bee-keefer's manual. 237 



her weary limbs in ease and safety, and finally rise on 

 the wing, and regain her tenement. 



It may not be generally known, even among bee- 

 keepers, that when a bee falls through fatigue, that it is 

 diiBcult for her to rise from^ level surface. Some little 

 headway must be secured ; and for this purpose, a nar- 

 row strip of board laid on the ground, in front of the 

 hives, will afford the requisite facility. The bees will 

 ascend the sides of such piece of board, and from thence 

 take a flight, that could not possibly be effected from a 

 level surface. 



Besides the above considerations, we lose a large 

 number out of every family of bees, where weeds and 

 grass grow spontaneously around the hives, that would 

 not be lost in other circumstances. How many spiders 

 lay in ambush among the weeds and grass, to weave 

 their silken webs around every fallen bee, no one can 

 tell, who has not carefully investigated this subject. A 

 few bees ensnared every day is of no account, perhaps 

 the careless apiarian would say ; but let us see what 

 figures say, that cannot he. Suppose ten- bees are thus 

 lost daily on an average, from the 1st of May to the 1st 

 of November. We have 184 days, and the number of 

 bees lost, that might, with good management, have been 

 saved, is 1840 ! This number would make a very re- 

 spectable swarm. Is it any wonder that people do not 

 succeed, in many cases, in the culture of bees, when 

 they thus let them take care of themselves ? 



