THE APIART. 159 



1864, their apiary consisted of one Italian, and fifty-eight stocks 

 of black bees. The one Italian stock was increased to fifteen. 

 and the fifty-eight stocks of black bees to one hundred ami 

 eighty-one, principally by artificial swarming, and averaged 42>£ 

 pounds box honey per stock ; while, for the past season, from 

 two hundred and four old stocks they received, on an averago, 

 a trifle over seventy-five pounds surplus honey per stock. 



"A. Kcarns, of Grundy County, started in this business, 

 with a single swarm in an " old gum " owned by a neighbor, of 

 whom he received half the proceeds for keeping them. One 

 hive, one year old, filled three boxes that weighed as follows : 

 one 34K, one 35%, find one 36/£ pounds, boxes and honey 

 together, and the fourth partly full. This bee business is of 

 growing importance. As soon as these discoveries are thoroughly 

 known, bee raising will become as general as any other branch 

 of production. "When men learn that it is just about as cheap 

 to raise honey as not to raise it, and far cheaper than to buy it, 

 they will no longer avoid the business." — Prairie Farmer. 



Let a person estimate the profits of bee-keeping, by commenc- 

 ing with a few stocks, and on an average, doubling every year, 

 or putting the yearly average of surplus honey per stock very 

 low, compute the interest accruing from capital invested in bees, 

 and consider how easy it is to accumulate such capital, with the 

 fact that constant attention is never required, and that hives will 

 last almost a lifetime, he will not be surprised to find the most 

 intelligent men in this country and Europe, turning their atten- 

 tion to apiarian pursuits. 



