20 THE APIARY 



so great a destruction takes place by the brimstone 

 match, breeding- must, of course, be allowed to g-o on to 

 its full extent to make up for such sacrifices. Our chief 

 object under the new system' is to obtain honey free from 

 all extraneous matter. Pure honey cannot be gathered 

 from combs where storing and breeding are performed 

 in the same compartment. For fuller explanations 

 on this point, we refer to the various descriptions 

 of our improved hives in a subsequent section of this 

 work. 



There can now be scarcely two opinions as to the use- 

 lessness of the rustic plan of immolating the poor bees 

 after they have striven through the summer so to "im- 

 prove each shining hour." The ancients in Greece and 

 Italy took the surplus honey and spared the bees, and 

 now for every intelligent bee-keeper there are ample 

 appliances wherewith to attain the same results. Mr. 

 Langstroth quotes from the German the following 

 epitaph, which, he says, "might be properly placed 

 over every pit of brimstoned bees": — , 



%nz meets, 



CUT OFF FROM USEFUL LABOUR, 



A COLONY OF 



INDUSTRIOUS BEES, 



BASELY MURDERED 



BY ITS 



UNGRATEFUL AND IGNORANT 

 OWNER. 



