48 A Modern Bee-Farm 



CHAPTER V. 



HOW TO OBTAIN GOOD WORKING 



STOCK. 



IN all apiaries it is found that a certain colony, or perhaps a 

 few stocks, surpass all the rest in the amount of hone/ 

 collected ; and the remark is often made that of two colonies 

 standing side by side, apparently equal in every respect, one 

 gave a large surplus while the other did almost nothing. . 

 Reader, let us reason together, and see if it be not possible to 

 explain the apparent mystery. As a matter of fact 



The Whole Secret of Successful Honey Production 



consists in always maintaining the proper proportion of adult 

 working bees in relation to' the quantity of brood and young 

 bees on hand. Here, then, can be discerned the difference. 

 One colony was so favourably constituted that the queen was 

 able to produce the full working force before the honey flow 

 came on ; while the other could not breed to her fullest 

 capacity until after the season commenced. In the latter case 

 the working force is unable to do much more than keep the 

 rapidly increasing brood nest and large population of young 

 bees supplied. With such an undue proportion of consumers 

 on hand the queen now has it all her own way, and her combs 

 are one mass of brood. 



The colony which gained the proper balance of population 

 at an early date, on the contary, has much reduced its brood 



