NUCLEUS SWARMING. \OJ 



new ones were begun, yet they were by no means 

 weak, for the old ones had been very strong indeed, 

 and could well give up a portion of their bees, and 

 the queens had been laying vigorously every day. 

 All of them were very strong in brood, in all stages 

 of growth. This brood was hatching every day, and 

 so the number of bees was fast increasing. The 

 increase could have been made in this way, during 

 a season when but little honey was coming in, only 

 by my method of feeding liberally. To rear 

 brood and to build comb both, requires a generous 

 amount of honey. Although the bees had gathered 

 a little every day, I found, when my new swarms 

 were all in order, that I had fed an average of thirty- 

 one pounds of honey per hive, for the whole ninety- 

 seven hives. This honey would have brought me 

 in the market sixteen cents a pound, or $481.12 for 

 the 3007 pounds fed, making each new swarm cost 

 me $8.02. Then the hive and frames for each new 

 swarm cost, including paint and quilt, $1.20. So 

 the total cost of a swarm was $9.22/* But they 

 were in every respect as perfect as bees and hives 

 and frames could be. Italian bees not so good as 

 mine and in hives much inferior, were then selling 

 for $15. per swarm. At this rate there was a clear 

 gain on the sixty swarms of $346.80. In no other 

 branch of farming could I have made, in twenty days, 

 a sum of money nearly as great. 



