mysteries of the bee hive, only fits and 

 qualifies for success in the enterprise. 



We would recommend to beginners, if 

 profit be their object, to commence with 

 only a few colonies, in a good, simple, 

 movable, frame hive. This will enable 

 them to often inspect the interior of the 

 hive, and every inspection will prove a 

 valuable lesson, and will enable them to 

 more wisely enlarge upon their investment 

 — bearing in mind tliat strong swarms are 

 the ones that pay, and he should ever labor 

 to keep all in tliat condition. The beginner, 

 of course, has in his mind in wiiat special 

 product he will receive his profit — bees or 

 honey. He must consider that one is at the 

 expense of the other. If he wishes a large 

 yield of honey, lie can not expect to 

 increase his stock so fast as if their stores 

 are left with them, and given to them in 

 artificial swarming, as every comb, wiiether 

 containing brood or honey, adds great 

 strength to the colony. The apiarist is 

 laberlng for dollars and cents, and the 

 greatest amount tiiat can be procured from 

 a single colony. 



Then the question is, "bees or honey ?" — 

 If bees exclusively, then at the expense of 

 the surplus honey ; and by artificial swarm- 

 ing, they can, in a good honey season, 

 increase their stocks very rapidly. But 

 always keep colonies strong. 



"But," says one, "we want honey." — 

 Then you must proceed in a different way. 

 If honey be the object, you will need all 

 the bees that your hive will produce, kept 

 at home, for surplus honey. Besides, your 

 hive must possess sufficient capacity to 

 engage all the bees in labor. Room must 

 be given for a strong and constantly 

 increasing force of workers, or they will be 

 compelled to either leave for the woods or 

 to hang idly outside of their hive, simply 

 for the want of room. The beginner should 

 remember that the greatest number of bees 

 that they can keep at work in the boxes, 

 the larger amount of honey he will receive 

 for his trouble. A colony of bees in the 

 spring, with a plenty of honey, brood and 

 bees, will be very apt to give their owner 

 100 tts. of honey in a good season. 



For a beginner to produce such results, 

 he will, of course, need to study the best 

 way of applying boxes, that his bees may 

 have the greatest facility for their work.— 

 We manage them in this way : Put on the 

 boxes as soon as the bees begin to work in 

 the spring. As soon as they get fairly at 

 work in the boxes, building comb, raise up 

 the boxes and place an empty set under- 

 neath them. This will draw up nearly all 

 the surplus bees, uniting their work with 

 boxes and hive, thus giving the queen full 

 control of the brood-nest, which, if not 

 given, the workers would occupy too much 

 of it for honey, thereby lessening the 

 strength of the colony or causing them to 

 swarm out. 



We keep adding boxes as above described , 

 until we often have from 4 to 6 set on at a 

 time. Adding boxes in this way, the sur- 

 plus honey is nearly all stored above, and 

 the queen, with a sufficient force, will 

 manage matters below. Following this 

 plan, a large force of workers is continually 

 being added, wliich is the life and prosper- 



ity of the colony, and the profit of the bee- 

 keeper. 



In the question of profitable bee culture, 

 there is involved a question of resources. — 

 The floral treasures of the country musfbe 

 taken into consideration. There are por- 

 tions of our country where bee-keeping 

 would not prove so successful. A very 

 little portion of it but a few colonies may 

 be kept for the benefit of the family. We 

 have hardly made a commencement upon 

 the honey capital of the country, and the 

 large amount that is yearly gathered, is but 

 a drop saved from that yearly going to waste. 

 Where honey plants are not a natural 

 growth, we have many kinds of plants that 

 are soon brought to yield a large amount of 

 honey. All that is required is a little 

 trouble in sowing and setting out trees, 

 that will soon pay largely for the honey 

 alone. The linden tree will grow in almost 

 any soil, and yields largely in honey of the 

 finest quality. 



Commence on a small scale ; study the 

 habits and nature of the bee, and with 

 interest and energy the beginner will be 

 likely to succeed eveiy time. 



Rome, Ga. A. F. Moon, 



From Our Home Journal. 



Bee Pasturage in the South. 



Apiculture in the South could be made 

 much more profitable if more attention were 

 paid to the cultivation of the honey pro- 

 ducing plants. The principal source of 

 honey in the States south of Tennessee are 

 the fruit blossoms in early spring— the 

 Black Gum {Myssa MuUiflora,) wliich 

 yields large quantities of honey ; the tulip 

 tree, and a few other flowering trees and 

 plants of minor consideration. We have no 

 large fields of clover, no basswood groves, 

 no acres of buckwheat. We have a few 

 bees in old boxes, logs and kegs, stowed 

 away among the weeds, and often by piles 

 of promiscuous rubbish. If, perchance, 

 they make their unworthy owners a few 

 pounds of surplus honey they are consid- 

 ered to have " done well ;" but if they fall 

 a prey to neglect and the worm, they are 

 set down as " unprofitable servants." No 

 one can expect to breed and rear fine stock 

 without tliorough attention. He must pro- 

 vide for all their wants. He should have 

 his fields of corn, oats and grass. The bee 

 is no exception to the rule. It does not and 

 cannot gather honey from every opening 

 flower, as many persons suppose. They 

 need proper pasturage. It is impossible for 

 bees to be any source of profit in a section 

 of country where there are few honey- 

 yielding plants. It should be the duty of 

 every bee-keeper to cultivate as many of 

 such plants as possible. 



White clover will grow and do well in 

 most all portions of the South, if the ground 

 is well prepared, and not too sandy or poor. 

 Where shade trees are to be planted in our 

 yards, or along our lanes or highways, it 

 would be best to plant such as make good, 

 bee pasturage. The Linden is a tree to be 

 particularly recommended. This is a tree 

 of quite rapid growth, fine foliage, beauti- 

 ful appearance, and makes a good shade. — 



