HIVES. 45 



often send them hurriedly home ; but they are frequently 

 caught, and die on the altar of their industry. Hives con- 

 taining 8 Ih. and 10 lb. of bees have lost two-thirds of their 

 ranks by sudden showers in warm honey weather. Bees 

 driven to the earth by showers do not die at once. If the 

 following day be warm and fair, the rays of the sun some- 

 times reanimate these storm-beaten creatures, and enable 

 them to return to their hives. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



HIVES. 



As we have now come to the most important chapter of 

 the book, it is hoped that all readers seeking profit from 

 bee-keeping will try to go through it in the light of common- 

 sense. Bees ever have been, and ever will be, profitable 

 to their owners, when well managed. Many bee-keepers 

 in England are fifty years behind the day, and have yet 

 to learn the first principles of profitable management. 

 Agriculture has made great advancement during the 

 last half-century — so has horticulture ; and they are not 

 going to stand still now. But apiculture, alas ! has 

 made but poor progress. What hinders it ? "When the 

 astronomer discovered and reported the fact that the 

 planet Uranus loitered in one part of his orbit, it was an 

 act of common-sense on the part of another man to push 

 his telescope towards that part in order to find out the 

 hindering cause. He was thus successful in discovering 

 another immense planet (Neptune) lying far behind, the 

 attractive influence of which is so great as to impede and 

 hinder Uranus in his course round the sun. Now there 



