106 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



for wintering the bees. The usual mis- 

 take imnaking such buildings is in not 

 having them large enough. 



The honey-room ought to be located 

 in the southeast corner of the building, 

 and the walls made of some non-con- 

 ductor of heat. Some even paint the 

 outside of the building some dark color 

 where they come over the honey-room, 

 in order that as much as possible of the 

 sun's heat may be absorbed. The idea 

 is that the honey must be kept as warm 

 as possible. 



If there is any unripe or unsealed 

 honey, this high temperature causes 

 evaporation and improvement. By 

 keeping such a room warm with a stove 

 in Winter, honey has been kept over 

 until another year, and actually im- 

 proved by the keeping. 



But to return to the arrangement of 

 hives. When the honey-house is at one 

 side of the apiary, the hives may still be 

 arranged upon the radiating plan, by 

 having them radiate from the honey- 

 house door, thus forming one-half of a 

 large wheel instead of the whole of a 

 small one, as in the case of having the 

 honey-house in the center. Where the 

 radiating rows are very long, they must 

 be very far apart at the outer ends, or 

 else very close together at the inner 

 ends. To remedy this, shorter rows, or 

 " spurs," are put in between the rows at 

 the outer ends. 



Another arrangement is that of plac- 

 ing the hives in a hexagonal manner, 

 each hive being the center of six others. 

 I see no particular advantage in this 

 arrangement. 



Still another arrangement is that of 

 placing the hives in circles. The en- 

 trances of the hives in the inner row 

 are turned toward the center, while 

 those of the outward row face outward. 

 This leaves the space between the two 

 rows compartively free from bees, and 

 the operator can work in this space 

 without annoyance to himself or to the 

 flying bees. 



If the two circles do not permit suffi- 

 cient room, more and larger circles may 

 be added, or there may be two sets of 

 circles, or three sets, arranged in the 

 form of a triangle, or even four sets, and 

 arranged in a quadrangle. 



In all of the large apiaries that I have 

 visited the hives were arranged in 

 straight, single rows, like the squares 

 of a checker board, the entrances in 

 some instances facing the same way, 

 when the hives were from six to eight 

 feet apart. I would urefer to have the 

 hives nearer together each way, and 

 have the entrances of each alternate 



row turned toward the east, and the 

 entrances of the hives in other rows 

 turned toward the west. 



This would leave each alternate 

 passage-way comparatively free from 

 bees, and the 'operator could work here 

 without the bees bumping their heads 

 against his. I would have the entrance 

 to every hive face either east or west, 

 because I wish to shade the hives with a 

 light board 2 by 3 feet in size, laid over 

 each hive, and projecting towards the 

 south, and this projecting board would 

 be in the way of the flying bees if the 

 entrances were upon the south side. 

 When the hives are arranged in rows 

 radiating from a common center, I 

 always turn the entrance of each hive so 

 that it is either east or west. 



There is no necessity of placing hives 

 further apart than ns requisite to afford 

 sufficient space on all sides for the 

 operator. Bees do not locate their hive 

 so much by the distance that it may be 

 from other hives, as they do by its 

 surroundings, and these surroundings 

 are usually other hives. 



To illustrate : Let the end hive be 

 removed from a long row of hives, and 

 the bees belonging to the removed hive 

 will almost unhesitatingly enter the 

 hive that has become the end hive in the 

 row. Two hives may stand side by side, 

 perhaps almost or quite touching each 

 other, and each bee has no difficulty in 

 distinguishing its own hive. In a row 

 of three, four, or even five hives, the 

 same might be said ; but when the num- 

 ber goes beyond this, there is a little 

 uncertainty about the matter. 



When their hives are in long rows, 

 some bee-keepers arrange them in groups 

 of three or five in the row, leaving a 

 wider space between the groups than 

 there is between the individual hives 

 composing a group. Arranging hives in 

 circles gives a greater individuality to 

 each hive than can be secured in almost 

 any other arrangement — that is, if the 

 entrances are faced directly into or out 

 of the circle ; but my objection to this 

 plan is that it interferes with the proper 

 use of shade-boards. 



The greatest objection to any uni- 

 formity of arrangement that makes it 

 difficult for the bees to •' mark " their 

 location, is that queens may enter the 

 wrong hive on their returns from their 

 " wedding trip." With ray method of 

 management, in which the hive contain- 

 ing the young queen is given a new 

 stand to prevent after swarming, a la 

 Heddon, this difficulty is easily remedied 

 by placing the hive in some location 



