bee-keeper's manual. 215 



iner, and in the winter they are let down, and the open- 

 ings in the front and rear are used. The general rules 

 for the management of bees in other hives, apply to 

 these with the same force. One greai advantage in an 

 open apiary of this nature is, that it affords the least 

 possible facilities for insect breeding. Every part is 

 exposed, and the broom or the brush applied once a 

 week, thoroughly, will root out every vestige of moths, 

 spiders, wasps, &c. 



I am aware that I take new ground in advocating 

 open bee-houses ; yet I hope to be able to convince my 

 readers, that the ordinary close houses, fronting the 

 south, as they generally do, are downright ruin to the 

 prosperity of bees. It is a mistaken idea, that bees 

 should be kept in a warm, sunny place. There is but 

 one season of the year, that this principle will apply with 

 benefit to them ; and that is in the spring, during the 

 months of April and May. From June to October, they 

 want the same temperature around their hives, that ex- 

 ists in the open fields — no exposure to the scorching 

 rays of the sun, beside a close fence, that keeps off" the 

 current of air that elsewhere exists, nor to be penned up 

 in a close bee-house, fronting the south, where the heat 

 is sufficient to broil a steak ! My remarks on the labors 

 of bees, to ventilate their hives, when thus exposed, as 

 given at page 83, may here be read with profit. 



I will simply ask the reader, if he does not prefer 

 laboring in the shade, when the thermometer ranges at 

 90° ? Well, so does the bee. Watch them on an after- 

 noon, while clustering on their tenement, when the rays 



