520 BEE-KEEPERS' AXIOMS. 



this world that demands industry, skill and tact, to insure 

 success, it is this of ours." — (Heddon.) 



11. — They are apt to try two or three different styles of 

 hives, before they find out that it is important to have all 

 the hives, frames, caps, crates, etc., in an Apiary, alike, 

 and interchangeable, except for purposes of experiment. 



12. — They are liable to attempt to winter their bees in a 

 cold room, or in some repository in which the temperature 

 goes below the freezing point (648). Many a colony has 

 been thus innocently murdered, by misguided solicitude. 



Bee-Kkepers' Axioms. 



896. there are a few first principles in bee-keeping 

 which ought to be as familiar to the Apiarist as the letters 

 of his alphabet : 



1st. Bees gorged with honey never volunteer an attack. 

 Thus, bees that come back loaded from the field, or bees 

 that have gorged themselves for swarming, are not dan- 

 gerous. 



2d. The bees that are to be feared are those that have 

 joined a swarm without fully gorging themselves. In the 

 hive, the guardians, and the old bees that are ready to 

 depart for the field, are the most dangerous. 



3d. During a good honey harvest, the bees are nearly all 

 filled with honey and there is but little danger from stinging. 



4tli. Those races of bees that cannot be compelled, by 

 smoke, to fill themselves with honey, are the most danger- 

 ous, to handle. 



5tli. Bees dislike any quick movements about their hives, 

 especially any motion that jars their combs. 



6th. The bee-keeper will ordinarily derive all his profits 

 from colonies, strong and healthy in early Spring. 



