if Italian, altbougli the hive may be the most rickety old 

 box imaginable, with hiding places for worms on every 

 square inch. Put this by the side of the best iinished 

 " Moth-proof," and the chances are that the moths, or 

 rather worms, will dispose of the latter first. 



N0]Sr-SWAEMBRS. 



A perfect non-swarmer has not yet been constructed, 

 although we often hear it talked about. I heartily wish 

 that one could be devised which would answer the re- 

 quirements, and furnish the surplus in good shape for 

 market. I have offered $100 for one that would not fail 

 in more than one instance in ten. It is not forthcoming, 

 however, showing that those who talk most of their abili- 

 ty to invent, have no confidence in their own profession. 

 The only place in which one can put bees and not expect 

 them. to swarm, is a small dark room, and a few have been 

 known to swarm even then. But here, the surplus is 

 made on the outside of the hive, and is of unequal thick- 

 ness, and in all shapes, thus being unsuitable for market. 

 T have tried the experiment of putting on boxes, as on 

 other hives, but they seem to ignore them entirely, making 

 combs at random on all parts of the hive. 



When a person wishes to keep a few bees for the sake 

 of the honey for home use, and wants the least possible 

 trouble with them, he will probably be satisfied with this 

 hive. But if he expects to sell a few thousand potmds, he 

 does not want it in such an unsalable shape. I contrasted 

 the profit of such a hive, with that of a swarming hive, in 

 the first edition of this work, but I made one mistake, of 

 which an interested party has taken the advantage, giving 

 an unfair representation to show the non-swarmer the most 

 profitable. Instead of comparing a swarming hive with a 

 true non-swarmer, placed as I have represented, he as- 

 sumes a hive to be such, when it occasionally fails to 



