12 BEE-FARMING. 



have the best Woodbury hives, each containing thirteen 

 bars; one of my neighbours, a poor widow, has cleared 

 more than her rent last year from honey, and she keeps 

 none but the common straw hives." 



The above will afford us a lesson, if we only faithfully 

 listen to its teaching. Here is a wealthy gentleman, who 

 has given about il. each for his hives alone, yet he con- 

 fesses he is sick of spending his money, and obtaining no 

 return for his investment, while a poor cottager in the 

 same village does well. Why ? Because she has only 

 hives, so far as size is concerned, just suited to the require- 

 ment of the bees ; her bees are comfortable, they fill the 

 hive with ease, swarm abundantly, and give her an abun- 

 dant harvest, whilst her neighbour, with all his wealthy 

 appliances, fails completely, because his hives are too large — 

 the bees never fill them, they become dispirited, never 

 swarm, and yield a poor return. 



The words of Mr. Miner, an American bee-farmer, are 

 worth listening to, for very few have had such extensive 

 experience, or have kept such an enormous apiary : — 



" Various are the reasons for making all hives of the 

 same size. If we make them too small the bees are liable 

 to perish from the effects of an unfavourable winter, in 

 consequence of the weak condition of the family. The 

 queen in such cases, as before stated, is curtailed of her 

 necessary room, and not as many bees will be produced ; 

 and whatever operates as a check to the production of 

 larvas is a fatal error in the management of bees. 



" If we construct our hives too large the bees will require 

 two years to fill them, and the natural increase by swarming 

 is lessened, and in some cases entirely prevented, for a 

 series of years. Hives of this character are those made 

 about fourteen inches in diameter, by about fifteen or 

 eighteen inches in length. Such a size I consider to be 

 opposed to the natural requirements of the bee 



