Oft, MANUAl, OF THB APIARY. 471 



have the entrance an inclined plane, which, especially if the 

 apiary is large, should be so gradual in its descent that a car 

 could pass down it into the cellar on a temporary track. The 

 cellar should be well drained, or if water be permitted to pass 

 through it, this should be kept in prescribed channels. In our 

 cellar we have a large cistern. This is mostly in the outer 

 cellar, but partly iu the inner or bee-cellar. A tight partition 

 separates the two rooms except at bottom of the cistern. In 

 case of large apiaries the track and car make the removal of 

 the bees to and from the cellar an easy matter. The first floor 

 I should have, if my apiary was large, on a level with the 

 ground. This (Fig. 258) should contain three rooms, one on 

 the north for a shop, one on the southeast for comb honey, and 

 one on the southwest for extracting, and storing extracted 

 honey and brood-combs. For 100 colonies of bees, this build- 

 ing need not be more than 20x24 feet.' A chimney should pass 

 from the attic at the common angle of these three rooms 

 through the roof. Wide doors on the south, if the apiary is 

 large, should permit the car to enter either of the rooms on 

 an extemporized track, whenever extracting or taking off comb 

 honey is in operation. 



The house should be so constructed as to be always free 

 from rats and mice. In summer, wire-gauze doers should be 

 used, also wire-gauze window-screens made to swing out like 

 common window-blinds. Ours are single, not double, light, 

 and so hung that when opened they remain so till shut. At 

 the top the gauze extends outside the upper piece of the frame, 

 and is separated from it by a bee-space width. At the top a 

 few three-eighths inch round holes are made. This permits 

 all bees to leave the house, while the character of the opening 

 precludes outside bees from entering. Inside doors should per- 

 mit our passing directly from any of these rooms to the others. 

 The position of the chimney makes it easy to have a fire in 

 any of the rooms. This would be desirable in the shop, in 

 winter, when hive-making, etc., is in operation, or when visit- 

 •ng with other bee-keepers is in progress. The ripening of 

 honey or late extracting make it often desirable to have a fire 

 in the extracting-room. If comb honey is kept in the desig- 

 nated room late in the season, it is desirable to warm that 



