312 TRANSFEUEING BEES. 



I never advise Ihe transfer of a colony into any hive, unless 

 their brood combs can be transferred v?ith them, nor is it 

 best for any except practical Apiarians, to attempt to transfer 

 them even to my hives. But what if a colony is so old that 

 its combs can only breed dwarfs ? When 1 find such a col- 

 ony, I shall think it worth while to give specific directions 

 as to how it should be managed. The truth is, that of all 

 the many mistakes and impositions which have disgusted 

 multitudes with the very sound of " patent hive," none has 

 been more fatal than the notion, that an old colony of bees 

 could not be expected lo prosper. Thousands of the very 

 best stocks have been wantonly sacrificed to this chimera ; 

 and so long as bee-keepers, instead of studying the habits of 

 the bee, prefer to listen to the interested statements of igno- 

 rant, or enthusiaslic, or fraudulent persons, thousands more 

 will suffer the same fate. As to old stocks, the prejudice 

 against them is just as foolish, as the silly notions of some 

 who imagine that a woman is growing old, long before she 

 has reached her prime. Many a man of mature years, who 

 has married a girl or a child, instead of a woman, has 

 often had both time enough, and cause enough to lament 

 his folly. 



It cannot be too strongly urged upon &11 who keep bees, 

 either for love or for money, to be exceedingly cautious in 

 trying any new hive, or new system of management. If 

 you are ever so well satisfied that it will answer all your 

 expectations, enter upon it, at first, only on a small scale ; 

 then, if it fulfills all its promises, or if you can make it do 

 so, you may safely adopt it : at all events, you will not 

 have to mourn over large sums of money spent for nothing, 

 and numerous powerful colonies entirely destroyed. "Let 

 well enough alone," should, to a great extent, be the motto 

 of every prudent bee-keeper. There is, however, a golden 



