148 DR. MILLERS 



and disadvantages. I used to envy Californians. I'm not sure I 

 would care to be there now, since knowing more fully about it. 

 In general, the place where one happens to be is "not so worse" 

 as it might be. 



Q. How far from the public highway does the law require an 

 apiary to be to insure one from all damages? 



A. That depends altogether upon the local or state laws. 

 Generally, I think, there is no law about it, but if you are wise 

 you will not risk having your bees close enough to the highway to 

 endanger anyone passing by. If your bees are very gentle it may 

 be safe to have them close to the roadside. Some bees are not 

 safe ten rods away. 



Q. As I want to move my bees this spring, would two feet 

 apart be too close for each hive? 



A. That depends. If there are plenty of trees or other objects 

 to help mark their locations it will be all right. If the ground is 

 perfectly level, and nothing to help locate the hives, there will be 

 mistakes in entering hives. If you want to save room, instead of 

 putting them regularly two feet apart, put the first two close to- 

 gether, leave a space of three feet, then two more hives, and so 

 on, putting the hives in pairs, with three feet between each, two 

 pairs. With that arrangement you'll get more bees on the same 

 ground, and at the same time there will be less mixing. 



Q. I have seven colonies of bees located in a valley, and a 

 neighbor beekeeper has his bees on a high hill, perhaps 175 feet 

 higher than mine. He says my bees have the advantage of his, 

 as my bees go up hill empty and down hill loaded, while with his 

 it is just the other way. 



That is all right and true, as long as my bees go west or north, 

 but when they go east they would have to go up first and then 

 down on the other side, and I notice that they don't go very far 

 that way. Now if I would place my bees on top of this hill I 

 think they would go farther south and east than they do now. 

 Most of the basswood is on the hillside, but the best clover is in 

 the lowlands. Do you think it would pay to move my bees 

 higher up for this reason? 



A. It surely must be easier for a bee or anybody else to carry 

 a load down hill than up. In actual practice I have some doubt 

 whether the difference is enough so that a colony in the lower 

 location would show a distinctly larger yield than one higher up. 

 But the matter of distance may be a much more important factor. 

 Within a distance of perhaps a mile and a half it is doubtful that 

 distance counts for much. Beyond that — possibly I should say 



