HIVES. \T 



learned by every bee-keeper in the kingdom the better. 

 There is no doubt about the rapid increase of weight in the- 

 loved home of the bees : the honey is there stored with a 

 hearty will, because they are labouring for the honour and 

 welfare of their queen. Now should you not deem a man, 

 to be very simple who carried all his earnings every weeic 

 to the shed outside his own cottage home, placing it care- 

 lessly on a table, whence it is quickly taken away by some 

 stranger ? So the bees storing their treasure in a receptacle 

 placed at the top of the hive called a super soon have it 

 taken away by the bee-keeper. The super, whether it be- 

 in the form of a bell-glass or a small square wooden box 

 placed at the top of the hive, in nine cases out of ten 

 prevents swarming ; thus it is penny wise and pound foolish. 

 We have seldom sold a virgin swarm for less than twenty- 

 shillings, whereas if they store ten pounds of honey in the 

 super it is thought to be very good. This is a wide dif- 

 ference in profit, besides the dreadful loss in honey, for it 

 has cost your bees probably seven pounds of honey to- 

 manufacture the combs in which the paltry harvest is 

 gleaned out of the super. What is this, then, to probably 

 one hundred pounds stored in the stock hive ? It is true- 

 you cannot reap so good a harvest yearly from each stock 

 if the honey is not taken out of the hive as fast as it is 

 stored, but this may be done far better by means of the 

 honey-extractor. 



Many foolish beekeepers place an eke at the bottom of 

 the hive to make it larger, when the bees show signs of 

 sv/arming ; this results in the loss of the swarm, prevents 

 any increase in the number of your stocks, and perhaps, 

 you are paid for the trouble by four ounces of beeswax^ the 

 chances being greatly against your having any honey in the 

 new combs built at the base of the hive, for it is totally con- 

 trary to the habit of the bees to store any at the bottom 

 of the hive. Surely you are willing to confess that your 



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