52 DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



or less. But the greater danger is when a young queen, return- 

 ing from her mating flight, enters the wrong home. She is almost 

 certain to be put to death, if the colony which she enters by 

 error is queenright. Then her own colony becomes hopelessly 

 queenless, unless, as is rarely the case, they still have sealed 

 queen-cells from which they may rear a new queen. At best, 

 the colony suffering from that accident is very much delayed in 

 its breeding. 



For this reason, we like to arrange our colonies so that 

 every few feet, there will be some noticeable mark, such as a 

 tree, a bush, or a greater space between hives. It is sufficient 

 to call the beekeeper's attention to this, so that he may go to 

 the trouble of arranging the colonies in such a way as to avoid 

 the "drifting." Painting the hives of different colors is a good 

 way. But dark colors are objectionable, as they are too hot 

 in summer, and light colors soon fade. We know this by long 

 experience. 



Outapiaries 



We have had outapiaries since 1870. They have been located 

 in all sorts of spots, near the Mississippi River, where the water 

 cut away half of the pasture ; in timber land ; on the open prairie, 

 among corn fields and wheat fields; on the lowlands of the Mis- 

 sissippi, where only fall blossoms abound; and along the Illinois 

 River, in a similar position. We did not find any ideal spot. 

 There are advantages to each location and disadvantages as 

 well. We hauled bees, in the heat of the summer, on hay racks, 

 a distance of 25 miles, when it was necessary to travel nearly 

 all night to a\'oid the exposure of the hives to August sunshine. 

 Nowadays, when we transport bees to the lowlands, we use a 

 motor truck and the trip which occupied 8 hours, in 1881, is now 

 made in a trifle o^'er two hours. The younger generation will 

 indeed never realize the hardships that the grandfathers had to 

 face. But our young generations are accepting tasks that we 

 could never have dreamed of and their hardships may prove equal 

 to ours, after all. 



It is hardly within the scope of this book to dwell largely 



