-IR FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



I have also used manilla tags with figures printed on then; 

 but the figures are not seen at so great a distance as on the white 

 tin tags. The tin tags cost more in the first place, but are 

 cheaper in the long run, for they last twenty years or more, 

 while the manilla scarcely last a fifth of that time in satisfac- 

 tory shape. 



ORDER OP NUMBERS. 



When the hives are put on the stands in the spring, IIk' 

 numbers are all mixed up. Tlie first thing to be done is to enter 

 upon the record-book these uuml)ers. The first hive in tlie first 

 row should be Xo. 1, the next Xo. 2, and so on; but in the place 

 of No. 1 standi perhaps 2.il ; on the place of No. 2 stands 174. 

 etc. So, on the new record-book I write No. 1 (231) on the 

 first page at the top; one-third the way down the page, I write 

 No. 2 (174), and so on. 



Just as soon as convenient the tags are taken off the hives 

 where they are wrong, and the right ones put on. If on No. 1 

 the tag says 231, then that tag is taken off and the tag that says 

 1 is put on. 



THE RECORD-BOOK. 



I can tell more or less of the histury of every cdlony of bees 

 since I began keeping bees in 1861. At first I kept the record 

 of each colony from year to year in the same book, but for a 

 good many years I have had a new book each year. The book 

 I like is 12x5^0 inches, containing about 160 pages (Fig. 17). 

 Three colonies are kept on each ]]age, so the book is a good deal 

 larger than I need, for I have never had cjuite 400 colonies. But 

 a good many ]iages are used for memoranda and other things, 

 and it is better to have too much room in the book than too little. 

 While the size of the book is not so very impoitant, tlie binding 

 is. If the book were bound the same as the book in which you 

 are now reading, it would come to pieces if it should be left out 

 long enough in a soaking rain. Df course a book never should 

 be left out in a rain, but of course it sometimes is. So I want 

 a book that will suffer no greater harm tliau to have the cover 

 curae off if it should be rain-soaked. It must be stitched together 



