LOCATION OF APIARY. 



39 



or southwestern exposure, however, will be found extremely uncom- 

 fortable at times both for the operator and for his bees. A windbreak, 

 such as a board fence, a hedge, or a row of evergreens on the north and 

 west, is advisable as a protection against sharp winds in winter and 

 early spring, which keep many bees from reaching their hives even when 

 near the entrances. Some shade is desirable, yet such density as to 

 produce dampness is extremely detrimental. In moist elevated regions, 

 which are of course cool, no shade will be needed, except temporarily 

 for newly hived swarms. Tall trees are objectionable in or near the 

 apiary, because swarms are likely to cluster so high as to render their 

 capture difficult and dangerous. Some of the self-hivers or nonswarm- 

 ing devices now offered for sale may with improvement yet accomplish 

 the end in view, but heretofore clipping one wing of each laying queen 



Fia. 21. An apiary in California. (Reproduced from photograph.) 



and using all precautions to prevent after-swarming, making artificial 

 swarms, selection in breeding, or any other means known to limit 

 swarming, have not sufficed to prevent the occasional issuance of a 

 swarm with a queen having wings. Therefore it is advisable to have 

 the apiary located under or -near low trees, where the hives can be 

 readily seen from the house. Carniolan, Italian, and Cyprian bees give 

 less trouble to passers-by or to live stock than do the ordinary brown 

 or German bees, or hybrids of these races, yet whatever race be kept, 

 it is best to have the apiary as secluded as the necessary or desirable 

 conditions will permit. 



The frontispiece and figures 20, 21, and 75, taken from photographs 

 of apiaries located in different parts of the country, give a fair idea of 

 sites actually occupied and the arrangement of hives. 



