. Bees may be kept
with great advantage, even in large cities, and those who are debarred
from every other rural pursuit, may still listen to the soothing hum of
the industrious bee, and harvest annually its delicious nectar.

If the Apiarian could always be on hand during the swarming season, it
would still, in many instances, be exceedingly inconvenient for him to
attend to his bees. How often is the farmer interrupted in the business
of hay-making, by the cry that his bees are swarming; and by the time he
has hived them, perhaps a shower comes up, and his hay is injured more
than his swarm is worth. In this way, the keeping of a few bees, instead
of a source of profit, often becomes rather an expensive luxury; and if
a very large stock is kept, the difficulties and embarrassments are
often most seriously increased. If the weather becomes pleasant after a
succession of days unfavorable for swarming, it often happens that
several swarms rise at once, and cluster together, to the great
annoyance of the Apiarian; and not unfrequently, in the noise and
confusion, other swarms fly off, and are entirely lost. I have seen the
Apiarian so perplexed and exhausted under such circumstances, as to be
almost ready to wish that he had never seen a bee.

3. The managing of bees by natural swarming, must, in our country,
almost entirely prevent the establishment of large Apiaries.

Even if it were possible, in this way, to multiply bees with certainty
and rapidity, and without any of the perplexities which I have just
described, how few persons are so situated as to be able to give almost
the whole of their time in the busiest part of the year, to the
management of their bees. The swarming season is with the farmer, the
very busiest part of the whole year, and if he purposes to keep a large
number of swarming hives, he must not only devote nearly the whole of
his time, for a number of weeks, to their supervision, but at a season
when labor commands the highest price, he will often be compelled to
hire additional assistance.

I have long been convinced that, as a general rule, the keeping of a few
colonies in swarming hives, costs more than they are worth, and that the
keeping of a very large number is entirely out of the question, unless
with those who are so situated that they can afford to devote their
time, for about two months every year, almost entirely to their bees.
The number of persons who can afford to do this must be ve