128 miner's AMERICAN 



years be produced from a single swarm, that I should not 

 hesitate to enter into heavy bonds, (the uncertainty of 

 life considered,) to produce that number, or forfeit the 

 whole actually produced. 



512 stocks of bees are worth, at least, five dollars per 

 stock, amounting to the enormous sum of $2,560, while 

 the same swarm, from which so vast a profit arises, if 

 placed in too large a hive, at the end of ten years, is 

 worth but the paltry sum of #5, with no increase ! I 

 leave the reader to his own reflections, on the wretched 

 management of bees, as too generally practiced in every 

 part of the country. 



HIVES DIMINISHED IN LENGTH. 



In regard to my large hives, I saw the fallacy of such 

 dimensions, and concluded to try the experiment of 

 cutting them off, nearly filled with bees as they were, 

 which I performed with a common hand-saw; the man- 

 ner of doing which, was as follows : — 



It was in the month of April, that I performed the 

 operation. I ought to have done it in February or 

 March, but the idea did not occur to me, until those 

 months had past. On a cool morning, I examined my 

 hives, and found a vacant space of about six inches at 

 the bottom of each hive, unoccupied by bees. I then 

 set them, one at a time, on a table with the bottom- 

 board up, in close contact with the hive, giving the bees 

 no opportunity to escape. Having my saw put in prime 

 order, and having secured the table against a sup- 

 port, to render it firm, I was then ready to operate. 



