258 AGRICFLTURAL ESSAfS. 



bled his stock. The second year his two hives produce him 

 four swarms and two casts ; let him sell the honey his of casts at 

 15 shillings each, which will give him thirty shillings, and add 

 the swarms to his stocks ; he has now four good stocks ; at the 

 end of each year let him weigh his hives and take all the 

 comb over thirty pounds ; say eleven pounds a year from each 

 hive ; this gives him forty pounds of honey comb, at one shil- 

 ling sixpence, gives him three pounds; this added to the profit, 

 or the two casts as before, gives four pounds ten shillings. 

 The third year his four hives produce four swarms and four 

 casts ; he goes on as before, and on the fourth year his 

 apiary consists of eight stocks. At the beginsning of the 

 fifth year, his apiary has increased to sixteen stocks. 



From the above statement let him who is, or would be an 

 apiarian, or keeper of bees, calculate the actual profit 



The profit which is obtained from the bee, bears no propor- 

 tion to the little trouble and time required to their culture, 

 which should induce more of our farmers to engage in the bu- 

 siness, as but very little expence of time or property, and no 

 extensive capital is necessary. 



"As a proof of the importance attached to the culture of the 

 Bee, Wildman qu jtes a modern author, who affirms that when 

 the Romans took possession of the Island of Corsica,they impos- 

 ed a tribute of wax on the inhabitants, to the amount of 2CO,000 

 pounds annually ; supposing the island retained the same quan- 

 tity, that would give 400,000 pounds per annum made in one 

 Island by this wonderful insect. The known proportion of 

 wax to honey in a hive is as 1 to J 5 or 20 ; then multiply 

 400,000 pounds by 15 or 20, we have six or eight millions of 

 pounds of honey, independent of the wax as above." Linneus, 

 in speaking of the bee, says it is not yet determined if the 

 bees, and other insects which feed on lioney, occasion any in- 

 jury to the little embryos, or cause any destruction to their 

 generation, by imbibing the nectar of the flowers." It ia ob- 

 vious that tiie Bees afford immense profits to the cwltivatorsr 



