THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



111 



mistake of using a box car in moving bees. 

 Now. it sometimes happens that one 

 cannot get a car when it is wanted; in 

 this case, do not close the bees in until 

 the car is ready, and at the depot. It is 

 not always possible to find out by your 

 agent when you will be able to get a car. 

 So, it would be a good idea to go to the 

 agent and get his idea, of how long before 

 you will need it, you had better order. 

 This may save you vexatious delays. 



HOW TO PACK AND FASTEN THE HIVES IN THE 

 CAR. 



We will now suppose your car is ready; 

 at night shut your bees in, so there will be 

 no delay in getting a good start the next 

 morning. Secure teams enough to put 

 them all on the car in one day. 1 hope 

 the hives are all of the same size and 

 shape for we want to place a tier of hives 

 covering one-half of the car; then, when 

 we get one tier of hives covering the floor 

 of the car even with the door, four or five 

 inch strips of boards are tacked along on 

 top of the rows of hives, one nextthe out- 

 side of the car, but on the edge of the 

 first row of hives, then the second strip is 

 tacked on the space between the first and 

 second row of hives. If you get the idea 

 correct, these strips will come just right 

 to set your second tier of hives on. These 

 strips run lengthwise of the car; this is so 

 that should there be any moving about of 

 the hives, they will not slip off these 

 strips; as all the jolting is from front to 

 rear, or vice versa. Now, we will suppose 

 you have one end of the car full, I said 

 full (?) There should be space enough in- 

 side of the door frame to put in a 2x10 

 scantling, lying down flat. These 2 by 1 

 scantlings should be eight foot long, as 

 that is the width of the car outside, they 

 are to be placed crosswise of the car, and 

 as they are the length the car is wide, 

 they have to go in the openings formed 

 by the sides of the car being open. Slide 

 them toward the car door until they come 

 up against the car door post, this gives 

 us a good solid support to quey up against. 

 One of these is placed against each tier 

 of hives. Now, with bottom boards, or 



covers, wedge up every row of hives. 

 This is important for the jolting they get 

 has never been told. Our load, on its trip 

 north, seemed to be in that luck, if one 

 could call it luck, to get in between two 

 loaded gravel cars, or similar positions; 

 at any rate, it would seem as if those 

 railroad men were trying to even up some 

 old grievance against those bees, the way 

 they pounded and bumped them every 

 chance they got. 



With all of this pounding, however, there 

 were only a few combs broken; and this 

 is all the more strange, when we take in- 

 to consideration that several of these col- 

 onies were of the previous season's new 

 swarms. 



Fifty of these colonies were in old 

 rickety hives, some I had bought that 

 spring, and were not yet shifted into our 

 new hives. It was almost impossible to 

 calk them so but what more or less bees 

 would get out. The fact is, several of them 

 did get out and, as it was fine weathar, 

 whenever we would side-track for 

 any length of time, these bees would carry 

 pollen and water. The point 1 wish to 

 impress is that these bees were very cross. 

 Although they did not sting anyone, I 

 think they would, had I not attended to 

 them, by smoking' them; also keeping 

 them well wet down whenever it was 

 possible to get the water. The moral is 

 to have one's bees so well secured that it 

 is impossible for them to get out. For 

 you see how easy it would be to cause a 

 bad feeling among the railroad men that 

 might prove disastrous should we ever 

 ask for a lower freight rate on bees. 



I should have mentioned in the proper 

 place, that all our bees that had an addi- 

 tional upper story on, were placed on the 

 upper deck, as we could not deck up on 

 these double story hives without a good 

 deal of labor; for, if we should have set 

 another tier directly upon them, they 

 would have been smashed to pieces, 

 with the pounding they got. 



1 have always thought that were I to 

 move two-story colonies, I would order a 

 double-deck stock car, then put one tier 



