FIFTY YEARS AWtONG THE BEES 9f 



to order, but I am glad to see that The A. I. Root Company 

 have now on their list a cover made on the same principle. 



HIVE-STANDS. 



My hive-stands are simple and inexpensive (Fig. 39). 

 They are made of common fence-boards 6 inches wide. Two 

 pieces 32 inches long are nailed upon two other pieces -or 

 cleats 24 inches long. That's all. Of course the longer pieces 

 are uppermost, leaving the cleats below. Two similar cleats, 

 but loose, lie on the ground under the first-mentioned cleats. 

 This makes it equivklent to cleats of two-inch stuff, with the de- 

 cided advantage that only the loose cleat will rot away by lying 

 on the ground, without spoiling the whole stand. These stands 

 are leveled with a spirit-level before the hives are placed on 

 them (sometimes not till afterward), being made perfectly 

 level from side to side, with the rear one or two inches liigher 

 than the front. Eatfh of these stands is intended for two hives, 

 with a space of 2 to 4 inches between the two hives. It is 

 much easier to level a stand like this than to level one for a 

 single hive. There are other advantages. 



For years I was well satisfied with these stands, but longer 

 experience has made me become greatly dissatisfied with them. 

 More than a square foot of the under surface of the bottom- 

 board lies flat upon,- the boards of the stand. When it rains the 

 water soaks in between these two surfaces, and favors rotting. 

 Worse stUI, it make^the nicest kind of a place for the large 

 wood-ants to make a nest and honeycomb the wood of the bot- 

 tom-board. Perhaps the coming stand is of cement with but a 

 small surface in actual contact with the bottom-board. 



HIVES IN PAIRS. 



This putting in pairs is quite a saving of room; for if 

 room W€re allowed for working on each side of a bive, only 

 two-thirds the number could be got into the row. But so far 

 as the bees are concerned, it is equivalent to putting in double 

 the number ; that is, there is no more danger of a bee going into 

 the wrong hive by mistake, than if only a single hive stood 

 where each pair stands. If hives stood very close together at 



