ON BEES AND iHONEY, l/Jl 



fenyers iti tko market-towns at seventeen to twenty cents a 

 pound ? Do they know that a properly planned, properly 

 jnade, and properly managed hive will yield iVom thirty to fif- 

 ty pounds a season of just such honey, for which just suck 

 prices may be obtained ? Do they once tliink that a dozen 

 'hives may be managed with almost Jiotliing of care, and noth- 

 ing of cost, at'ter the first outlay ! Why, " good friends, sweet 

 friends," as said the man in the play, let us look at it a mo- 

 meiat, in a practical and economical light. A properly made 

 hiv^, of the right construction, one that shall save the lives of 

 all ".the little busy bees," as long as their bounteous maker in- 

 tended tliey should live, (for your Committee are no friends to 

 that cruel systenfl of management, which kills the bees to get 

 the honey — murder and robbery both combined) — sucii a hive, 

 of best stock and well painted, may be bought for four dollars 

 and fifty cents. A new swarm may be bought and put there- 

 in for, say at a high figure, four dollars more. Throwing out 

 <)[ the account, the fact that in a good season, from an early 

 stock, you will get ten to fifteen pounds of honey, the first 

 year of the swarm, over and above what the bees will need 

 for carrying them through their first winter, the hive and 

 swarm will stand you, with interest of one year on the outlay, 

 at a cost of nine dollars on the opening of the next season of 

 the purchase. Bear in mind, that the Committee speak of a 

 .properly constructed hive, and they will give its details before 

 •closing their report. Hero then is an investment of nine dol- 

 lars, and what are the probable proceeds. We say probable, 

 though the probability of the return is an almost certainty. 

 The stock shall have wintered comfortably and prosperously, 

 and have reached its second season, in good case, in good 

 heart, and in goodly numbers from a bounteous and fertile 

 queen mother. Such a slock will gather, after filling up its 

 own supplies for the next winter, say at a small figure, forty 

 pounds of honey, worth as above stated, seventeen to tv/enty 

 -cents, sold to the wholesale dealer, and twenty-five cents if 

 retailed for family supply. In the one case the proceeds are 

 from six dollars and eighty cents to eight dollars, and in the 

 other ten dollars. Not a bad business for our farming friends 



