42 



A Modern Bee-Farvi 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOW TO OBTAIN GOOD WORKING 

 STOCK. 



IN all apiaries it is found that a certain colony, or perhaps a 

 few stocks, surpass all the rest in the amount of honey 

 collected; and the remark is often made that of two colonies 

 standing side by side, apparently equal in every respect, one gave 

 a large surplus while the other did almost nothing. Reader, let 

 us reason together, and see if it be not possible to explain the 

 apparent mystery. As a matter of fact the whole 



Secret of Successful Honey Production 



consists in always maintaining the proper proportion of adult 

 working bees in relation to the quantity of brood and young bees 

 on hand. Here then can be discerned the difference. One 

 colony was so favourably constituted that the queen was able to 

 produce the full working force before the honey flow came on ; 

 while the other could not breed to her fullest capacity until after 

 the season commenced. In the latter case the working force is 

 unable to do much more than keep the rapidly increasing brood 



