4 BEE-FARMING. 



can be expected from hives of this small size ? If they 

 possess a prolific queen, the cells, in all the combs except 

 the two small outer ones, are always filled with brood in 

 various stages of development; the room, in fact, is so 

 limited that the queen watches for every vacant cell, and 

 no sooner does. the young bee leave it than it is again 

 tenanted. They are prolific in one thing — that is, 

 swarms. No wonder swarm after swarm issues, because 

 the bees, becoming overcrowded, and having no room for 

 honey storage, must either swarm or perish. To save 

 themselves — for bees are often blessed with more foresight 

 than their proprietors — they raise a queen and swarm. 

 Again, what are the swarms really worth when they do 

 come out ? I have seen scores of swarms hived as separate 

 colonies which would not, if measured, fill more than a pint. 

 A pint of bees can do but little as a distinct stock. 



Whilst other branches of rural economy have kept 

 pace with the times, bee-keeping has been, and still is, 

 retrograding amongst cottagers. There are not nearly 

 so many apiaries now as in the days of our forefathers. 

 How is it that bees flourish so well in a wild state in the 

 vast primeval forests of America, so that when a stock is 

 taken from a hollow tree it is not uncommon to secure 

 an hundredweight of honey ? Cottage bee-keeping can be 

 made very profitable, if farmed in a proper manner ; it 

 will not only pay the rent of the labourer but find cloth- 

 ' ing also for his family. 



The old-fashioned small skep must be abolished if 

 success is to be secured. I do not wish to push any 

 expensive bar-frame or costly hive upon my village friends; 

 it can be done with the same, or less, outlay than at pre- 

 :ient. There are heaths in abundance on which the cheer- 

 ful hum of the honey-bee is seldom heard, and hundreds 

 of acres clothed with white Dutch clover, yielding the 

 purest honey, are waiting to be kissed by the bee. 



