204 THE FARMER'S MANUAL. 



when you may open the window, and let your Bees 



Kass out and in at pleasure, when the weather is fine. 

 F the robbers appear again, close the window, and 

 when the robbers are gone, admit the stragglers of 

 your swarm ; continue to feed, and you may save 

 your hive. It is a good precaution to place an emp- 

 ty hive in the place of the one you thus remove, it 

 will deceive the robbers." 



CHAP. XXIV. 



On the advantages which accrue to the State and indi- 

 viduals from the culture of the Bee. 



It is a notorious fact, that England pays annually 

 to the north of Germany 40 or 50,000 sterling for 

 the produce of the Bee, which could be saved by a 

 small expense by her own peasantry. Even in Ame- 

 rica, we are so regardless of the profits of the Bee, 

 as to import honey in. hogsheads from the island of 

 Cuba and elsewhere. No country possesses greater 

 advantages for the culture of the Bee, and perhaps 

 no country has so grossly neglected it. Mr. Huish, 

 after having gone over a complete system for the ma- 

 nagement of the Bee, observes, " I consider that 200 

 hives may be managed by one person, with some 

 slight assistance, during the swarming season. Some 

 French authors eulogize the skill of M. Prouteac, 

 who had constantly under his care from 5 to 600 

 hives ; this is rare, and perhaps the only one. 1 will 

 state the profits of five years, on a fair and equitable 

 scale, making, at the same time, fair and ample al- 

 lowance for the losses, which, even the most skilful 

 Apiarian cannot prevent. I will suppose a person 

 to buy a swarm in 1812, for \vhich he pays one 

 guinea. In the month of May or June, his hive 

 swarms, and in about 10 days, it swarms again, this 

 is called a cast. His Apiary now consists of three 

 hives, from one of which, (the cast,) it will be most 



