PROFITS OP BEE-CULTURE 
93 
ductions by immersing the queen in honey at the time of 
presenting her, but found, ultimately, that unless the recipi- 
ents were in the proper mood at the time ot her presentation, 
they would sometimes kill her. ” 
PROFITS AND IMPORTANCE OF BEE-CULTURE. 
“ The profits of bee-culture, like other pursuits in life de- 
pend greatly upon the knowledge of the subject possessed by 
the bee-keeper and the proper management ot his bees. 
The difference in continuance and abundance of pasturage in 
different localities will of course produce widely different re- 
sults : but there are very few, if any, localities in the United 
States habitable by man in which bees, properly managed, 
will not pay a bountiful compensation for their cultivation ; 
while in the more favorable localities four or five hundred 
per cent, per annum is no unusual product. 
“ According to the census of 1850, there were produced in 
the United States and Territories in that year 14,85d iyu 
pounds of beeswax and honey, while that of 1800 is 1,857,- 
864 pounds of beeswax, and 25,028,991 pounds of honey, 
showing an increase of 77 is per cent. . 
“ Prior to the publication by Mr. Langstroth of his excel- 
lent work on bee-culture, and the introduction of his movable 
comb system of bee-keeping, the pursuit had for some years 
been gradually, and in some localities rapidly declining, ow- 
in'' greatly to the ravages of the bee moth ; inventions ot 
hives for the prevention of which are not lacking in either 
abundance or variety. Many of these, however, instead ot 
preventing it, proved most excellent auxiliaries for the spread 
of its devastations ; while others, pei haps from ignorance of 
their habits, were so constructed as to prove, soouev or later, 
certain destruction to any colonies that might be placed in 
them. Several kinds of these hives have been extensively 
used throughout a great part of our country, producing de- 
struction wherever introduced, until repeated trials and dis- 
appointments had driven bee-keepers generally to the con- 
clusion that profitable bee-culture had ceased to be practi- 
cable in this country, and so discouraged many as to cause 
them to abandou the pursuit entirely. The expectation that 
any hive, of itself , will ever be found to prevent the ravages 
of the bee moth, is an absurdity which none but the ignorant 
or malicious will assert. The bees themselves are the only 
