278 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
APIARY, OR BEE-HOUSE OF BIR. LATASTE. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — In answer to the nu- 
merous inquiries from distant friends, I respectfully pre- 
sent a cut of my Apiary. 
The centre building is twelve feet long, five wide and 
six in height. The two wings are of the same width, but 
five feet in height and twenty long; which will give you 
a house of sufficient length to accommodate nineteen hives : 
five under the centre building, and seven under each of 
the wings. The house must face the south , be made ot 
good lightwood posts, and weather-boarded at the two 
ends and on the back. A strip is to be nailed to the back 
posts, with another running parallel, secured to short ones, 
which gives you a support for the hive stands. I com 
menced by placing my hives on a stand of one plank, but 
experience has taught me that each hive should stand on 
a separate bench, as the bees are thereby prevented from 
passing from one hive to another — a practice that would 
eventually operate to the injury of the Apiary. The hives 
should stand at least two feet from the ground. To car- 
ry on your work in systematic order your hives must be 
numbered so that every operation may be noted in a book 
kept for that purpose. 
I hope bee keepers will at once provide such a house 
for their bees. It can be cheaply made, and its advan- 
tages are so apparent that a single glance ought to satisfy 
all who are not wilfully blind (in which category I in- 
clude all those who contend that bees flourish better when 
exposed to the heat of summer and chills of winter than 
when they are protected from all the disasters caused by 
a want of such protection) that the true policy is to keep 
bees under a good shelter. The cedars seen in front of 
the house are the very things for the bees to settle on. 
They almost invariably cluster on the lower limbs, but 
sometimes they choose the body of the tree, in which case 
they may be easily brushed down with a few feathers. 
Amateurs may ornament these houses so as to make 
them present quite a handsome appearance; but whether 
plainly or richly made, let them be well finished, so thai 
there may be as few cracks as possible, as these only 
serve for spider-holes and harbors for other insects, whose 
pesence about the Apiary may well be dispensed 
with. 
I will take this occa=;ion to make one or two remarks 
to my friend, Mr. McGehee, who seems to be still in doubt 
as to Whether bees gather honey frorh flowers or not. I 
thought the questions 1 propounded to him, and which he 
has not answered, should have been conclusive enough, 
but as he thinks differently, I will pursue the suhject'a little 
further. In the first place, then, I would like to be in- 
formed whether Mr. McGehee believes that bees deposit 
the identical substance taken in the body. Anticipating 
an affirmative answer, I would ask him to account for the 
fact that in localities where the white clover abounds, a& 
in Herkimer County, New York, for instance, the honey 
is much whiter than where the bee has to depend ois 
buckwheat and other inferior flowers. It is a well sub- 
stantiated fact that the honey from the sawfoin is superior 
to all other, at least such is the information I have derived 
from those who have seen it. These facts must prove my 
side of the question, unless Mr. McG., can show that 
•honey dew is different in different sections. But Mr^ 
McGehee says that his idea is not of recent date. As well 
might he express a doubt as to the rotundity of the earth,, 
or the attraction of gravitation, and afterwards support his 
doubt by pleading that such doubts existed in former 
times. In the ancient poets we read of the kmg bee^ in 
Shak.speare the same; many bee- keepers of the present day 
maintain the same position, yet every intelligent apairian 
knows that the hive is governed by a queen. 
1 must say that the experiment of Dr. Bevan, to which 
Mr. McGehee calls my attention, is anything but satisfac- 
tory, and hardly think that he would be willing to rest 
the establishment of a great principle on so simple a trial. 
In the first place it was not fair to confine the bees in a 
tight room with the expectation of proving much. Then, 
again, perhaps the flowers furnished the bees were not 
such as they would have chosen had they been left free to 
make their selection. But, says Bevan, as soon as honey 
was placed in the room, they went to work finely. Yes, 
1 would say to Mr. McGehee, that if he will place plenty 
of honey about his hives, he will find that his bees will go 
no farther to get their supply. Bees are very industrious, 
but they rather make their load at one place, in prefer- 
ence to flying from flower to flow er. I presume Mr. Mc- 
Gehee has noticed this when robbing his hives. 
Mr. McGehee desires me to answer this question, “If 
flowers give or yield any honey, why is it that bees do not 
swarm during the greatest flowering season, but wait till 
after the greatest flock of flowers is over before they com- 
mence swarming” In answer, I would say that with me 
bees commence swarming early in April and continue till 
late in May, during which time we have a rich profusion 
of flowers; and from the time that peach blossoms open 
till the last flower has bowed its head S© the elxilling winds 
