APIARY 
73 
ing bees. Where land is valuable, such as 
in or near the city, or in localities occa¬ 
sionally visited by thieves or mischievous 
boys, where bees, honey and everything, 
so far as possible, must be kept un¬ 
der lock and key, a house-apiary is a neces¬ 
sity. A small building, also, to accommo¬ 
date 35 or 40 colonies, even when these 
conditions do not exist, may often be used 
very advantageously in connection with 
the regular apiary outdoors. When rob¬ 
bers are bad, or when the day is rainy, the 
work can continue right on inside the 
building because the apiarist can leave the 
outdoor bees and resume operations inside, 
free from robbers in the one case, or pro¬ 
tected from inclement weather in the 
other. 
Until very recently house-apiaries have 
not been regarded with very much favor 
among practical beekeepers, principally on 
account of faulty construction, and because 
bee-escapes, Avhen house-apiaries began to 
come into use in certain quarters, were not 
known; but since the advent of these labor- 
saving devices, the troubles arising from 
bees leaving the hives and crawling over 
the floor to die, or to be trampled on if not 
already dead, at the first visit of the api¬ 
arist, are eliminated. These and other in¬ 
conveniences have been almost wholly re¬ 
moved ; and perhaps the only reason why 
the house-apiary is not more generally used 
is the expense of first cost. 
HOW TO CONSTRUCT A HOUSE-APIARY. 
The building may be oblong, square, oc¬ 
tagonal, or round. The round or octag¬ 
onal form would, perhaps, save steps dur¬ 
ing the operation of extracting; but it is 
too expensive to construct. It is advisable 
to put up a plain oblong building. 
Where the winters are cold it should by all 
means be double-walled. Walls should not 
be less than four inches thick and six 
would be much better. Sawdust or some 
sort of packing-material should be poured 
in between the two walls. Unless it is 
very warmly packed there will be bad win¬ 
tering. 
As to doors and windows, in the case of 
a small building 20 by 30 feet, there should 
be only one window, and that opposite the 
door, so as to allow a draft to pass directly 
thru, because the building at best becomes 
very sultry in hot summer weather. An 
ordinary tight-fitting door should be used, 
hinged in the usual way. To the outside of 
the door frame there should be a self¬ 
closing wire-cloth screen door. At two of 
tt(,e upper corners of the doors and win¬ 
dows for the escape of bees clustering on 
the wire cloth, attach Porter honey-house 
bee-escapes. 
Porter honey-Tiouse bee-escape. 
At several points, close on a line with the 
floor, should be one-inch holes, on the out¬ 
side of which should be more Porter honey- 
house bee-escapes. The purpose of the 
opening in these escapes is to let the bees 
that happen to be inside after handling 
crawl out toward the light; and, once out¬ 
side, they will enter their own hives, with 
the possible exception of a few young ones, 
and they will be accepted at any of the 
entrances. 
A few years ago it was the practice to 
make compartments as a part of the build¬ 
ing to hold the frames, but this was found 
to be very objectionable; and those who 
manage house-apiaries now prefer to use 
ordinary outdoor hives instead, primarily 
because the bees can be more easily con¬ 
fined to the hives; and, secondly, because 
the indoor and outdoor hives are one and 
the same, and interchangeable. 
The hive entrances should be so arranged 
that they communicate with openings thru 
the side of the building. Ordinary covers 
should be used to confine the bees strictly 
