534 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



little honey to sustain tbe colonj the following winter. If the space occupied 

 by these dione combs had been occupied by worker combs there would have 

 been producers reared instead of consumers, which would, of course, have greatly 

 changed the quantity of its product, and saved it from the danger of starvation. 

 There are very few hives which do not contain a greater or less excess of thia 

 kind of comb, by which the quantity of surplus honey which might be pro- 

 duced in our country is greatly lessened. Control of the combs, of course, 

 enables the bee-keeper to remedy this evil. 



For various important reasons colonics should at all times he kept populous. 

 It is only by the united heat of large numbers of bees clustering closely together 

 in their hive that they are enabled, without extra care, to withstand the rigors 

 of the winters in our middle, western, and northern States. Hives made of 

 thick boards possess but little, if any, advantage for their protection. As an 

 experiment on this point I had two hives constructed of pine lumber, the boards 

 of one only one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and those of the other one-fourth 

 of an inch thick. They were Laugstroth's movable comb hives, battened at 

 the corners to give sufficient strength and retain their shape. A populous 

 colony, sufficiently provisioned, was placed in each last fall. They stood in 

 the open air without any shelter whatever, except then- hive, and on examining 

 them in the spring they were in as good, if not better, condition than similar 

 colonies in similar hives made of boards an mch thick, and placed on the same 

 bench with like exposure. During the three intensely cold days in the month 

 of January, six less populous colonies in hives made of thick lumber perished 

 from the cold, which was very severe. The advantage of populous colonies in 

 this respect is obvious ; nor does it stop here. Where colonies are populous 

 during winter, they not only consume proportionately less honey, but com- 

 mence breeding much earlier in the spring, rearing larger numbers at each brood, 

 ^n^ filling their hive with bees by the time the honey-producing fiowers bloom. 

 They also throw off large swanns early in the season, which, having nearly the 

 entire honey harvest before them, are enabled frequently, not only to lay up an 

 abundance for their own support the following winter, but furnish their owner 

 with a liberal surplus, while the present stock has also ample time and oppor- 

 tunity, before the end of the honey harvest, to lay up large stores of honey. 

 Colonies kept constantly populous bid defiance to the bee-moth, as wfell as 

 other enemies ; require far less care and attention from their owner ; and from 

 .them alone are his profits realized. To secure in perpetuity this desirable ob- 

 ject the bee-keeper must understand the subject fully, and be able to avail 

 himself of the advantages furnished by the movable comb system of bee-keep- 

 ing, for without it he often cannot ascertain the existence of evils in season to 

 remedy them, or remedy them if he did. With it this is but the work of a 

 few minutes, and possessiug full control of their combs he can administer the 

 " ounce of preventive" in a most admirable manner ; can increase, diminish, or 

 keep stationary the number of his colonies at will, and provide properly for 

 all theii- requirements with the least possible trouble and inconvenience. In 

 illustration of this I will answer a question which has been asked me probably 

 more than one hundred times : Why did my bees die last winter — the hive 

 was full of honey? The anxious inquirer has unconsciously answered hia 

 own question. " The hive was full of honey," and the bees, compelled to 

 cluster in the sheets bettoeen thick, cold walls of honey, which their animal 

 heat was inadequate to warm, had frozen to death. Another late swarm, 

 perhaps, standing by its side, had starved to death in and between empty combs. 

 The simple exchange of a few full for a few empty combs between these two 

 colonies would have saved both, and placed them in their best condition for 

 breeding in early spring, for it must not be lost sight of that the colony in which 

 the combs are alljilled with honey has no room for breeding, while the other 

 would have nothing to feed the young, if bred, until it would be fiu'nished by 



