BEE MANUAL. 231 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SURPLUS HONEY— MODE OF SECUEING AND 

 MARKETING. 



The provident instinct which induces the honey-bee to store 

 up honey for future use, and the restless industry with which 

 it utilizes every opportunity of doing so, are the inherent 

 qualities of the insect which enable man lo turn its labours 

 profitably to his own account. Bees, like all other animals, 

 are actuated by a natural desire to " increase and multiply," 

 which is perhaps more strangely evidenced in their case than in 

 most others, because out of twenty thousand or more that 

 form a colony there is only one, the queen, which can be sup- 

 posed to have a truly parental instinct. It is, however, clearly 

 with the object of supplying food for the rearing of future 

 generations, and for the use of all during a time when little or 

 none can be gathered, that these busy workers are led to collect 

 on all favourable occasions so much larger quantities of hooey 

 than what can be required for immediate use. The aids 

 afforded to the bees in a state of domestication under the 

 improved system of culture enable them to store much larger 

 quantities than they could do if living in their natural homes, 

 and by preventing as far as possible the multiplication of 

 swarms, the great bulk of the surplus honey, which would 

 otherwise be devoted to the formation of new colonies, can be 

 utilized for the benefit of their owner without detriment to 

 the bees. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT. 



With the advent of spring come some of the chief duties of 

 the apiarist. The object of his labours at this time will be to 

 see that his stocks are progressing favourably, and that nothing 

 is left undone to get them into good condition for taking every 



