158 S the quest for the perfect hive
figure 13.3 An Ohio beekeeper standing in front of his bee house, c. 1900 (Kritsky collection).
beekeeper could lose his or her entire operation to a fire. Although beekeepers could obtain fire insurance, that was yet another expense not incurred by beekeepers with outdoor apiaries. In the end, the 1891 Beekeepers’ Review concluded that bee houses could be successfully used if proper bee escapes were incorporated and fire insurance purchased. By that point, however, the days of the bee houses in America were already limited. The 1888 edition of The ABC of Bee Culture (Root 1888), included five pages of text and illustrations devoted to bee houses, and the introductory information was far from complimentary. In the 1913 edition, the authors concluded, “As a general thing,