American bee journal . rcle. 15 feet; thence to outer edge ofthe outside circle, 25 feet. Study of the plan will show that notwo of these face exactly the samepoint of the compass. The entrance to the hive is in everycase inwards towards the flower-bed,thus allowing all manipulations to becarried on from behind the hive, andyet the operator not to be standing infront of an adjoining hive, for nothingirritates bees more than a person mov-ing about in front of their hives. Thissecond series of subdivisions is distin-guished bj- letters of the Roman al]>ha-bet, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and they
American bee journal . rcle. 15 feet; thence to outer edge ofthe outside circle, 25 feet. Study of the plan will show that notwo of these face exactly the samepoint of the compass. The entrance to the hive is in everycase inwards towards the flower-bed,thus allowing all manipulations to becarried on from behind the hive, andyet the operator not to be standing infront of an adjoining hive, for nothingirritates bees more than a person mov-ing about in front of their hives. Thissecond series of subdivisions is distin-guished bj- letters of the Roman al]>ha-bet, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and theyrepresent 80 colonies of bees. A walksurrounds these. An outer circle of 16 subdivisions,each containing 10 hives, is marked onthe plan, but Mr. Walker has not yetoccupied those allotments. The totalnumber of tenements that this bee-village will contain is, therefore, 280 ;and this is quite enough for any onelocality, for the range a bee can flyover, seldom exceeds three miles, andhoney often gets very scarce on such a. limited area. When bees are impelledto fly further to search for honey, thelosses that occur on the journey arevery great. It is better, therefore, fora bee-keeper to divide his apiaries,than to have too many colonies at oneplace. Each of Mr. Walkers hives is placedon a neatly-cemented floor, raised 2inches above the ground. This flooris made to do duty as bottom-ljoard,and the entrance V is shaped in it justas in the bottom-board of the Lang-stroth. There are advantages in thiscementing, for no weeds grow, it isdamp proof, clean, and does not rot,neither can white ants eat it. The evening that I visited iEstival,Mr. Walker had just mastered one ofthose extraordinary circumstanceswhich now and again surprise the bee-keeper. The day had been close andhot, especially the early morning ; itwas the first day after the first this close heat had anythingto do with what occurred, I do notknow, but I mention it as , a swarming fever spreadt
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861