/> proportion of the queens which perish, are lost under such

circumstances. Either the bees are aware of the approaching end of their

aged mother, and take seasonable precautions to rear a successor; or

else she dies very suddenly, so as to leave behind her, brood of a

suitable age. It is seldom that a queen in a hive that is strong in

numbers and stores, dies either at a period of the year when there is no

brood from which another can be reared, or when there are no drones to

impregnate the one reared in her place. In speaking of the age of bees,

it has already been stated that queens commonly die in their fourth

year, while none of the workers live to be a year old. Not only is the

queen much longer lived than the other bees, but she seems to be

possessed of greater tenacity of life, so that when any disease

overtakes the colony, she is usually among the last to perish. By a most

admirable provision, their death ordinarily takes place under

circumstances the most favorable to their bereaved family. If it were

otherwise, the number of colonies which would annually perish, would be

very much greater than it now is; for as a number of superannuated

queens must die every year, many, or even most of them might die at a

season when their loss would necessarily involve the ruin of their whole

colony. In non-swarming hives, I have found cells in which queens were

reared, not to lead out a new swarm, but to supply the place of the old

one which had died in the hive. There are a few well authenticated

instances, in which a young queen has been matured before the death of

the old one, but after she had become quite aged and infirm. Still,

there are cases where old queens die, either so suddenly as to leave no

young brood behind them, or at a season when there are no drones to

impregnate the young queens.



That queens occasionally live to such an age as to become incapable of

laying worker eggs, is now a well established fact. The seminal

reservoir sometimes becomes exhausted, before the queen dies of old age,

and as it is never replenished, (see p. 44,) she can only lay

unimpregnated eggs, or such as produce drones instead of workers. This

is an additional confirmation of the theory first propounded by

Dzierzon. I am indebted to Mr. Wagner for the following facts. "In the

Bienenzeitung, for August, 1852, Count Stosch gives us the case of a

colony examined by himself, with the aid of an experienced Apiarian, on

the 14th of April, previous. The worker-brood was then found to be

healthy. In May following, the bees worked industriously, and built new

comb. Soon afterwards they ceased to build, and appeared dispirited; and

when, in the beginning of June, he examined the colony again, he found

plenty of drone brood in worker cells! The queen appeared weak and

languid. He confined her in a queen cage, and left her in the hive. The

bees clustered around the cage; but next morning the queen was found to

be dead. Here we seem to have the commencement, progress and termination

of super-annuation, all in the space of five or six weeks."



In the Spring of the year, as soon as the bees begin to fly, if their

motions are carefully watched, the Apiarian may even in the common

hives, generally ascertain from their actions, whether they are in

possession of a fertile queen. If they are seen to bring in bee-bread

with great eagerness, it follows, as a matter of course, that they have

brood, and are anxious to obtain fresh food for its nourishment. If any

hive does not industriously gather pollen, or accept the rye flour upon

which the others are feasting, then there is an almost absolute

certainty either that it has not a queen, or that she is not fertile, or

that the hive is seriously infested with worms, or that it is on the

very verge of starvation. An experienced eye will decide upon the

queenlessness, (to use the German term,) of a hive, from the restless

appearance of the bees. At this period of the year when they first

realize the magnitude of their loss, and before they have become in a

manner either reconciled to it, or indifferent to their fate, they roam

in an inquiring manner, in and out of the hive, and over its outside as

well as inside, and plainly manifest that something calamitous has

befallen them. Often those that return from the fields, instead of

entering the hive with that dispatchful haste so characteristic of a bee

returning well stored to a prosperous home, linger about the entrance

with an idle and very dissatisfied appearance, and the colony is

restless, long after the other stocks are quiet. Their home, like that

of the man who is cursed rather than blessed in his domestic relations,

is a melancholy place: and they only enter it with reluctant and

slow-moving steps!



If I could address a friendly word of advice to every married woman, I

would say, "Do all that you can to make your husband's home a place of

attraction. When absent from it, let his heart glow at the very thought

of returning to its dear enjoyments; and let his countenance

involuntarily put on a more cheerful look, and his joy-quickened steps

proclaim, as he is approaching, that he feels in his "heart of hearts,"

that "there is no place like home." Let her whom he has chosen as a wife

and companion, be the happy and honored Queen in his cheerful

habitation: let her be the center and soul about which his best

affections shall ever revolve. I know that there are brutes in the guise

of men, upon whom all the winning attractions of a prudent, virtuous

wife, make little or no impression. Alas that it should be so! but who

can tell how many, even of the most hopeless cases, have been saved for

two worlds, by a union with a virtuous woman, in whose "tongue was the

law of kindness," and of whom it could be said, "the heart of her

husband doth safely trust in her," for "she will do him good and not

evil, all the days of her life."



Said a man of large experience, "I scarcely know a woman who has an

intemperate husband, who did not either marry a man whose habits were

already bad, or who did not drive her husband to evil courses, (often

when such a calamitous result was the furthest possible from her

thoughts or wishes,) by making him feel that he had no happy home."

Think of it, ye who find that home is not full of dear delights, as well

to yourselves, as to your affectionate husbands! Try how much virtue

there may be in winning words and happy smiles, and the cheerful

discharge of household duties, and prove the utmost possible efficacy of

love and faith and prayer, before those words of fearful agony are

extorted from your despairing lips,



"Anywhere, anywhere

Out of the world;"



when amid tears and sighs of inexpressible agony, you settle down into

the heart-breaking conviction that you can have no home until you have

passed into that habitation not fashioned by human hands, or inhabited

by human hearts!



Is there any husband who can resist all the sweet attractions of a

lovely wife? who does not set a priceless value upon the very gem of his

life?



"If such there be, go mark him well;

High though his titles, proud his fame,

Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,

The wretch, concentered all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust from whence he sprung

Unwept, unhonored, and unsung."--_Scott._



I trust my readers, remembering my profession, will pardon this long

digression to which I felt myself irresistibly impelled.



When the bees commence their work in the Spring, they give, as

previously stated, reliable evidence either that all is well, or that

ruin lurks within. In the common hives however, it is not always easy to

decide upon their real condition. The queenless ones do not, in all

cases, disclose their misfortune, any more than all unhappy husbands or

wives see fit to proclaim the full extent of their domestic

wretchedness: there is a vast amount of _seeming_ even in the little

world of the bee-hive. One great advantage in my mode of construction is

that I am never obliged to leave anything to vague conjecture; but I

can, in a few moments, open the interior, and know precisely what is the

real condition of the bees.



On one occasion I found that a colony which had been queenless for a

considerable time, utterly refused to raise another, and devoured all

the eggs which were given to them for that purpose! This colony was

afterwards supplied with an unimpregnated queen, but they refused to

accept of her, and attempted at once to smother her to death. I then

gave them a fertile queen, but she met with no better treatment. Facts

of a similar kind have been noticed, by other observers: thus it seems

that bees may not only become reconciled, as it were, to living without

a mother, but may pass into such an unnatural state as not only to

decline to provide themselves with another, but actually to refuse to

accept of one by whose agency they might be rescued from impending ruin!

Before expressing too much astonishment at such foolish conduct, let us

seriously inquire if it has not often an exact parallel in our obstinate

rejection of the provisions which God has made in the Gospel for our

moral and religious welfare.



If a colony which refuses to rear another queen, has a range of comb

given to it containing maturing brood, these poor motherless innocents,

as soon as they are able to work, perceive their loss, and will proceed

at once, if they have the means, to supply it! They have not yet grown

so hardened by habit to unnatural and ruinous courses, as not to feel

that something absolutely indispensable to their safety is wanting in

their hive.



A word to the young who may read this treatise. Although enjoined to

"remember your Creator in the days of your youth," you are constantly

tempted to neglect your religious duties, and to procrastinate their

performance until some more convenient season. Like the old bees in a

hive without a queen, that seek only their present enjoyment, forgetful

of the ruin which must surely overtake them, so you may find that when

manhood and old age arrive, you will have even less disposition to love

and serve the Lord than you now have. The fetters which bind you to

sinful habits will have strengthened with years until you find both the

inclination and ability to break them continually decreasing.



In the Spring, as soon as the weather becomes sufficiently pleasant, I

carefully examine all the hives which do not present the most

unmistakable evidences of health and vigor. If a queen is wanting, I at

once, if the colony is small, break it up, and add the bees to another

stock. If however, the colony should be very large, I sometimes join to

it one of my small stocks which has a healthy queen. It may be asked why

not supply the queenless stock with the means of raising another? Simply

because there would be no drones to impregnate her, in season; and the

whole operation would therefore result in an entire failure. Why not

endeavor then to preserve it, until the season for drones approaches,

and then give it a queen? Because it is in danger of being robbed or

destroyed by the moth, while the bees, if added to another stock, can do

me far more service than they could, if left to idleness in their old

hive. It must be remembered that I am not like the bee-keepers on the

old plan, extremely anxious to save every colony, however feeble: as I

can, at the proper season, form as many as I want, and with far less

trouble and expense than are required to make anything out of such

discouraged stocks.



If any of my colonies are found to be feeble in the Spring, but yet in

possession of a healthy queen, I help them to combs containing maturing

brood, in the manner already described. In short, I ascertain, at the

opening of the season, the exact condition of all my stock, and apply

such remedies as I find to be needed, giving to some, maturing brood, to

others honey, and breaking up all whose condition appears to admit of

no remedy. If however, the bees have not been multiplied too rapidly,

and proper care was taken to winter none but strong stocks, they will

need but little assistance in the Spring; and nearly all of them will

show indubitable signs of health and vigor.



I strongly recommend every prudent bee-keeper who uses my hives, to give

them all a most thorough over-hauling and cleansing, soon after the bees

begin to work in the Spring. The bees of any stock may, with their

combs, &c., all be transferred, in a few minutes, to a clean hive; and

their hive, after being thoroughly cleansed, may be used for another

transferred stock; and in this way, with one spare hive, the bees may

all be lodged in habitations from which every speck of dirt has been

removed. They will thus have hives which can by no possibility, harbor

any of the eggs, or larvae of the moth, and which may be made perfectly

free from the least smell of must or mould or anything offensive to the

delicate senses of the bees. In making this thorough cleansing of all

the hives, the Apiarian will necessarily gain an exact knowledge of the

true condition of each stock, and will know which have spare honey, and

which require food: in short, which are in need of help in any respect,

and which have the requisite strength to lend a helping hand to others.

If any hive needs repairing, it may be put into perfect order, before it

is used again. Hives managed in this fashion, if the roofs and outside

covers are occasionally painted anew, will last for generations, and

will be found, on the score of cheapness, preferable, in the long run,

to any other kind. But I ought to beg pardon of the Genius of American

cheapness, who so kindly presides over the making of most of our

manufactures, and under whose shrewd tuition we are fast beginning to

believe that cheapness in the first cost of an article, is the main

point to which our attention should be directed!



Let us to be sure, save all that we can in the cost of construction, by

the greatest economy in the use of materials; let us compel every minute

to yield the greatest possible practical result, by the employment of

the most skillful workmen and the most ingenious machinery; but do let

us learn that slighting an article, so as to get up a mere sham, having

all the appearance of reality, with none of the substance, is the

poorest possible kind of pretended economy; to say nothing of the

tendency of such a system, to encourage in all the pursuits of life, the

narrow and selfish policy of doing nothing thoroughly, but everything

with reference to mere outside show, or the urgent necessities of the

present moment.



We have yet to describe under what circumstances, by far the larger

proportion of hives, become queenless. After the first swarm has gone

out with the old mother, then both the parent stock and all the

subsequent swarms, will have each a young queen which must always leave

the hive in order to be impregnated. It sometimes happens that the wings

of the young female are, from her birth, so imperfect that she either

refuses to sally out, or is unable to return to the hive, if she

ventures abroad. In either case, the old stock must, if left to its own

resources, speedily perish. Queens, in their contests with each other,

are sometimes so much crippled as to unfit them for flight, and

sometimes they are disabled by the rude treatment of the bees, who

insist on driving them away from the royal cells. The great majority,

however, of queens which are lost, perish when they leave the hive in

search of the drones. Their _extra size_ and _slower flight_ make them a

most tempting prey to the birds, ever on the watch in the vicinity of

the hives; and many in this way, perish. Others are destroyed by sudden

gusts of winds, which dash them against some hard object, or blow them

into the water; for queens are by no means, exempt from the misfortunes

common to the humblest of their race. Very frequently, in spite of all

their caution in noticing the position and appearance of their

habitation, before they left it, they make a fatal mistake on their

return, and are imprisoned and destroyed as they attempt to enter the

wrong hive. The precautions which should be used, to prevent such a

calamity, have been already described. If these are neglected, those who

build their hives of uniform size and appearance, will find themselves

losing many more queens than the person who uses the old-fashioned

boxes, hardly any two of which look just alike.



The bees seem to me, to have, as it were, an instinctive perception of

the dangers which await their new queen when she makes her excursion in

search of the drones, and often gather around her, and confine her, as

though they could not bear to have her leave! I have repeatedly noticed

them doing this, although I cannot affirm with positive certainty, why

they do it. They are usually excessively agitated when the queen leaves,

and often exhibit all the appearance of swarming. If the queen of an old

stock is lost in this way, her colony will gradually dwindle away. If

the queen of an after-swarm fails to return, the bees very speedily come

to nothing, if they remain in the hive; as a general rule, however, they

soon leave and attempt to add themselves to other colonies.



It would be highly interesting to ascertain in what way the bees become

informed of the loss of their queen. When she is taken from them under

such circumstances as to excite the whole colony, then we can easily see

how they find out that she is gone; for when greatly excited, they

always seek first to assure themselves of her safety; just as a tender

mother in time of danger forgets herself in her anxiety for her

helpless children! If however, the queen is carefully removed, so that

the colony is not disturbed, it is sometimes a day, or even more, before

they realize their loss. How do they first become aware of it? Perhaps

some dutiful bee feels that it is a long time since it has seen its

mother, and anxious to embrace her, makes diligent search for her

through the hive! The intelligence that she cannot anywhere be found, is

soon noised abroad, and the whole community are at once alarmed. At such

times, instead of calmly conversing by merely touching each other's

antennae, they may be seen violently striking as it were, their antennae

together, and by the most impassioned demonstrations manifesting their

agony and despair. I once removed a queen in such a manner as to cause

the bees to take wing and fill the air in search of her. She was

returned in a few minutes, and yet, on examining the colony, two days

after, I found that they had actually commenced the building of royal

cells, in order to raise another! The queen was unhurt and the cells

were not tenanted. Was this work begun by some that refused for a long

time to believe the others, when told that she was safe? Or was it begun

from the apprehension that she might again be removed?



Every colony which has a new queen, should be watched, in order that the

Apiarian may be seasonably apprised of her loss. The restless conduct of

the bees, on the evening of the day that she fails to return, will at

once inform the experienced bee-master of the accident which has

befallen his hive. If the bees cannot be supplied with another queen, or

with the means of raising one, if an old swarm it must be broken up, and

the bees added to another stock; if a new swarm it must always be broken

up, unless it can be supplied with a queen nearly mature, or else they

will build combs unfit for the rearing of workers. By the use of my

movable comb hives, all these operations can be easily performed. If any

hives have lost their young queen, they may be supplied, either with the

means of raising another, or with sealed queens from other hives, or,

(if the plan is found to answer,) with mature ones from the "Nursery."



As a matter of precaution, I generally give to all my stocks that are

raising young queens, or which have unimpregnated ones, a range of comb

containing brood and eggs, so that they may, in case of any accident to

their queen, proceed at once, to supply their loss. In this way, I

prevent them from being so dissatisfied as to leave the hive.



About a week after the young queens have hatched, I examine all the

hives which contain them, lifting out usually, some of the largest

combs, and those which ought to contain brood. If I find a comb which

has eggs or larvae, I am satisfied that they have a fertile queen, and

shut up the hive; unless I wish to find her, in order to deprive her of

her wings, (see p. 203.) I can thus often satisfy myself in one or two

minutes. If no brood is found, I suspect that the queen has been lost,

or that she has some defect which has prevented her from leaving the

hive. If the brood-comb which I put into the hive, contains any

newly-formed royal cells, I _know_, without any further examination,

that the queen has been lost. If the weather has been unfavorable, or

the colony is quite weak, the young queen is sometimes not impregnated

as early as usual, and an allowance of a few days must be made on this

account. If the weather is favorable, and the colony a good one, the

queen usually leaves, the day after she finds herself mistress of a

family. In about two days more, she begins to lay her eggs. By waiting

about a week before the examination is made, ample allowance, in most

cases, is made.



Early in the month of September, I examine carefully all my hives, so as

to see that in every respect, they are in suitable condition for

wintering. If any need feeding, (See Chapter on Feeding,) they are fed

at this time. If any have more vacant room than they ought to have, I

partition off that part of the hive which they do not need. I always

expect to find some brood in every healthy hive at this time, and if in

any hive I find none, and ascertain that it is queenless, I either at

once break it up, or if it is strong in numbers supply it with a queen,

by adding to it some feebler stock. If bees, however, are properly

attended to, at the season when their young queens are impregnated, it

will be a very rare occurrence to find a queenless colony in the Fall.



The practical bee-keeper without further directions, will readily

perceive how any operation, which in the common hives, is performed with

difficulty, if it can be performed at all, is reduced to simplicity and

certainty, by the control of the combs. If however, bee-keepers will be

negligent and ignorant, no hive can possible make them very successful.

If they belong to the fraternity of "no eyes," who have kept bees all

their lives, and do not know that there is a queen, they will probably

derive no special pleasure from being compelled to believe what they

have always derided as humbug or book-knowledge; although I have seen

some bee-keepers very intelligent on most matters, who never seem to

have learned the first rudiments in the natural history of the bee.

Those who cannot, or will not learn for themselves, or who have not the

leisure or disposition to manage their own bees, may yet with my hives,

entrust their care to suitable persons who may, at the proper time,

attend to all their wants. Practical gardeners may find the management

of bees for their employers, to be quite a lucrative part of their

profession. With but little extra labor and with great certainty, they

may, from time to time, do all that the prosperity of the bees require;

carefully over-hauling them in the Spring, making new colonies, at the

suitable period, if any are wanted, giving them their surplus honey

receptacles, and removing them when full; and on the approach of Winter,

putting all the colonies into proper condition, to resist its rigors.

The business of the practical Apiarian, and that of the Gardener, seem

very naturally to go together, and one great advantage of my hive and

mode of management is the ease with which they may be successfully

united.



Some Apiarians after all that has been said, may still have doubts

whether the young queens leave the hive for impregnation; or may think

that the old ones occasionally leave, even when they do not go out to

lead a swarm. Such persons may, if they choose, easily convince

themselves by the following experiments of the accuracy of my

statements. About a week after hiving a second swarm, or after the birth

of a young queen in a hive, and after she has begun to lay eggs, open

the hive and remove her: carry her a few rods in front of the Apiary,

and let her fly; she will at once enter her own hive and thus show that

she has previously left it. If, however, an old queen is removed a short

time after hiving the swarm, she will not be able to distinguish her own

hive from any other, and will thus show that she has not left it, since

the swarm was hived. If this experiment is performed upon an old queen,

in a hive in which she was put the year before, when unimpregnated, the

same result will follow; for as she never left it after that event, she

will have lost all recollection of its relative position in the Apiary.

The first of these experiments has been suggested by Dzierzon.












UNION OF STOCKS. TRANSFERRING BEES FROM THE COMMON HIVE. STARTING AN APIARY.





Frequent allusions have been made to the importance, for various

reasons, of breaking up stocks and uniting them to other families in the

Apiary. Colonies which in the early Spring, are found to be queenless,

ought at once to be managed in this way, for even if not speedily

destroyed by their enemies, they are only consumers of the stores which

they gathered in their happier days. The same treatment should also be

extended to all that in the Fall, are found to be in a similar

condition.



As small colonies, even though possessed of a healthy queen, are never

able to winter as advantageously as large ones, the bees from several

such colonies ought to be put together, to enable them by keeping up the

necessary supply of heat, to survive the Winter on a smaller supply of

food. A certain quantity of animal heat must be maintained by bees, in

order to live at all, and if their numbers are too small, they can only

keep it up, by eating more than they would otherwise require. A small

swarm will thus not unfrequently, consume as much honey as one

containing two or three times as many bees. These are facts which have

been most thoroughly tested on a very large scale. If a hundred persons

are required to occupy, with comfort, a church that is capable of

accommodating a thousand, as much fuel or even more will be required,

to warm the small number as the large one.



If the stocks which are to be wintered, are in the common hives, the

condemned ones must be drummed out of their old encampment, sprinkled

with sugar-water scented with peppermint, or some other pleasant odor,

and added to the others, (see p. 212.) The colonies which are to be

united ought if possible, to stand side by side, some time before this

process is attempted. This can almost always be effected by a little

management, for while it would not be safe to move a colony all at once,

even a few yards to the right or left of the line of flight in which

the bees sally out to the fields, (especially if other hives are near,)

they may be moved a slight distance one day, and a little more the next,

and so on, until we have them at last in the desired place.



As persons may sometimes be obliged to move their Apiaries, during the

working season, I will here describe the way by which I was able to

accomplish such a removal, so as to benefit, instead of injuring my

bees. Selecting a pleasant day, I moved, early in the morning, a portion

of my very best stocks. A considerable number of bees from these

colonies, returned in the course of the day to the familiar spot; after

flying about for some time, in search of their hives, (if the weather

had been chilly many of them would have perished,) they at length

entered those standing next to their old homes. More of the strongest

were removed, on the next pleasant day: and this process was repeated,

until at last only one hive was left in the old Apiary. This was then

removed, and only a few bees returned to the old spot. I thus lost no

more bees, in moving a number of hives, than I should have lost in

moving one: and I conducted the process in such a way, as to strengthen

some of my feeble stocks, instead of very seriously diminishing their

scanty numbers. I have known the most serious losses to result from the

removal of an Apiary, conducted in the manner in which a change of

location is usually made.



The process of uniting colonies in my hive, is exceedingly simple. The

combs may, after the two colonies are sprinkled, be at once lifted out

from the one which is to be broken up, and put with all the bees upon

them, directly into the other hive. If the Apiarian judges it best to

save any of his very small colonies, he can confine them to one half or

one third of the central part of the hive, and fill the two empty ends

with straw, shavings, or any good non-conductor. Any one of my frames,

can, in a few minutes, by having tacked to it a thin piece of board or

paste-board, or even an old newspaper, be fashioned into a divider,

which will answer all practical purposes, and if it is stuffed with

cotton waste, &c., it will keep the bees uncommonly warm. If a _very_

small colony is to be preserved over Winter, the queen must be confined,

in the Fall, in a queen cage, to prevent the colony from deserting the

hive.



I shall now show how the bee-keeper who wishes only to keep a given

number of stocks, may do so, and yet secure from that number the largest

quantity of surplus honey.



If his bees are kept in non-swarming hives, he may undoubtedly, reap a

bounteous harvest from the avails of their industry. I do not however,

recommend this mode of bee-keeping as the best: still there are many so

situated that it may be much the best for them. Such persons, by using

my hives, can pursue the non-swarming plan to the best advantage. They

can by taking off the wings of their queens, be sure that their colonies

will not suddenly leave them; a casualty to which all other non-swarming

hives are sometimes liable; and by taking away the honey in small

quantities, they will always give the bees plenty of spare room for

storage, and yet avoid discouraging them, as is so often done when large

boxes are taken from them. (See Chapter on Honey.)



By removing from time to time, the old queens, the colonies can all be

kept in possession of queens, at the height of their fertility, and in

this way a very serious objection to the non-swarming, or as it is

frequently called, the storifying system, may be avoided. If at any

time, new colonies are wanted, they may be made in the manner already

described. In districts where the honey harvest is of very short

continuance, the non-swarming plan may be found to yield the largest

quantity of honey, and in case the season should prove unfavorable for

the gathering of honey, it will usually secure the largest returns from

a given number of stocks. I therefore prefer to keep a considerable

number of my colonies, on the storifying plan, and am confident of

securing from them, a good yield of honey, even in the most unfavorable

seasons. If bee-keepers will pursue the same system, they will not only

be on the safe side, but will be able to determine which method it will

be best for them to adopt, in order to make the most from their bees. As

a general rule, the Apiarian who increases the number of his colonies,

one third in a season, making one very powerful swarm from two, (See p.

211,) will have more surplus honey from the three, than he could have

obtained from the two, to say nothing of the value of his new swarms.

If, at the approach of Winter, he wishes to reduce his stocks down to

the Spring number, he may unite them in the manner described,

appropriating all the good honey of those which he breaks up, and saving

all their empty comb for the new colonies of the next season. The bees

in the doubled stock will winter most admirably; will consume but

little honey, in proportion to their numbers, and will be in most

excellent condition when the Spring opens. It must not, however, be

forgotten, that although they eat comparatively little in the Winter,

they must be well supplied in the Spring; as they will then have a very

large number of mouths to feed, to say nothing of the thousands of young

bees bred in the hive. If any old-fashioned bee-keeper wishes, he can

thus pursue the old plan, with only this modification; that he preserves

the lives of the bees in the hives which he wishes to take up; secures

his honey without any fumes of sulphur, and saves the empty comb to make

it worth nearly ten times as much to himself, as it would be, if melted

into wax. Let no humane bee-keeper ever feel that there is the slightest

necessity for so managing his bees as to make the comparison of

Shakespeare always apposite:



"When like the Bee, tolling from every flower

The virtuous sweets;

Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths, with honey,

We bring it to the hive; and like the bees,

Are murdered for our pains."



While I am an advocate for breaking up all stocks which cannot be

wintered advantageously, I never advise that a single bee should be

killed. Self interest and Christianity alike forbid the unnecessary

sacrifice.