24 THE HIVE AND THE HONEY-BEE. 



wind ; but even when they are, they can, in a great majority of 

 cases, recover themselves. Whereas, if blown amongst trees, 

 they will be sure to be whipped so violently by the branches, 

 that they are absolutely hurled to the ground with such force as 

 to render their recovery hopeless. The bees also fly low on their 

 return, when they arrive at the immediate neighborhood of their 

 stand, and, consequently, high trees would be not only useless, 

 but absolutely inconvenient. Whatever trees you wish, therefore, 

 to plant in the immediate vicinity of the hive should be of low- 

 size. Wildman recommends them — and I think very judiciously 

 — to be " of the dwarf kind, with bushy heads, in order that the 

 swarms which settle on them may be more easily hived." Now 

 although by judicious management swarming will generally be 

 prevented from taking place, yet despite of our utmost care it 

 may accidentally occur ; or the bees may quit their boxes in a 

 body, from various causes — some of which I shall endeavor here- 

 after to explain — and under such circumstances, Mr. Wildman's 

 suggestions will be found valuable. The garden, therefore, in 

 which you fix your stands should be thus planted ; and I further, 

 for the same reasons, recommend wall fruit trees and espaliers. 



Avoid a site near mills or other noisy places, or the neighbor- 

 hood of bad smells, as factories and the like ; and if, as occasion- 

 ally may happen, your stand be placed against your garden wall, 

 behind which is the farm-yard, let not a dunghill be built against 

 the opposite side. I have witnessed this before now, and in one 

 instance found the consequence to be a desertion of the boxes. 

 Do not place your stand where you see rat or mouse holes, and 

 let your shed be all of wood, never thatched with straw, as that sub- 

 stance harbors mice, moths, and other similar enemies to your stock. 



Water is essential to the well-being of your bees ; it must, 

 however, be presented to them judiciously, or it will prove a 

 greater evil than a good. If you can coax a shallow rippling 

 brook through your garden, so much the better ; if not, place 

 near the stand, small, shallow, earthen pans of water, and 

 put some pebbles in them. This water must be changed 

 daily. It is highly objectionable to have a pond or canal 

 in your neighborhood: you will lose thousands of your bees 

 through their means every season, as they will be constantly 

 blown into them when returning heavily laden to the hive, es- 

 pecially in the evening, when wearied after the toil of an indus- 

 triously-spent day. The pebbles in the trough are for the bees 



