TRANSFERRING BEES. 297 



only breed dwarfs ? When I find such a colony, I shall 

 think it worth while to give specific directions as to how it 

 should be managed. The truth is, that of all the many 

 mistakes and impositions which have disgusted multitudes 

 with the very sound of " patent hive," none has been more 

 fatal than the notion that an old colony of bees could not 

 be expected to prosper. Thousands of the very best stocks 

 have been wantonly sacrificed to this Chimera ; and so 

 long as bee-keepers instead of studying the habits of the 

 bee, prefer to listen to the interested statements of ignorant, 

 or enthusiastic, or fraudulent persons, thousands more will 

 suffer the same fate. As to old stocks, the prejudice against 

 them is just as foolish as the silly notions of some who imag- 

 ine that a woman is growing old, long before she has reached 

 her prime. Many a man of mature years who has married 

 a girl or a child, instead of a woman, has often had both 

 time enough, and cause enough to lament his folly. 



It cannot be too strongly urged upon all who keep bees, 

 either for love or for money, to be exceedingly cautious in 

 trying any new hive, or new system of management. If 

 you are ever so well satisfied that it will answer all your 

 expectations, enter upon it, at first, only on a small scale ; 

 then, if it fulfills all its promises, or if you can make it do 

 so, you may safely adopt it : at all events, you will not 

 have to mourn over large sums of money spent for nothing, 

 and numerous powerful colonies entirely destroyed. " Let 

 well enough alone," should, to a great extent, be the motto 

 of every prudent bee-keeper. There is, however, a golden 

 mean between that obstinate and stupid conservatism which 

 tries nothing new, and, of course, learns nothing new, and 

 that craving after mere novelty, and that rash experimenting 

 on an extravagant scale, which is so characteristic of a large 

 portion of our American people. It would be difficult to 



