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THE
BEE KEEPER'S GUIDE
CONTAINING
CONCISE PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR
THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES,
UPON THE
DEPRIVING SYSTEM.
BY J. H. PAYNE,
Author of "The Cottager's Guide."
THIRD EDITION.
LONDON:
T. C. NEWBY, 72, MORTIMER St., CAVENDISH Sq.
1846.
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PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Having written the "Cottager's Guide for the Management ofhis Bees, upon the Depriving System," which has been printedfor gratuitous distribution among the Cottagers, I am induced, atthe particular request of several Apiarian friends, to enlarge theabove little work, and to give in addition a description of Nutt'snewly invented Hive, and other practical remarks in Bee-knowledge,resulting from nearly forty years' close observation.
Should this little work be the means of inducing any person topromote the culture of Bees amongst the Cottagers in his immediateneighbourhood, upon the Depriving System, I shall be amply repaidfor the trouble it may have occasioned me; and the hope thatsuch will be the result, must be my apology for adding to the numberof books (perhaps already too numerous) upon this subject.
Reaumur, in a letter to M. de la Bourdonaye, in 1757, says, "Thepreservation and also the increase of Bees is an object of such interestto Britanny, that the peasantry cannot be too much encouragedto turn their attention to it." Surely this is equally applicableto our own country at the present time, when the condition ofthe labouring poor calls so loudly for relief.
I have little hesitation in saying, that Cottagers who are able tokeep from four to six Hives of Bees, may make from four to eightpounds, yearly profit, after paying all expenses upon them. I paidlast year to one Cottager seven pounds, fifteen shillings, and toanother five pound and one shilling for Bees and Honey.
The following anecdote has so much the appearance of truth init, and is so well suited to my present purpose, that I cannot refrainfrom giving it.
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A good old French Bishop in paying his annual visit to his Clergy,was very much afflicted by the representations they made of theirextreme poverty, which, indeed, the appearance of their housesand families corroborated. Whilst he was deploring the state ofthings which had reduced them to this sad condition, he arrived atthe house of a Curate, who, living amongst a poorer set of parishionersthan any he had yet visited, would, he feared, be in stillmore woful plight than the others; contrary, however, to his expectations,he found appearances v