^4 



BEE-FARMING. 



cisely the same condition that it was in nine years ago. 

 Not a single swarm has ever issued therefrom. Ten gene- 

 rations of bees have existed, nine of which are passed away. 



" We now pass to what would have been the result if 

 the swarm had originally been put in a hive about twelve 

 inches square. 



" The second year a swarm would have issued without 

 doubt, and perhaps two, but we will say one, in order to be 

 on the safe side, as it is not my intention to give an over- 

 wrought picture in anything that I may discuss. We will 

 now take the very reasonable and low estimate of one 

 swarm from every stock every season, and count up how 

 many would be the result at the end of ten years. 



" The second year two in all ; the third year four ; the 

 fourth year eight ; the fifth year sixteen ; the sixth year 

 thirty-two ; and so in the tenth year showing five hundred 

 and twelve families from a single swarm ! 



" In this calculation we allow no drawbacks to the pros- 

 perity of the bees, such as destruction by foul brood, &c., 

 yet the usual casualties attending the culture of bees I con- 

 tend can be almost, if not wholly, prevented by proper 

 management. So confident am I that 512 stocks of bees 

 can in ten years be produced from a single swarm, that I 

 should not hesitate to enter into heavy bonds (the uncer- 

 tainty of life considered) to produce that number; or forfeit 

 the whole actually produced. 



"512 stocks of bees are worth at least five dollars per 

 stock, amounting to the enormous sum of 2,560 dollars, 

 while the same swarm, from which so vast a profit arises, 

 if placed in too large a hive, at the end of ten years is 

 worth but the paltry sum of five dollars, with no increase ! 

 I leave the reader to his own reflections on the wretched 

 management of bees as too generally practised in every part 

 of the country." 



We can, from a single stock now in our own possession. 



