150 THE BEE-KEEPER S MANUAL. 
is best only to have them in a single row, with good 
head-room. But a still more desirable plan is to 
board up the front of the house entirely, making 
oblong openings through for a passage to the bees, 
with an exterior alighting-board, a good deal slanted 
downwards (the bees preferring this to a flat surface). 
The hives are arranged immediately behind, upon a 
shelf, the further apart the better, as the bees 
occasionally mistake their own homes, and fall a 
sacrifice in consequence ; it is now a practice to assist 
them against this mistake by painting the alighting- 
boards distinctive colours. This kind of house is 
capable of receiving some architectural form; and, 
with locked doors at the back, gives better security 
than most others against depredation; for hive- 
stealing is by no means rare in many localities. 
A spare room in a dwelling or an outhouse may 
often be fitted up to serve the purpose of an apiary 
