X INTRODUCTION. 



Do not some fail of success in lee-keeping f 



Yes, just as the farmer fails who neglects his fences, plows 

 Lis lands when too wet, or crops them until their fertility is 

 exhausted. So in bee-keeping. Some fail through gross neglect, 

 or allow their bees to become so weakened by overswarming as 

 to fall an easy prey to the moth ; while others " divide " till they 

 are left without "quotient" or "remainder." Let us profit by 

 their experience, and prosperity will be the result. 



Is not watching for swarms, hiving, &c, perplexing in large 

 apiaries f 



Yes : and you will find a complete remedy in the chapter on 

 "Nucleus Swarming," which enables you to swarm many stocks 

 at one time, securing to each new swarm a fertile queen, without 

 removing the old queen from the parent stock or scarcely inter- 

 rupting its labors. By this method, you will obtain a steady 

 increase of stocks, avoid queenless swarms by loss of young 

 queens ; thus, all colonies are kept strong, enabling them to bid 

 defiance to the moth-miller and other enemies. This, in the 

 words of an eminently practical bee-keeper, "is both sure and 

 economical ;" doing away with all watching and loss by flight to 

 the woods. 



Is it true that there are only a few who understand the secret of 

 handling or "charming" bees? 



That there are a few who claim to have some great secret 

 and convince gaping crowds by performing tricks and wonder- 

 ful [?] feats with bees, (not forgetting to pocket the proceeds of 

 the supposed secret,) we readily admit. Yet, it is also true that 

 there are hundreds of successful bee-keepers in the United States, 



