TRANSPORTING OF BEES. 125 



travelling hundreds of miles, and we have no break- 

 downs. 



The value of cross-sticks in each hive to support its 

 combs will be seen ; indeed they are indispensable, for 

 if combs are not supported and kept steady by cross- 

 sticks they are easily shaken down. Hives without cross- 

 sticks are exposed to great risk in being moved at all. 

 And if bar-frame hives are not fuU of combs, and these 

 combs cemented to bars, it will be risky to transport them 

 by cart. Sometimes they are turned upside down in be- 

 ing removed, but even in this position their combs will 

 not bear much jolting or shaking. 



Inexperienced persons almost always learn a lesson 

 never to be forgotten on their first journey to the moors 

 with their bees. Some of their best hives have been 

 suffocated. It should be well understood and remembered, 

 that whenever a hive of bees is closed up to keep in the 

 bees, natural ventilation comes to an end ; and moreover, 

 the commotion of the bees caused by the fiist and con- 

 tinued motion of the hive increases the internal heat. 

 The admission of plenty of fresh air into their hives is the 

 secret of success. 



When hives are so full that some of the bees are clus- 

 tering outside, they should be enlarged by ekes or nadirs 

 one or two days before they are prepared for removal to 

 a distance. 



On arrival at their destination, all hives should be 

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

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

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

 be favourable for honey-gathering when the bees arrive, 

 they will begin to work in less than fifteen minutes after 

 having been set at liberty, if they have not suilered dur- 

 ing the journey. How quickly bees find honey-flowers 

 and return with loads from them may be seen by placing 



