HIVES. 77 



published, and all that we could possibly say, would 

 never put them on the highroad to the successful and 

 profitable management of bees unless they kept large 

 hives. 



Bonaparte, the great general, soon found that good luck 

 attended those who had most cannon ; and he said, " God 

 was always on their side." So in bee-keeping, good luck 

 attends those who use hives large enough to hold many 

 bees. The secret of profit is here. It is rather puzzling 

 to do sums in practice before the multiplication table has 

 been mastered : it is equally puzzling to get large profits 

 from small hives, so generally used in England. We are 

 weU aware that it is a difficult matter to remove prejudices 

 of long standing. Wlien water cuts its own channel it 

 runs along it, year after year. To a large extent bee- 

 keeping has done the same. We are glad to see some 

 signs of an alteration taking place. The adoption of large 

 hives by one or two bee-keepers of intelligence and ability 

 in every county would, in process of time, revolutionise 

 bee-keeping throughout the country. 



Having far more confidence in the power of facts and 

 figures than in that of logic and argumentation for con- 

 vincing men not remarkable for activity of brain, that 

 large hives, well managed, are incomparably better than ■ 

 small ones, we have of late recorded the results of bee- 

 keeping in our native village, where hives are of consider- 

 able dimensions. These records have already stimulated 

 the attention of many bee-keepers throughout the country, 

 and in several parishes adjoining or lying near Carluke, 

 the pluck and energy of many bee-masters are in full 

 play. If the weight of Carluke swarms rise up to 

 100 lb., 130 lb., and 160 lb. each, according to the 

 season, why not elsewhere ? In 1864, the weights of 

 an old hive and its two sWarms, belonging to Mr Eobert 



