38 



MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 



lower edges of the hive to hold the cloth in place, or it maybe fastened 

 by winding with strong cord. The bees should be thus prepared as 

 late in the day as possible, care being taken that none escape, and at 

 dusk stood bottom upward in a spring conveyance or on straw or hay 

 several inches deep in the box of a wagon, with straw packed between 

 and around the hives. It is advisable to drive slowly, avoiding ruts as 

 much as possible. By turning the hives bottom upward the weight of 

 the combs rests on their points of attachment, and since in such hives 

 the combs are not always attached well down the sides danger of break- 

 age is lessened, especially when the rolls of cloth are pressed against 

 the edges of the combs. If the bees are in frame hives, the frames of 

 which have not been disturbed recently, it is likely that, with care in 



FlG. 20. An apiary in Florida. (Reproduced from photograph.) 



driving, the combs will not get displaced. If necessary to use a sheet 

 or cloth to give ventilation, it should be tied over the top and the hive- 

 placed in the wagon in the same position it occupied on the stand, lest 

 the combs, not being attached all the way down, should fall to one side 

 or the other. Except during quite warm weather and for long trips 

 it may not be necessary to adopt all the precautions here indicated, 

 although in case bees are to be transported on long journeys by rail or 

 water far more careful preparation is even necessary. 



SELECTION OF SITE. 



The apiary should be located where no surface water will collect dur- 

 ing heavy storms, yet the ground should not be very uneven, but rather 

 a gentle slope. In the colder portions of the United States a south- 

 eastern exposure is decidedly preferable, though in the South the slope 

 of the site is less important to the welfare of the bees ; a direct southern 



