SHIPPING BEES 
743 
SPRAYING THE BEES TO KEEP THEM COOL. 
Mention was made of the fact that the 
operator should have room enough so lie 
ean go back and forth between the hives to 
sprinkle them with a watering-pot or force- 
pump. It is important to have in each car 
at least one or two barrels of water along 
with the bed and tools. During hot weather 
on a trip of six days bees will use up 
several barrels of water en route. When 
the car stops and the weather is hot, bees 
will be thickly clustered over the wire 
cloth. To prevent their becoming over¬ 
heated the wire cloth should be sprayed. 
Care should be taken not to overdo it, as 
the young brood will be chilled. As a gen¬ 
eral thing, unsealed brood, either on ac¬ 
count of too much heat or chilling in bad 
weather, will be killed, altho shipments 
have been brought thru from the South 
with all the brood in good condition; but 
the weather was cool, and the hives were 
sprayed only wlren the car was not moving. 
The attendant must make up his mind 
that a trip with a carload of bees is not a 
Pullman ride. He will have to watch the 
framework very carefully, especially after 
each end shock. Whenever the car stops 
he will have to look after the spraying. 
When the car has to stand on a side track 
for a few hours he may be compelled to 
tack some sheeting on the exposed side of 
the car to shut out the hot rays of the sun. 
While one can get 350 single-story colo¬ 
nies of bees in a 36-foot ear, he can load 200 
two-story colonies in the same space. This 
saves some crating and time in handling 
individual units. Colonies that are very 
