16 
A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
is remarkable for neatness and accuracy, and they are so 
upright and accommodating, that it is a pleasure to do busi- 
ness with them. There is a hive-cover of their manufacture, 
to which Mr. L. Highbarger called my attention, that I might 
have adopted if I had known about it in time, although 
heavier than mine. I think it must be perfectly water-tight, 
even without paint. The top is of two boards, jointed 
together by means of a strip of tin bent into the shape of an 
inverted V, and this tin tits into a saw-kerf cut into each 
board at an angle of 45°. 
Some of my stands are very dilapidated affairs. The latest 
made are cheap and substantial. Three pieces of fence- 
board, each 2 feet long and 6 inches wide, are nailed upon a 
cleat at each end, 18x4x1 inch. Two similar cleats, but loose, 
lie on the ground under the first-mentioned cleats. This 
makes it equivalent to cleats of two-inch stuff, with the 
decided advantage that only the loose cleat will rot away by 
lying on the ground, without spoiling the whole stand. These 
stands are leveled with a spirit-level before the hives are 
placed on them, (sometimes not till afterward), being made 
perfectly level from side to side, and the rear about two 
inches higher than the front. 
The two stands and hives are placed in pairs. Nos. 1 and 2 
being 21 inches apart from center to center. Nos. 2 'and 3 
about 3 ft. 7 in. from center to center, (sometimes more, as 
my wife prefers them farther apart), Nos. 3 and 4 the same 
as 1 and 2, and so on alternately. This makes about 3 inches 
between the two stands that make each pair, and a working 
space or alley of about two feet between each pair. 
This putting in pairs is quite a saving of room ; for if room 
were allowed for working on each side of each hive, only 
three-fourths the number could be got into the row. But so 
far as the bees are concerned, it is equivalent to putting in 
double the number ; that is, there is no more danger of a bee 
going into the wrong hive by mistake, than if only a single 
hive stood where each pair stands. If hives stood very close 
together at regular intervals, a bee might by mistake go into 
