THE niVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
30tf 
fired up, and capable of an indefinite amount of exertion. 
A bee cannot put forth more than a certain amount of 
physical effort, and a large portion of this ought not to bo 
spent in contending against difficulties from which it 
might easily be guarded. They may often be seen pant- 
ing after their return from labor, and so exhausted as to 
need rest before they enter the hive. 
Dzierzon’s* experience as to the profits of bee-keeping 
lias already been given (p. 21). With proper manage- 
ment, five dollars’ worth of honey may, on an average of 
years, be obtained for each stock that is wintered in good 
condition. The worth of the new colonies I set off against 
♦ “ It is by no means easy to devise a rule for estimating tlie profits of bee-culture, 
whether we regard the number of colonies or the numbor of square miles, llo is 
not the best Apiarian who obtains the largest yield from a single hive, but keeps 
only one or two. By very judicious and careful management, a hundred colonics 
might yield a large profit, yet fall for short of what three hundred would have 
yielded in the same location and same season, with much less supervision and atten- 
tion. He is not the most successful fanner who produces the most extraordinary 
yield from a single rod of ground, but ho who secures the amplest crops from an 
extensive area, well cultivated. The swarming system may be very advantageous 
in cortaln localities, in spite of its manifest wastefulness ; though, in other localities, 
it would, because of that unavoidable wastefulness, render bee-keeping a decidedly 
losing business, sinco the system involves a vast expenditure of honey for the pro- 
duction and maintenance of brood, which scarcely matures before it is doomed to 
the brimstone-pit, leaving to its ownor often a smaller quantity of honey than tho 
swarm would have produced if taken up threo weeks after it was hived. 
“ Confine the queen of an artificial swarm, so as to prevent her from depositing 
eggs In tho combs, and the colony will, in a short time in the gathering season, 
accumulate much larger stores of honey than ono whoso queen is left at liberty, 
though equal in ago and population. Thus, nlso, a colony having a very prolifio 
queen, will, even in favorable seasons, lay up much less honey, unless ample store- 
room is given them, than ono whoso queen lays fewer eggs. From theso and 
similar facts, which might bo enumerated, It is evidont that a very large number 
of particulars must be taken into consideration when endeavoring to form some 
general rule for estimating the profits of bee-culture.” — Dzierzon. 
The old-fashioned bee-keeper should know well the honey-resources of his 
district, in order to decido upon tho best time for “taking up” his boes. If bees 
are smothered, it will bo found docidedly advantageous to remove and destroy their 
queens, at least threo weeks before taking their honey. In this way, the produc- 
tion of brood and consumption of honey will be chocked, and the combs will be 
in a much bettor condition for melting. 
