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eye, is my own. My apiary is three feet wide, 
with corner posts set about two feet in the ground, 
to prevent it from blowing over : the posts are 
about four feet high from the surface of the ground, 
with plates and double roof; two girders, one oil 
each side, are placed about two feet four inches 
from the under side of the plates ; standards are 
morticed into the girders, with ties on the top for 
the cleats on the sides of the hives to rest upon ; 
these standards are thirteen inches apart, to receive 
the hives between them, and twenty inches high 
above the girders ; the space between the hives is 
about twelve inches ; the floor rests upon a groove 
in the girders, which I take out during the warm 
season ; at the sides are doors that may be taken 
away or closed at pleasure : the ends are thorough- 
ly boarded up as low as the girders, and the whole 
substantially made of the best materials, and paint- 
ed. When the whole is closed, it is perfectly dark 
like night, and secure. In this situation my bees 
remain during winter. They consume one third 
less honey, than when exposed to the light; and 
my hives are better stocked with bees, and swarm 
earlier, than in the ordinary way. Bees enclosed 
in the apiary are kept perfectly dry, and remain 
quiet from November until March, when one of 
the doors should be removed. I remove the one 
most exposed to the sun, that the bees may be kept 
warm as possible in such a situation, during the 
months of March and April. Bees kept in the 
apiary during winter, as in every other situation, 
should be ventilated, by suffering the planes to re- 
main open about half an inch, to prevent suffoca- 
tion, and also that the bees that die and other filth 
may be discharged ; thereby preserving the health 
of the bees. Bees when exposed to the variety of 
weather during winter, require at least one third 
