FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 163 



have 30 or 40 hives in a row. At the middle is a shady place 

 to sit. A clock or watch lies in open sight so that a look at 

 every hive may be taken once in five minutes. If there is no 

 timepiece to go by, the watchfir may become interested in some- 

 thing else, and think the five minutes not up when double that 

 time has passed; but having the time measured out, he is free 

 to read or do any thing else between times. At each five min- 

 utes, the watcher, who is sitting at the middle of the middle 

 row, rises, glances along the back row to the north end; 

 then along the middle row to the north end ; then, stepping for- 

 ward, glances along the front row to the north end ; then along 

 the same row to the south end; then to the south end of the 

 middle row, and lastly to the south end of the back' row. All 

 this has taken less time than it takes to write it, and the watch- 

 er is ready to sit down till another five minutes is up. 



If, however, unusual commotion is seen — ^and, sighting 

 along the rows in this way, it can easily be seen — the watcher 

 goes to the hive for a closer look. Up to the middle of the day 

 or later, there is not often much excitement, unless there be a 

 swarm; but after this time so many colonies take their play- 

 spells that the watcher needs to spend most of his time on his 

 feet. 



ONE-CENT CAGES. 



The watcher is provided with a number of queen-cages. 

 These are easily made and the material costs less than a cent 

 apiece. I take a pine block, 5 x 1 x % inch, and wrap around it 

 a piece of wire cloth 4 inches square. The wire cloth is allowed 

 to project at one end of the block a half -inch. The four sides 

 of this projecting end are bent down upon the end of the stick 

 and hammered down tight into place. A piece of fina wire 

 about 10 inches long is wrapped around the wire cloth, about 

 an inch from the open end, which will be about the middle of 

 the stick, and the ends of the wire twisted together. I then 

 pull out the block, trim offl the corners of the end a little so that 

 it will easily enter the cage, slide the stick in and out of the 

 cage a number of times so that it will work easily, and the 

 thing is complete (Fig. 65). When not in use, the block is 

 pushed clear in, so as to preserve the shape of the cage. Such 



