298 LOSS OF THE QUEEN. 



readily perceive how any operation, which in the common 

 hives, Is performed vviih difficulty, if at all, is reduced lo 

 simplicity and certainty, by the control of the combs. If 

 however, bee-keepers will be negligent and ignorant, no hive 

 can possibly make them very successful. If they belong lo 

 the fraternity of " no eyes," who have kept bees all their 

 lives, and do not know that there is a queen, they will pro- 

 bably derive no special pleasure from being compelled to 

 believe what they have always derided as humbug or book- 

 knowledge ; although I have seen some bee-keepers, very 

 intelligent in most matters, who have never learned the first 

 rudiments in the natural history of the bee. Those who 

 cannot, or will not learn for themselves, or have not leisure 

 or disposition to manage their own bees, may yet, with my 

 hives, entrust their care to suitable persons, who may, at 

 the proper time, attend to all their wants. 



Practical gardeners may find the management of bees, for 

 their employers, to be quite a lucrative part of their profes- 

 sion. Wiih but little extra labor and with great certainty, 

 they may, from time to time, do all that the prosperity of 

 the bees requires ; carefully ovef-haullng them in the Spring, 

 making new colonies, at the suitable period, if any are 

 wanted, giving them their surplus honey receptacles, and 

 removing them when full ; and on the approach of Winter, 

 putting all the colonies into proper condition, to resist its 

 rigors. The business of the practical Apiarian, and that of 

 the Gardener, seem very naturally to go together, and one 

 great advantage of my hive, and mode of management, is 

 the ease with which they may be successfully united. 



Some Apiarians, after all that has been said, may still have 

 doubts whether the young queens leave the hive for impreg- 

 nation ; or may think that the old ones occasionally leave, 

 even when they do not go out to lead a swarm. Such per- 



