THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 69 



older bee authors to guide him. in his choice, and direct him in the 

 making of such sheds. 



There can be no doubt that a substantial bee house, large enough to 

 shelter the bee master as well as his bees, where the outlay of a few 

 pounds can be afforded at the outset, is the best of all places for loca- 

 ting hives, (be they of wood or straw,) and conducting the requisite 

 operations in bee management. Dr. Bevan, in his "Honey Bee," has 

 described his own apiary, which appears to have been a very simple, 

 useful, and inexpensive structure. It answered the double purpose 

 of bee house and potato shed — the potatoes below, the bees above. 

 His house, which was " seven feet square in the clear, afforded room 

 for seven colonies — three in front, and two at each end." Being an 

 advocate of the storifying system, which he has worked with very 

 great success, his colonies, or " piles of boxes, were placed within the 

 building, at somewhat less than two feet apart, so as to make the ex- 

 ternal entrances to each pile, respectively about a yard asunder. Pre- 

 ferring, as I do, a combination of the storifying and collateral system, 

 to the exclusive adoption of either, (as explained in the last chapter,) 

 the same size of bee house, with a slight additional elevation of roof, 

 might be made to accommodate nearly double the number of colonies, 

 there being two tiers of boxes one above the other. In this case, the 

 distance between each colony of two boxes would be about one foot, 

 ample space being thus allowed for handling the boxes, and inspecting 

 the interior by the side windows. Dr. Bevan's house was " built of 

 timber, lathed and plastered, both within and without ;" and was " not 

 only thatched thick on the top, but down the end and sides." On that 

 side, however, on which the bees entered, the thatch, of course, ter- 

 minated at some distance above the entrances. 



A very picturesque bee house, (similar to one which I saw two 

 years ago, erected by a farmer, and which worked very successfully,) 

 might be constructed of a pentagonal or hexagonal shape, two or three 

 of its sides, as the case may be, being occupied with a double row of 

 bee boxes. The tiers of boxes, whatever be the size of the house 

 should be elevated severally at the height of three, and five and a half, 

 or six feet ; and there ought to be a space between each tier of one 

 and a half or two feet. In this case, the roof, which should be well 

 thatched, must not be lower than nine feet, to afford ample room for 

 working the bee glasses or supers over the higher tier of boxes. Such . 



