No. 4.] ESSENTIALS OF BEEKEEPING. 155 



judicious manipulation. Thus, neglect means failure and disappoint- 

 ment. In contemplating beekee])ing, unless willing to properly and 

 promptly care for the colonies, the prosjiective beekeeper had better 

 not undertake the venture. Perhaps the best qualities which a bee- 

 keeper acquires are punctuality and ijrecision. 



Massachusetts is suited to Beekeeping. 

 Any county in the Commonwealth will support bees, even sandy 

 Cape Cod reporting profitable returns. Beekeeping in the heart of 

 a city can hardly be expected to yield as handsomely as in the 

 country, but even in the city it is possible for a colony to maintain 

 itself. Apiaries of some considerable size are found on roofs of 

 business blocks in most of the large cities in the country. Preferably, 

 however, for the greatest results, the apiarist should know his flora, 

 the plants which yield nectar, their abundance and their periods of 

 bloom. Then an apiary can be intelligently located. A garden plot 

 or an acre of clover or buckwheat does not necessarily mean big 

 returns in honey. Bees forage on a radius of at least two miles. 



Locating the Apiary. 



In commercial honey production, the selection of the apiary site 

 receives deliberate consideration. Shelter from prevailing winds, a 

 relatively level spot, upland and not swamp, remoteness from stock 

 or pedestrians, aside from the general consideration of the honey- 

 producing flora or bee forage, are important. The matter of shade 

 versus no shade in the apiary has attracted considerable attention, 

 but without proving the advantage of one over the other. As a 

 whole, bees thrive best in the open, but the hives should then be 

 protected by shade boards or ventilated covers, in order to overcome 

 the melting down of the combs or sulking or "hanging out" of the 

 colony in excessive heat. It is usually thought that in the open 

 bees fly earlier and perhaps gather more nectar than when colonies 

 are under trees. Too dense shade, which results in dampness, is to 

 be avoided. 



Usually an effort is made to turn the entrances of hives from driv- 

 ing winds, and apiaries frequently face the rising sun or the south, 

 and seldom the north or northwest. Stone walls, sheds, hedges, 

 forests and orchards make good windbreaks. The old custom of 

 building sheds open on one side, under which to keep the colonies, 

 has been largely abandoned. Such sheds hinder the easy and proper 

 manipulation of the hives. Arranged in groups or rows, slightly 

 elevated from the turf, in order to overcome dampness and the in- 

 trusion of pests, the colonies may more easily be attended to than if 

 shelved. Grass and weeds should not be allowed to obstruct the 

 entrances. 



