56 FIFTY YEAES AMONG THE BEES 



1 have also used manilla tags with figures printed on 

 them, 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 

 satisfactory shape. 



ORDEE OF NUMBpRS; 



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

 numbers are all mixed up. The first thing to be done is to entei 

 upon the record book these numbers. The first hive in the 

 first row should be No. 1, the next No. 2, and so on; but in 

 the place of No. 1 stands perhaps 231; 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. ] 

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

 says 1 is put on. . * 



THE EECOED BOOK. 



I can teU more or less of the history of every colony 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 12 x 5% inches, containing about 160 pages (Fig. 

 17). Three colonies are kept on each page, so the book is a 

 good deal larger than I need, for I have never had quite 400 

 colonies. But a good many pages are used for memoranda and 

 other things, and it is better to have too much room than too 

 little. While the size of the book is not so very important, the 

 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. Of course a book 

 should never be left out in a rain, but of course it sometimes 

 is. So I want a book that will suffer no greater harm than to 

 have the cover come off if it should be rain-soaked. It must be 



