14 BEE-CULTURE. - 
reminds one of the woman who, as the Latin fable relates, had in her 
possession a hen, which laid daily a golden egg, and being somewhat 
avaricious in her tendency, killed the hen, hoping to come into posses- 
sion of all the golden eges at once. The case is this: in most instances 
there is a destruction of Bees to the value of $5.00 in order to secure 
three or four dollars’ worth of honey. In many instances the ratio of 
profit is much less than this, and it is profit the backward way. ‘This 
mode of procedure does not pertain to any successful system of Bee- 
culture. How very different the result, in a series of years, when all 
the increase is kept alive and kept at work. 
Another obstacle to Bee-culture is found in the reluctance of very . 
many persons to engage in the enterprise. . 
This reluctance has its origin in fear. It arises from the fact that Bees 
are furnished with a little formidable weapon of defence, whose sharp 
point is much dreaded by those who are very imperfectly acquainted with 
them, but very little dreaded by the experienced apiarian. He knows — 
that it is merely a weapon of defence, and not one which is used in sport. 
Itis employed only in desperate cases, or those which are considered 
desperate, in which they are willing to die in the conflict. The Bee 
when it stings leaves its sting in the wound, and the extremity of the 
abdomen is torn off with it, and he dies soon after. The experienced 
apiarian gives his Bees to understand early, by very cautious and gentle 
management at first, that they are not to be harmed by any of his 
manipulations. In other words, his Bees soon become accustomed to 
his presence, and are not annoyed by it, and are not tempted to use 
upon him their weapon of defence. -Hence his fears are at an end. 
He finds his Bees are domesticated or rendered manageable in the same 
way and upon the same principle as any other creature which is subject 
to his control, viz.: by familiarity, gently conducted at first, and often 
repeated, until they are no longer strangers, and there is no longer any 
trouble. | 
Another obstacle to Bee-culture in addition to those already named, 
and the most serious one which is known to exist, is found in the fact 
that Bees often fall a prey to their enemies. 
Bees are exposed to a variety of enemies in the same manner as 
a traveller, who, returning from the mines richly laden with the fruits 
of his toil, finds his pathway beset by those who are intent upon spoil, 
and who are ready to sacrifice his life in order to obtain it. The load 
