252 ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 
hives; but he should do it, at first, only on a small scale. 
and if pecuniary profit is his object, should follow our di- 
rections, until he is swre that he has discovered others which 
are better. These cautions are given to prevent serious 
losses in using hives which, by facilitating all manner of 
experiments, may tempt the inexperienced into rash and 
unprofitable courses. Beginners, especially, should follow 
the directions here given as closely as possible ; for, although 
they may doubtless be modified and improved, it can only 
be done by those experienced in managing bees. 
Let us not be understood as wishing to intimate that per- 
fection has been so nearly attained, that no more important 
discoveries remain to be made. On the contrary, we be- 
lieve that apiculture is a growing science. Those who 
have time and means should experiment on a large scale 
with the movable-comb hives; and we hope that every intel- 
ligent bee-keeper who uses them, will experiment, at least, 
ona small scale. In this way, we may hope that those 
points in the natural history of the bee still involved in 
doubt, will, ere long, be satisfactorily explained. 
There is a large class of bee-keepers—not ‘‘ bee-masters’’ 
—who desire a hive which will give them, however ignorant 
or careless, a large yield of honey from their bees. They 
are easily captivated by the shallowest devices, and spend 
their money and destroy their bees, to fill the purses of un- 
principled men. ‘There never will be a ‘‘ royal road’”’ to 
profitable bee-keeping. Like all other branches of rural 
economy, it demands care and experience; and those who 
are conscious of a strong disposition to procrastinate and 
neglect, will do well to let bees alone, unless they hope, by 
the study of their systematic industry, to reform evil habits 
which are well nigh incurable. 
