84 THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 



plained be properly managed from beginning to end — above all, if th'e 

 bees saved have proceeded from strong and vigorous stocks, (at hast 

 one of the families in each united stock should answer this description,) 

 there is every probability — I may say certainty — that, with a judicious 

 and liberal supply of food up to the desired weight, (and every such 

 stock ought to weigh neither more nor less than 20 lbs. of contents at 

 Michaelmas,) it will become one of the strongest and most remunera- 

 ting stocks in the whole apiary the followingftummer. Artificial 

 stocks obtained in this manner have a double advantage, being both 

 economical and profitable ; for they will cost very little to the bee 

 master, while his apiary may increase itself as rapidly, when worked 

 on the non-swarming system, as if his bees were allowed to swarm ad 

 libitum. It will be at once perceived, that an apiary managed on this 

 plan, may be conducted in a bee house, without any assistance at all 

 from garden hives, worked on the cottage system; I mean, that the 

 apiarian may be altogether independent of swarming, which is a mat- 

 ter of great importance to dwellers in towns, who may hitherto have 

 thought themselves debarred from the pleasures of bee-keeping, from 

 their lack of a garden, and the consequent necessity of purchasing 

 swarms. It will be seen, moreover, when I come to the next year's 

 management of the apiary, that the increase of stocks may be man- 

 aged another way, without the troublesome necessity even of procur- 

 ing bees from elsewhere at all ; so that one stock, well managed, may 

 become the parent of a numerous apiary, without even requiring the 

 apiarian to move out of the room of his house which lie may have de- 

 voted to keeping bees. 



There is yet another plan of forming artificial stocks, which I have 

 tried with much success. I introduce a notice of it here, for the ben- 

 efit chiefly of those bee keepers who are curious in such matters, and 

 have the requisite leisure for conducting the somewhat tedious, though 

 very interesting, process. It is this : A fter collecting together the popu- 

 lation of two or more doomed hives, let them be placed in a perfectly 

 empty box. If fed plentifully — and they should never lack an abun- 

 dant supply of palatable food in their feeding trough for at least a 

 month ; that is, until the contents of the box reach 20 lbs. in weight — 

 they will construct a great deal of comb, and store away food enough to 

 keep them alive through the winter, without requiring much, if any, 

 additional supply in the spring. This method of rearing bees is, how- 



