56 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



be at the swarming-poiiit before they reached the weights 

 here mentioned; and in the autumn of favourable seasons 

 they would probably go from 14 lb. to 20 lb. beyond these 

 weights without the bees ever thinking of swarming. 

 How much honey can they gather per day 1 That greatly 

 depends on the state of the atmosphere, the number of 

 empty cells in them, and the quantity of brood that re- 

 quires attention. Soft warm winds from the south and 

 west fill the nectaries of flowers with honey, whereas 

 winds from the east and north seem to stanch the flow 

 of honey completely. But on good pasture, and with 

 favourable weather, healthy 16-inch hives will gather 

 from 2 lb. to 4 lb. of honey per day, and the larger 

 sizes from 4 lb. to 7 lb. The hive that gained 20 lb. 

 weight in two days was placed in the midst of good pasture, 

 when it was 39 lb. weight. It rapidly rose in weight to 

 109 lb. The traffic of bees going out and in of this hive 

 was graphically described as resembling the steam of a 

 tea-kettle going two yards from its mouth before vanish- 

 ing amongst thin air. From 3 lb. to 5 lb. of honey 

 gathered is a fair day's work for a good hive. 



But why use the smaller sizes at all when we see that 

 the larger size does more work of every kind ? We are 

 glad this question has been mooted, for it gives us the 

 opportunity of saying that hives of two or three sizes are 

 of great advantage to a bee-master who acts on a prin- 

 ciple, sound and natural, and with his eye constantly open 

 to his own interests. All seasons are not alike favourable, 

 and aU swarms are not equally large, and some are early 

 and some are late in leaving the mother hives. The larger 

 sizes are used for large and early swarms : the smaller 

 sizes for small or later swarms. 



The shape of hives may be rather conical at the top, or 

 flat-crowned. It is a matter of taste and convenience this. 

 Some bee-masters like one sort and some the other ; and 



