Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/165

Rh Covered apiaries, or bee-houses, are common in England, and are sometimes, though rarely, met with in Scotland; they have their advantages, but are not without serious drawbacks. They afford shelter from the extremes of heat and cold, and, when properly constructed, are also a complete protection from thieves. But when the number of hives is great, the expense of such structures is so considerable as to preclude entirely their being brought into common use. Besides, their confined limits render it necessary to place the hives quite close to one another—an arrangement which we have already noticed as a great evil. And, finally, in operating experimentally on any particular hive, the whole colony is apt to take the alarm, and to cause a degree of confusion most inconvenient to the operator. There are covered apiaries sometimes to be met with, the superior construction of which precludes these evils; but a much greater number have fallen under our observation where the cheapness of the erection has interfered materially with their completeness and utility. The disadvantages above specified may all be avoided in open apiaries; while in these last, also, all the advantages for which the former are preferred, are, we are persuaded, perfectly attainable. A good thick coat of oat or rye-straw, if the hives be of that material; or, if of timber, a well-seasoned and painted surtout of fir-plank, three-fourths of an inch in thickness, resting on the floor-board, and having a vacant space of an inch between it and the hive, will be quite sufficient security against the extremes of heat and cold.