204 
THE FARHEr’s manual. 
when you may open the window, and let your Bees 
pass out and in at pleasure, when the weather is fine, 
if the robbers appear aj^ain, close the window, and 
when the robbers are gone, admit the stragglers of 
your swarm ; continue to feed, and you may save 
your hive. It is a good precaution to place an emp- 
ty hive in the place of the one you thus remove, it 
will deceive the robbers.” 
CHAP. XXIV. 
On the advantages which accrue to the State and indi- 
viduals /rom the culture of the Bee. 
It is a notorious fact, that England pays annually 
to the north of Germany 40 or £ 50,000 sterling for 
the produce of the Bee, which could be saved by a 
small expense by her own peasantry. Even in Ame- 
rica, we are so regardless of the profits of the Bee, 
as to import honey in hogsheads from the island of 
Cuba and elsewhere. No country possesses greater 
advantages for the culture of the Bee, anrl perhaps 
no country has so grossly neglected it. Mr. Huish, 
after having gone over a cornplete system for the ma- 
nagement of the Bee, observes, “ I consider that 200 
hives may be managed by one person, with some 
slight assistance, during the swarming season. Some 
French aut.hors eulogize the skill of M. Prouteac, 
who had constanlly under his care from 5 to 600 
hives ; this is rare, and perhaps the only one. I will 
state the profits of five years, on a fair and equitable 
scale, making, at the saine time, fair and ample al- 
lowance for the losses, which, even the most skilful 
Apiarian cannot prevent. I will suppose a person 
to buy a swarm in 1812, for which he pays one 
guinea. In the month of May or June, his hive 
swarms, and in about 10 days, it swarms again, this 
is called a cast. His Apiary now consists of three 
hives, from one of which, (the cast,) it will be most 
