COVERED APIARIES. 295 
of different colors. Even varying the color of the blocks 
will be of great usefulness. 
John Mills, in a work published at London, in 1766, 
gives (p. 93) the following directions:—‘‘ Forget not to 
paint the mouths of your colonies with different colors, as 
red, white, blue, yellow, &c., in form of a half-moon, or 
square, that the bees may the better know their own homes.’’ 
Covered Apiaries are common in Germany and Italy; 
their only quality is that of being thief proof, when shut and 
locked. But such structures, especially when several sto- 
ries high, cannot easily shelter top-opening hives. 
571. Probably the most convenient covered Apiaries are 
simple sheds, facing. South, and open in front during the 
Summer and warm daysof Winter. House Apiaries, in 
which the hives are placed in several stories, facing every 
direction, are worse than nothing. Their only quality is 
to be ornamental and costly. 
572. For ease of manipulation, out-door Apiaries are 
preferable. 
In the Summer, no place is so congenial to bees as the 
shade of trees, if it is not too dense, or the branches so 
low as to interfere with their flight. As the weather 
becomes cool, they can, if necessary, be moved to any more 
desirable Winter location. If colonies are moved in the 
line of their flight, and a short distance at a time, no loss 
of bees will be incurred; but, if moved a few yards, all at 
once, many will be lost. A slanting board placed in front 
of the hive, so as to prevent the bees from flying in straight 
line from the entrance to the field, will incite them to mark 
the change of their position. By a gradual process, the hives 
in a small Apiary may, inthe Fall, be brought into a narrow 
compass, so that they can be easily sheltered from the bleak 
Winter winds. In the Spring, they may be gradually 
returned to their old positions. 
By removing the strongest colonies in an Apiary the 
