T LE WISCONSIN FARMER.



on the habits and nature of the bee, then thei
luck is favorably turned and their fortune se
cured. But let it be fully understood that no
hive in existence can make a man a bee-keeper
   Hence we must conclude that bees require
the intelligent care of the apiarist bestowec
upon them at the right time.
  Moths may infest a weak colony. They must
be removed from the combs where they do theit
mischief.
  A stock may be reduced in numbers so aw
not to be able to generate heat enough to keep
up a "hatching temperature" in the hive.
They must be strengthened by supplying bees
or maturing brood from strong ones.
  They may lose their queen, and can be saved
only by giving them another, or supplying
them with comb containing newly laid eggs or
young larves fromu a hive that has a prolific
queen.
  Too many tire the - wants of the bee ' to be
enumerated in one short article: but how to
supply some of the wants mentioned, and more
especially how to afford relief in this matter
of the excess of honey in the breeding cham-
ber during the height of the breeding season,
when the queen should be depositing from two
to three thmousand eggs every twenty-four hours,
will be hereafter explained.
                           J. M. STEBBINS
 APPLETON, May 5, 1853.

          Bee-Keeping Experience.
  About ten years ago, I commenced keeping
bees in northern New York. I had no knowl-
edge concerning them, theoretical or practical.
I bought, in the spring, two stocks for $9. In
the fall, I sold the increase and honey from the
two stocls for $313-reserving about 20 lbs. for
family use. The honey sold for 20 to 25 cents
per lb.-the swarms for $'..  These were in
common box hives, with boxes on top for the
storage of surplus honey.  The next spring
after, I started with the same stocks. Part of
my hives I made one foot square in the clear,
(same as the old-fashioned box hive), the rest
were of the same size, but with bars in the top,
and surplus boxes turned directly upon them,



giving greater facilities for the access and
working of the bees in the caps.
   I got a splendid yield of honey in the caps,
but lost some of my swarms the following win-
ter, because my hives were so small that the
bees had not sufficient stores to winter. In
getting a large yield of cap honey, I robbed
the laborers of their sustenance for the winter.

  The following spring I had four hives-one
of them lght and but few bees. That year, I
did not get a large supply of cap honey, but
my bees increased so that I had 13 hives that
I carried into the cellar in November. In the
winter I lost, by rats and moulding of the
combs, all but four hives. I had them up on
shelves where I thought them safe, but the rats
got access to several hives by gnawing through
the inch pine boards of which they were made.
The water came into the cellar, three feet deep,
during the thawing of the snow in the spring,
and the combs of some hives became almost a
mass of mold, and ruined several stocks, and
injured the balance.  I sold two stocks at $5
each, and set out two.  I received only one
swarm that season, but got a fair supply of
surplus honey from the old stocks and swarm
-in all about 71 tbs.
  Had I possessed more knowledge and expe-
rience, I could have improved these results.
Every year, by the aid of books and agricul-
tural papers, and experience, I gained valua-
ble information, which, had I previously
possessed, would have been a source of profit
to me. Since I came to this State I have kept
a limited number of swarms.  My business
being such that I could give them but little at-
tention, many times when they most needed it,
I have still met with a fair share of success.
Nothing has yielded me more pleasure or pro-
fit for the amount of capital invested. My
bees, one year with another, saying nothing
about superintendence or expense of hives,
have yearly, in honey and increase, doubled
their value. With my present knowledge and
experience, I should think I was doing very
poorly not to double the value of my bees
yearly.



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