244 THE APIARY, 



bee-keepers in using the more elaborate hives. Being 

 struck with the remarkable facilities afforded by these 

 superior hives for the extraction of any one comb, and, 

 perhaps, fascinated with their easy sway over so highly- 

 organized a community, these new-fangled bee-keepers 

 have acquired a habit of perpetually and incautiously r 

 meddling with the bees. The inevitable results in such 

 cases are, distress to the bees, impoverishment of the 

 stocks, and loss and vexation to the over-zealous apiarian. 

 All these things may be avoided, if it is remembered 

 that there are first steps in bee-keeping, as well as in 

 chemistry, croquet, or cricket. In bee-keeping, as in 

 floriculture, it is a great point to know when to "let well 

 alone. " There is no florist, however anxious for a prize,, 

 who would be continually pulling up his plants to see- 

 how their roots were growing. Doubtless, the full con- 

 trol which the bars and frames afford over the inmost 

 recesses of the hives is a great temptation to the becr 

 keeper ; but if he yields too readily to it, he will imperil 

 his chance of profit and deprive himself of that con^ 

 tinuous source of interest which a judicious apiarian 

 always enjoys. 



Many persons who are .well-informed on most sub,- 

 jects are extraordinarily ignorant of the natural history 

 of bees and the economy of the bee-hive. Perhaps 

 we might venture to suggest that more pains should be 

 taken at schools, or by parents, to inform young persons 

 on this, in connexion with kindred subjects. As a;tt 



