In one year they get five dollars profit from a stock of bees; the next honey season they get nothing, and the bees all die in the winter; or perhaps they will survive that winter, and the next season swarm, and fly away to the woods; or perhaps refuse to swarm, and remain idly clustered on the front of the hive throughout the entire honey season, and die from want of food before the winter is half gone. Bee keeping by the ordinary methods is a very precarious and uncertain occupation. The profits are small at best, and losses large and frequent. With my Controllable Hive and common sense system of bee management (as described in this work,) founded on correct and scientific principles, bee keeping is reduced to a science. There is no "luck," no "guess-work," no "chance" about it. There can be no loss in bee keeping without a cause; there can be no gain without a _full and correct_ understanding of the natural habits and requirements of bees. A _correct knowledge_ of the subject insures success. I will now present a few statements, exhibiting the practical results which follow the use of my Controllable Hive and new system of bee management, and showing the great contrast in profits and general success in the care of bees. In the season of 1870, one of my hives of native bees yielded two hundred and fifty-three pounds of surplus honey, in glass boxes, from the 20th of May to the 1st of July. In 1875 _one hive yielded three hundred and eighty pounds of surplus honey in glass boxes during the season_. This was the largest yield I ever had, and shows what is possible by liberal feeding with a thrifty stock of bees, giving them every facility, with a view of securing the largest possible amount of surplus box honey. In this case, I selected, in early spring, the very best stock I could find, and pushed it as hard as possible throughout the entire spring, summer and early fall. My success exceeded even my most sanguine expectations. As it may serve to aid others in producing large yields of honey, I will describe minutely the method pursued to secure this large and extraordinary yield. Very early in the spring I selected the most populous stock in my possession. It was ruled by a young and exceedingly prolific Hybrid queen, a mixture of Italian and Native blood. I commenced early in the spring to feed this stock lightly but _regularly_, every day at evening. I fed about one-half pound of feed per day, until a few days before the flowers were in bloom profusely! This was done to encourage breeding. Very early in the spring they were fed com and rye meal, as directed in this work.