



Produced by Steven Giacomelli and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature
in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)






MYSTERIES

OF

BEE-KEEPING EXPLAINED:

BEING A COMPLETE

ANALYSIS OF THE WHOLE SUBJECT;

CONSISTING OF

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES, DIRECTIONS FOR OBTAINING THE GREATEST
AMOUNT OF PURE SURPLUS HONEY WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE
EXPENSE, REMEDIES FOR LOSSES GIVEN, AND THE SCIENCE OF
"LUCK" FULLY ILLUSTRATED--THE RESULT OF MORE
THAN TWENTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN
EXTENSIVE APIARIES.



BY M. QUINBY,

PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPER.



NEW YORK:

C. M. SAXTON, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER
152 FULTON STREET.
1853.


Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
M. QUINBY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
for the Southern District of New York.

E. O. JENKINS, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER,
114 NASSAU STREET, N. YORK.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

BRIEF HISTORY.

Three kinds of Bees,                                              9
Queen described,                                                  9
Description and Duty of Workers,                                 10
Description of Drones,                                           11
Most Brood in Spring,                                            11
Their Industry,                                                  12


CHAPTER II.

HIVES.

Hives to be thoroughly made,                                     13
Different opinions about them,                                   14
The Author has no Patent to recommend,                           14
Speculators supported long enough,                               15
Prefix of Patent a bad recommendation,                           15
Ignorance of affairs and committees,                             15
Opposition to simplicity,                                        16
By gaining one point produce another evil,                       16
First Delusion,                                                  17
Chamber Hive,                                                    17
Mrs. Griffith's Hive,                                            18
Weeks' Improvement,                                              18
Inclined Bottom-Boards do not throw out all the worms,           19
Objections to suspended hives,                                   19
See bees often,                                                  20
Hall's Patent,                                                   21
Jones's Patent,                                                  21
An Experiment,                                                   21
Reason of failure in dividing hive,                              22
Cause of starving in such hives,                                 23
Advantages of the changeable hive considered,                    24
Variation of these hives,                                        25
Expense in constructing changeable hives,                        25
The surplus honey will contain bee-bread,                        26
Description of Cutting's changeable hive,                        26
First objection cost of construction,                            28
Hives can be made with less expense,                             29
Old breeding cells will last a long time,                        29
Cells larger than necessary at first,                            30
Expense of renewing combs,                                       30
Best to use old combs as long as they will last,                 31
Method for Pruning when necessary,                               31
Tools for Pruning,                                               32
Use of Tobacco Smoke,                                            33
Further objections to a sectional hive,                          34
Non-Swarmers,                                                    35
Contrast of profit,                                              35
Principle of swarming not understood,                            36
Not to be depended upon,                                         37
Hives not always full before swarming,                           37
Size of hives needed,                                            37
An Experiment,                                                   37
Bees do not increase if full after the first year in same hive,  38
Gillmore's system doubted,                                       39
Utility of moth-proof hives doubted,                             39
Instincts of the bee always the same,                            40
Profit the object,                                               41
Common hive recommended,                                         42
Size Important,                                                  42
Small hives most liable to accidents,                            42
Apt to deceive,                                                  43
Unprofitable if too large,                                       43
Correct size between two extremes,                               43
Size for warm latitudes,                                         44
Larger hives more safe for long Winters or backward Spring,      44
2,000 inches safe for this section,                              45
Kind of Wood, width of Board, &c.,                               46
Shape of little consequence,                                     46
Directions for making hives,                                     47
Size of cap and boxes,                                           48
Miner's Hive,                                                    48
Directions for making holes,                                     49
A Suggestion,                                                    50
Glass boxes preferred,                                           51
Glass boxes--how made,                                           51
Guide-combs necessary,                                           52
Wood Boxes,