.4 TALE OF DESTRUCTION. 55 



But it is not only a cruel system, and a foolish 

 one, because like killing the goose that laid the 

 golden eggs ; but it is also quite unnecessary, for, by 

 proper management, all the honey can be obtained 

 without killing a bee. 



It is also a very profitless system as regards the 

 honey itself, making it of a very inferior quality. 

 And we can easily understand this when we re- 

 member that the hive not only contains much old 

 comb, blackened by age and the impurities left by 

 young bees, but also that in many of the cells there 

 will be a quantity of pollen, or bee-bread, and even 

 young brood in various stages, — in appearance like so 

 many little maggots. All this comb is cut out of the 

 hive, and broken up, and then smashed, and pressed, and 

 mixed with the honey, before this latter is strained off. 

 The honey thus obtained, and which many people eat, 

 must indeed be very impure and inferior, and not for 

 a moment to be compared with that which the bees 

 will give us, clear, and bright, and clean, just as they 

 themselves store it, if only we treat them properly. 



How to obtain this pure honey, stored in per- 

 fectly fresh, clean combs, and in abundant quantity, 

 and with considerable profit, you will learn at a future 

 time. 



Well, then, let thts be your first great lesson in 

 practical bee-keeping, — a lesson of what you are not 

 to do : ' Never kill your bees,' Always look upon the 

 sulphur-pit system as a most cruel and wasteful one, — 

 the system by which you get the smallest and worst 

 return possible for your money, time, and labour. 



