all cultivated appearances, and seeks only its own temporary
convenience, together with comfortable room for its stores, and the
increase of its kind; and therefore, the more rustic and simple its
habitation, the better is it pleased with its position.

[Illustration: APIARY.]

The bee-house should front upon a sheltered and sunny aspect. It should
be near the ground, in a clean and quiet spot, free from the intrusion
of other creatures, either human or profane, and undisturbed by noisome
smells, and uncouth sounds--for it loathes all these instinctively, and
loves nothing so much as the wild beauty of nature itself. The plan here
presented is of the plainest and least expensive kind. Nine posts, or
crutches, are set into the ground sufficiently deep to hold them firm,
and to secure them from heaving out by the frost. The distance of these
posts apart may be according to the size of the building, and to give it
strength enough to resist the action of the wind. The front posts should
be 9 feet high, above the ground; the rear posts should be 7 feet--that
a man, with his hat on, may stand upright under them--and 6 feet from
the front line. The two end posts directly in the rear of the front
corner posts, should be 3 feet back from them, and on a line to
accommodate the pitch of the roof from the front to the rear. A light
plate is to be fitted on the top line of the front posts; a plate at
each end should run back to the posts in rear, and then another
cross-plate, or girt, from each one of these middle posts, to the post
in rear of all, to meet the plate which surmounts this rear line of
posts; and a parallel plate, or rafter, should be laid from the two
intermediate posts at the ends, to connect them, and for a central
support to the roof. Intermediate central posts should also be placed
opposite those in front, to support the central plate, and not exceeding
12 feet apart. A shed roof, of boards, or shingles, tightly laid, should
cover the whole, sufficiently projecting over the front, rear, and
sides, to give the house abundant shelter, and make it architecturally
agreeable to the eye--say 12 to 18 inches, according to its extent. A
corner board should drop two feet below the plate, with such finish, by
way of ornament, as may be desirable. The ends should be tightly boarded
up against the weather, from bottom to top. The rear should also be
tightly boarded, from the bottom up to a level with the stand inside,
for