17

THE HONEY-BEE IN NEW ZEALAND 15

A new swarm may be confined for a day or two, if you
want to carry it more than an evening's journey, for bees
swarm with their honey bags full, and their first employ-
ment is to make wax, which is indoor work. The cloth
which is tied over the bottom of the hive must be of such
an open texture as to admit air freely, and yet not so open
as to let any bees out. The stuff which I use for the
purpose is that which is, I believe, called dairy canvas,
and is made for straining milk. But if you want to take
your bees to a great distance, down the coast for instance,
and the voyage may last a week or a fortnight, it is best
to let the hive stand for ten days or so in in your friend's
apiary, then tie it up in the cloth as before, and hang it
somewhere in the ship out of the light, or at all events,
screened from the sun, where it can swing freely without
knocking against the side of the vessel, and then
you may carry your treasure to the most distant part of
these islands in safety. A common straw hive is certainly
the most handy for carrying bees any great distance for
the cloth is more easily tied about it. You must look at
it every now and then to see whether the bees are forcing
their way out. They will try to do so, and when the cloth
is taken off you will find that portion of its surface which
was exposed to the bees carded into a sort of lint, by the
action of their jaws. You will see their feelers pushed
through the canvas in great numbers, searching for a
passage into the open air. If you find they are making a
hole, through which they will soon force a passage out,
nothing is easier than to tie another fold of cloth over the
bottom of the hive. Should the swarm be in a wooden
box, the best way of securing it is to lash it firmly to a
bottom board, with no door at all cut in it, and then push
in litte wedges between the box and the board, so as to
raise the hive about an eighth of an inch all round,. This
will both tighten the lashings, and also give the bees a
sufficient supply of fresh air; and it is much bettter to give
it them in this way than at one single doorway, through a
piece of perforated zinc or tin. For, in this latter case, the
bees seeing light at only one point will often crowd so
much to it, as to prevent the free entrance of the air.