TRANSFERRING BEES. 313 



mean between the obstinate and stupid conservatism, which 

 tries nothing new, and, of course, learns nothing new, and 

 that craving after mere novelty, and thatrash experimenting on 

 an extravagant scale, which are so characteristic of a large 

 portion of our American people. It would be difficult tO' 

 find a better maxim than that which is ascribed to David 

 Crocket : " Be sure you're right, then go ahead." 



What old bee-keeper has not had abundant proof that 

 stocks eight or ten years old, or even older, are often among 

 ihe very best in his whole Apiary, always healthy, and 

 swarming with almost unfailing regularity ! I have seen 

 such hives, which for more than fifteen years, have scarcely 

 failed, a single season, to throw a powerful swarm. (See 

 page 14. 



1 have already spoken of old stocks flourishing for a long 

 term of years, in hives of the roughest possible construction ; 

 and I shall now, in addition to my previous remarks, assign a 

 new reason for such unusual prosperity. Without a single 

 exception, I have found one or both of two things to be 

 true, of every such hive. Either it was a very large hive, 

 or else if not of unusual size, it contained a large quantity 

 of worker-comb. No hive which does not contain a good 

 allowance of comb, adapted to the rearing of workers, can 

 ever in the nature of things, prove a valuable stock hive. 

 Many hives are so full of drone combs that they breed a 

 cloud of useless consumers, instead of the thousands of in- 

 dustrious bees which ought to have occupied their places in 

 the combs. 



Before closing this Chapter, I must again strongly caution 

 all inexperienced bee-keepers, against attempting to transfer 

 colonies from an old hive. lam deiermined that if any find 

 that they have made a wanton sacrifice of their bees, they 

 shall not impute their loss to my directions. If they persist 

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