262 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
the box is turned down on its face, and the bees fed 
with rather thin syrup, by standing one or two in- 
verted bottles on the back zinc. Each pound of 
bees thus provided will take up about two ounces 
of syrup, scarcely more than one-third of an ounce 
of which will be lost during a twenty-four hours’ 
journey. This feeding makes up for the full gorging 
of natural swarms, and adds much to the staying 
power of the bees. At their arrival, the box is stood 
down, to permit the cluster to form, when the zinc 
is prised off, and the whole thrown out at the door 
of their new home, as in cases already considered. 
A box fifteen inches wide, eight inches from front to 
back, and a foot high, having zinc pieces four inches 
wide, will carry five pounds of bees in any weather 
in our climate, and is superior to those constructed 
entirely of wire-cloth, as used in America, not 
only because of its greater ability to sustain rough 
handling, but for the reason that the latter, acci- 
dentally stood in a hot sun, expose the bees to 
baking to death, while the openings on all sides 
prevent the establishment of a direct air current, as 
secured by the box I recommend, for the bees, hanging 
exclusively against the wood, leave the zinc clear for 
the work of the fanners. 
It is a very just, and, happily, a now common, 
practice to sell bees by the pound ; for the size of a 
swarm, especially if made artificially, is almost as inde- 
finite as that of the proverbial “piece of chalk.” An 
open box, suitable to travelling bees, has the shoot 
of a very large, smooth funnel, oblong in cross section, 
placed within it, when the whole is stood on a 
