It consists of standing trunk hives with openings in a variety of patterns. The hives are covered with flat roofs made of laths (boards not sawn but split from the trunk with a carpenter's axe) or shingles, gable and three-sided ones, with eaves or tapered. The entire apiary is fenced in with thin, curved boards split from a block of wood. In the past beekeeping complemented agricultural or pastoral activities and provided additional supplies and profits (honey and wax) but required relatively high levels of general knowledge about nature.