A YEAH AMONG THE BEES. 
17 
the wrong hive, but if a colony of bees is in the habit, as 
mine generally are, of going into the south end of their 
entrance, they will never make the mistake of entering at 
the nortli end, as you will quickly see if you plug up, alter- 
nately, the north and south end of the entrance. When the 
north end is closed it does not affect the bees at all, but close 
the south end, and dire consternation follows. To the bees 
the pair of hives is much the same as a single hive, and they 
will not make the mistake of entering the wrong end. 
From the back of a hive in one row to the back of a hive 
in the next row is eight feet, leaving a street about 6 feet 
wide between the rows. 
Trees shade most of the hives at least a part of the day, 
and at one end of the apiary the trees were so thick that I 
cut out part of them. I had previously thought that shade 
was important and that with sufficient shade there was never 
any danger of bees suffering from heat, but after having 
combs melt down in a hive so densely shaded by trees that 
the sun did not shine on it all day long, I changed my mind. 
I value the shade these trees give, not for the good it does 
the bees, but for the comfort of the operator working at 
them. I don’t believe bees suffer as much from the hot sun 
shining directly on the hives, as they do from having the air 
shut off from them by surrounding objects. I have had 
combs melt down in hives, the honey running in a stream on 
the ground, one of the hives at least being in a shade of 
trees so dense the sun never shone on it, and I suspect it was 
for lack of air. A dense growth of corn was directly back of 
the hives, and a dense growth of young trees and underbrush 
in front. I didn’t know enough to notice this, although when 
working at the bees my shirt would be as wet as if dipped 
in the river. I had the young trees thinned out and trimmed 
up, the corn-ground in grass, so the air could get through, 
and I now work with more comfort, and no comb has melted 
down for years, although that may be partly because they 
are older or wired. 
