BEE-KEEPING. 47 



day work goes on unceasingly in this busy home of 

 industry. 



" Behold ! yon bord'ring fence of sallow trees 

 Is fraught with flowers, the flowers are fraught with Bees; 

 The busy Bees, with a soft murmuring strain, 

 Invite to gentle sleep the labouring swain." — Virgil. 



No need to stray from home in search of recreation in 

 our idle hours, the Bees will teach us these should be 

 unknown. Employment and interesting instruction will 

 always be found in the careful watching for the welfare 

 of the stocks in fine weather, and when the elements are 

 unpropitious our ideas may be enlarged and our me- 

 chanical genius fostered by the manufacture, improve- 

 ment and invention of hives and appliances. In the 

 long evenings of winter all may be got ready for the 

 summer's requirements. 



Many of our ablest Apiarians, whose means permit, 

 are content to sink pecuniary profit, and devote all their 

 energies to the philosophical study of the mysteries of 

 our industrious little friends and their works. Some 

 Bee-keepers also aim only at increase of Bees, finding 

 the sale of these pay better than honey; and, as a rule, it 

 may be taken as correct, that if the breeding power be 

 unduly pushed, the storage of honey must be sacrificed. 



I will now suppose the reader is contemplating start- 

 ing as a Bee-keeper. My advice is not to attempt too 

 much at first ; begin in the spring with one or two 

 swarms ; common Black Bees will do, though Ligurians 

 are better, if the additional cost be no object. Of the 

 former, a prime swarm should be obtainable for from 

 15^. to 20s., the Ligurians about double that price. 



The inexperienced in Bee-keeping will do well when 

 starting, to buy in May, or the first half of June, a 



