BEE MANUAL, 325 
Bhi PERS’ AXIOMS, 
Mr. Langstroth, in his invaluable work so often alluded to in 
these pages, has given the following axioms as “a few of the 
Jirst principles in bee-keeping,” which ought to be as familiar 
to the apiarian “as the letters of his alphabet.” They are so 
true, that they are still, and must continue to be, as important 
to all bee-keepers, whether novices or experts, as they were 
when first penned. I have already given each a prominent 
position at the close of some of the preceding chapters, in 
order the better to impress them on the mind of the reader :— 
1, Bees gorged with honey never volunteer an attack. 
2. Bees may always be made peacable by inducing them to accept 
of liquid sweets. 
3. Bees, when frightened by smoke or by drumming on their hives, 
fill themselves with honey, and lose all disposition to sting, unless they 
are hurt. 
4, Bees dislike any quict movements about their hives, especially 
any quick movement which jars their combs. 
5. Bees dislike the offensive odour of sweaty animals, and will not 
endure impure air from human lungs. 
6. The bee-keeper will ordinarily derive all his profits from stocks 
strong and healthy in early spring. 
7. In districts where forage is abundant only for a short 
period, the largest yield of honey will be secured by a very moderate 
increase of stocks. 
8. A moderate increase of colonies in any one season will, in the long 
run, prove the easiest, safest, and cheapest mode of managing bees. 
9. Queenless colonies, unless supplied with a queen, will inevitably 
dwindle away, or be destroyed by the bee moth, or by robber bees. 
10. The formation of new colonies should ordinarily be confined to 
the season when bees are accumulating honey ; and if this, or any other 
operation, must be performed when forage is scarce, the greatest 
precautions should be used to prevent robbing. 
The essence of all profitable bee-keeping is contained in Oettl’s 
golden rule—Keep your stocks strong. If you cannot succeed in doing 
this, the more money you invest in bees the heavier will be your losses ; 
while if your stocks are strong, you will show that you are a bee-master 
as well as a bee-keeper, and may safely calculate on a generous return 
from your industrious subjects. 
fINis. 
