THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 11 



stood individually three feet apart from each other. I advise this for 

 the manifest advantage which will accrue at the time of the autumnal 

 harvest-, when the bees out of one hive, on plundering it, may be saved 

 and united to the adjoining stock, at the least possible waste of bee 

 life, and without creating a confusion in the apiary. A good height 

 from the ground is sixteen inches. Not too many stocks should stand 

 together in the same place ; from eight to ten hives are sufficient for 

 one locality. Where more hives are kept, the apiary should be divi- 

 ded into two or more parts, as widely separated as possible. Where 

 bees are domiciled too closely together, and in too many families, much 

 confusion is apt to be created at swarming time, when the agitation 

 which one hive occasions during the process of swarming, not seldom 

 communicates itself to the others. 



5. It is of the utmost importance that water be at hand, especially 

 in spring, when bees consume great quantities of it. In very dry 

 weather, it is almost essential to the existence of an apiary, that it be 

 supplied artificially, if there are no rippling streams or other suitable 

 waters at hand. Some large pans rilled with stones and water, and 

 covered with moss or sticks, for the bees to alight upon and drink with 

 safety, should be placed near the hives. While, however, water is so 

 essential, the vicinity of rivers or large ponds, or sheets of water, is 

 to be deprecated, as tending to endanger the Eves of thousands of 

 these valuable insects in windy or showery weather. 



6. Keep away from the bees' neighborhood all vermin and foul 

 smells of every kind. Among bee pests may be enumerated pigs, 

 (with their sties, and all dung heaps,) fowls, mice, slugs, snails, ants, 

 hornets, and wasps. Of these, the latter are decidedly the most formi- 

 dable. The vicinity of lime or brick kilns, tan yards, gas houses, and 

 offensive premises of every kind, is annoying to them. 



7. The garden in which the apiary is situated, especially in front and 

 about it, should be well stocked with low shrubs or espaliers, at a 

 convenient distance, backed, if possible, by taller trees. These are, 

 of course, requisite to allure the bees at swarming time to settle near 

 home, for convenience of hiving, instead of wandering off, as they 

 are very apt to do when the coast is clear, nobody knows whither. 



8. A well-mown and cleanly-kept grass plat, or a gravel walk, affords 

 a capital ground for the hives to stand upon. They should not, how- 

 ever, be far distant from some wall or thick fence in the rear ; but 



