TEA.NSPORTING BEES. 169 



exposed to great risk in being moved at all if tliey are not 

 full of combs. Sometimes they are turned upside down 

 ■while being transported, in order to prevent the weight of 

 the combs helping to detach them from their holding- 

 points. Even in this position they will suffer much if 

 slightly shaken or jolted. When the distance is short, 

 and the combs insecure, hives should be removed on 

 hand-barrows in their natural position. Some bee-keepers 

 place their hives on thin towelling, which is tied over 

 their mouths, and which answers for ventilation in their 

 transition. We knew a case of bees eating through this 

 towelling. They were sent from Scotland to London well 

 tied up in it. They were sent on a carrier's cart thirty- 

 three mUes to Edinburgh, to be shipped at Leith for 

 London. In the centre of the city of Edinburgh the bees 

 escaped in great numbers. The carrier's wits made him 

 purchase two sheets of fly-proof wire, which he speedily 

 placed over the towelling, and thus saved the hives from 

 losing more bees. The hives arrived in London safe, and 

 though considerably reduced by the loss of bees in Ediu- 

 burgh, they did well next season in county Middlesex. 



When hives are so full that some of their bees are 

 clustering outside, they should be enlarged with ekes or 

 nadirs one or two days before they are prepared for re- 

 moval to a distance. When such hives are to be removed 

 but a short distance for the convenience of watching them 

 swarm naturally, they can be safely carried on hand-bar- 

 rows after ten o'clock at night, without closing their doors 

 at all. Like well-behaved people, bees keep to their 

 homes after that hour. 



On arrival at their destination, all hives should be 

 speedily placed where they are to stand, the wire on their 

 crowns removed, and their own lids put on, then covered, 

 and their doors opened. If the weather and time of day 



