

 just nicely "catch on" to the upper ends of 

 the two lower hives. Each row would be 

 placed in a similar manner, thus leaving a 

 space below each hive. For the lower row I 

 would use empty hives. I would manage in 

 some manner to have an empty space below 

 the combs, for, without being able to say ex- 

 actly ivhy, I have noticed for several years 

 that colonies so prepared, whether in doors 

 or out, have wintered better than where the 

 bottom boards came up close to the bees. 

 Pat the weakest colonies at the top. 



Friends, this is to be our speci 1 topic for 

 November; you will please criticise what I 

 have written. 



THE WINTEB PEOBLEM IN BEE KEEPING. 



This is the title of a new fifty cent book of 

 seventy-seven pages written by G. R. Pierce, 

 of Blairstown, Iowa. It is exceedingly well 

 written and well printed. In fact the work 

 might be taken for that of a professional, 

 scientific writer. It is also evident that the 

 writer has had some experience in bee keep- 

 ing, and is somewhat conversant with current 

 apicultural literature, yet he decides that bee 

 diarrhtea is simply a cold — intestinal catarrh 



