46 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



without interfering with his ordinary occupation ; it is 

 not necessary that his own garden should contain them 

 all; the country clergyman or squire would, in nearly all 

 cases, obtain or give permission for the standing of hives 

 in their woods, fields, or waste grounds, and feel pleased 

 at being able to assist in the industry of their poorer 

 neighbours. The thousands of railway servants — -station- 

 masters, porters, and signal-men — have splendid oppor- 

 tunities of increasing their incomes by Bee-keeping; the 

 Bees would prosper on, and gratefully accept the shelter 

 of, the railway banks, which are generally clothed with 

 flowers in all the luxuriance of their untended wildness ; 

 and amongst the passengers using the stations would 

 be found willing customers for the honey and swarms. 

 Those who can make, buy, or borrow a " Honey Extractor," 

 will derive a far larger profit, if using frame hives ; and 

 such an instrument may be the joint stock property of a 

 whole village, travelling from one apiary to another. But 

 there is another kind of profit besides that of money. 

 Who but those who have experienced it can tell of the 

 large fund of instruction, pleasure, and amusement, 

 afforded by the busy Bees ! 



The industry and activity of Bees in their domestic 

 labours afford an instructive and amusing spectacle. All 

 are actively engaged; each attending, with all its power, 

 to the business to be done. Some feed the young larvae, 

 others seal them over when full fed. A certain portion 

 attend upon the Queen ; then there are the cell builders, 

 and the mighty moving army of honey and pollen 

 gatherers. No skulking, no idleness; each Bee knows 

 what it has to do and does it. Many employments are 

 there in the hive; some Bees ventilate, others perform all 

 the operations of scavengers, so that by night and by 



