1883.] BEE-KEEPING. 159 



are filled, put in the new hive. All these operations, if performed 

 by a novice, should be in the latter part of the day. The whole 

 operation of transferring a stock should not take over twenty 

 minutes. When the bees have fastened the combs to the frames, 

 which will be in a few days, remove the strings, and the bees will 

 join and perfect the pieces of comb. 



PROFITS. 



The large returns from the business, when compared with the 

 time and capital employed, have also added stimulus to this enter- 

 prise. The profits from my bees for ten years in succession doubled 

 those of the farm. The investment in bees, fixtures, etc., cost a 

 sum not exceeding four hundred dollars, but probably would in- 

 ventory one thousand dollars. The expense in the care of my 

 apiary — which at this time inventories, on an average, about 

 seventy -five stocks — I should judge was two hundred dollars; in- 

 terest on the investment at ten per cent., one hundred dollars; then 

 to the credit of the apiary, there was at least three hundred pounds 

 of first quality of honey used in the family each year. Now, the 

 investment in farm and fixtures we will call seven thousand dollars; 

 the cost of carrying on the farm, interest, taxes, etc., can only be 

 estimated, as I dare keep no farm accounts. In the former case, 

 almost any one with a limited capital can build up for themselves a 

 remunerative business; in the latter, it is the woi;k of a lifetime. 



WINTERING. 



The subject of wintering bees probably has called forth as much 

 comment and criticism as any other connected with bee-keeping. 

 I attribute the great loss of bees in wintering, in a great extent, 

 to the modern hive not being adapted to our cold, northern winters; 

 or in other words, our ignorance in the winter management of bees 

 in these hives. A stock of bees to be in proper condition to meet 

 the emergencies of our long, changeable winters, and cold, back- 

 ward springs, should have at least thirty pounds of honey in such 

 a position in the hive that a large portion of it will be accessible 

 to the bees at all times, as they need. The framed hive has been 

 very deficient in this respect. 1 have known hundreds of stocks 

 to starve, with frames full of honey on both sides of their cluster 

 which was as inaccessible to them, under the circumstances, as 

 though it had been in the bottom of the sea. In the old-style 



