258 .-i Modern Bee-Farm 



as he finds them, supering each stock in rotation as it 

 becomes strong enough. There is no thought of doubling 

 or of rearing young queens in nuclei ; that they may be 

 united to the stock at the right moment. 



Weak or backward stocks, instead of standing all the 

 season, probably with a poor queen, doing little or nothing, 

 should be used as nuclei, each standing by a stock to 

 which it can be united in autumn, or just before the 

 heather harvest when it occurs. This question of young 

 queens and doubling or uniting is so important that it 

 would bear repetition on every page, and yet not be out 

 of place. 



The hive, of course, has much to do with the yield, but 

 even improved hive construction is of little avail if its 

 benefits are not supplemented by the works of 



The Man of Qrit. 



The cottager mentioned secured i2olbs. from the Con- 

 queror Hive,' all in sections well filled, while his other best 

 hives gave about 8olbs. each. In another instance, an 

 Irish bee-keeper secured 208 well-filled sections from a 

 Conqueror stock and its first swarm, the issue of which 

 being a reminder that he had been too busy to attend to 

 their wants. 



Mr. Wells' report shows an average of 66 lbs., nearly all 

 •extracted ; but this is often largely exceeded by the more 

 simple single hives ; and Mr. Cowan's report of some 

 years since, though also extracted, shows a higher aver- 

 age ; his yield from seven hives being 1,360 lbs., or 

 I94lbs. per hive. In 1874, the latter gentleman also 

 secured 907 lbs. from twelve hives, of which 707 lbs. were 

 comb honey, an average of 75^ lbs. per colony. These 

 are profitable returns, certainly, but by no means so high 

 as the reader should set himself to accomplish. 



