GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



General Correspondence 



A BEE FARM ON A ROOF IN NEW YORK CITY 



BY HARRY HIRSCH 



Country, town, or city, it's all the same — 

 you can keep bees anywhere. If you have a 

 back 3'ard or a back porch, that will do. And 

 if you have only a flat roof with a vista of 

 chimneys and house-tops, that site is as good 

 as any. 



In my estimation the most important 

 factor in city beekeeping is the careful se- 

 lection of stock. Bees inclined to vicious- 

 ness and swarming will not be tolerated in 

 a crowded city. There is only one strain of 

 bees fit to cope with the exciting conditions 

 governing a city apiary, and that is the 

 Italian. 



So gentle and unobtrusive are my Ital- 

 ians, that, although I have been keeping 

 them on the roof for three years, neighbors 

 who live in the surrounding apartment- 

 houses will not credit the assertion that there 

 are thousands and thousands of bees living 

 just beneath their windows. " Why," they 

 exclaim, "we never see them; and, besides. 



we never hear of any stings in the neighbor- 

 hood." Then I usually hasten to explain 

 that an experience based upon several years" 

 acquaintance with bees has convinced me 

 that stings are never heard but felt. Al- 

 ways n lover of nature I seek to set right my 

 fellow-l)eings on matters as pointed as these. 



Italian workers, besides being perfect 

 ladies while " out shopping," as one little 

 neighbf:r has so aptly described it, are also 

 remaikably tractable when bearded in their 

 den. This trait is of prime importance; for 

 to get in touch with nature without getting 

 touched by it is a delicate problem in bee- 

 dom. 



The only adequate hive for a busy city 

 man is the double-walled chaff hive. To it 

 I must ascribe my success, as it not only 

 conserves the heat during winter when every 

 icy wind has full play across the exposed 

 roof, but has great cooling qualities during 

 summer when the tin-roof, under the action 



The sweetest spot in New York. A sheltered place on a roof is ;in ideal loiaticni for bees in a city. 

 These colonies have been on this roof for three years. 



