66 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



CHAPTEE XV. 



BEE-HOUSES. 



It appears a -work of supererogation to say a word about 

 bee-houses in a work on the profitable management of 

 bees. Such houses are very expensive and inconvenient. 

 All bee-keepers of experience consider them a hindrance 

 to good management, and objectionable in many senses. 

 "We have nothing to say in their favour, save this, that 

 they help to protect hives from the severity of winter 

 storms. Of course there are people who will have bee- 

 houses, and have them to please the eye of the most 

 fastidious, real models of beauty and architecture. One 

 gentleman in this neighbourhood built one, some four 

 years ago, at a cost of £20. He placed some hives of 

 bees in it; but every, year something went wrong with 

 them. We called this season to see them, about swarm- 

 ing time. "We found three hives on one bench, contain- 

 ing bees of the most social and neighbourly characters and 

 dispositions we had ever seen ; for they marched in and 

 out of each other's hives in the most friendly manner, 

 apparently without let or hindrance. This gentleman met 

 the writer about a month ago, when he said — "I have 

 lost aU my bees ; I can't manage them." No wonder his 

 bees did not prosper. In bee-keeping there is no profitable 

 return for foolish and unnecessary expenses. If this gen- 

 tleman's bees had been kept apart, on separate stands, he 

 would have had success instead of loss and disappointment. 



