398 The College Bee House. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 The House Apiary and Bee House. 



The house apiary is a frost-proof house in which the 

 bees are kept the year through. The entrances to the 

 hives are through the sides of the house, and all manipula- 

 tion of the bees is carried on inside. From what I have 

 said about wintering, it at once appears that such a house 

 should preserve a uniform temperature. As many such 

 houses were built a few years ago, and are now, with very 

 few exceptions, used for other purposes, I will only say 

 that if such houses are ever desirable it is only when queen 

 rearing is to occupy the chief attention of the apiarist. 



BEE HOUSES. 



As a good and convenient bee house is very desirable in 

 every apiary of any considerable size, I will proceed to 

 give a few hints in reference to its construction. 



First, I should have a good cellar under the house, en- 

 tirely under ground so as certainly to be frost proof, mouse 

 and rat proof, thoroughly grouted, and ventilated as already 

 described. I would have three doors to this from the east, 

 the outer one inclined. In our new college apiary we have 

 a vestibule to the cellar, and four doors beside the slanting 

 one, two to the inner one or bee cellar and two to the outer 

 or vestibule. I should have the entrance an inclined plane, 

 which, especially if the apiary is large, should be so grad- 

 ual in its descent that a car could pass down it into the 

 cellar on a temporary track. The cellar should be well 

 drained, or if water be permitted to pass through it, this 

 should be kept in prescribed channels. In our cellar we 

 have a large cistern. This is mostly in the outer cellar, 

 but partly in the inner or bee cellar. A tight partition 

 separates the two rooms except at bottom of the cistern. 

 In case of large apiaries the track and car make the re- 

 moval of the bees to and from the cellar an easy matter. 

 The first flour I should have, if my apiary was large, on a 



