Our plan of giving additional storage-room will, generally speaking, prevent swarming. This stay-at-home policy, we contend, is an advantage; for instead of the loss of time consequent upon a swarm hanging out preparatory to flight, all the bees are engaged in collecting honey, and that at a time when the weather is most favourable and the food most abundant. Upon the old system the swarm leaves the hive simply because the dwelling has not been enlarged at the time when the bees are increasing. Upon the antiquated and inhuman plan where so great a destruction takes place by the brimstone match, breeding must, of course, be allowed to go on to its full extent to make up for such sacrifices. Our chief object under the new system is to obtain honey free from all extraneous matter. _No one can depend upon gathering pure honey from combs where storing and breeding are performed in the same compartment._ For fuller explanations on this point we refer to the various descriptions of our improved hives in a subsequent chapter of this work. We often receive from Scotland magnificent boxes of honey; and though the fine quality is no doubt to be in part attributed to good pasturage, it is largely owing to keeping the stocks strong, and thus having hives well stored and well populated early in the season. A weakly hive will take some weeks, if not months, to grow populous; and as soon as the strength of the hive has recovered, the honey season will have advanced, if not ended, whilst the strong stocks have been able to take full advantage of the supplies, having an abundance of labourers to collect the honey and store it in supers for their master. There can now be scarcely two opinions as to the uselessness of the rustic plan of immolating the poor bees after they have striven through the summer so to "improve each shining hour." The ancients in Greece and Italy took the surplus honey and spared the bees, and now for every intelligent bee-keeper there are ample appliances wherewith to attain the same results. Mr. Langstroth quotes from the German the following epitaph, which, he says, "might be properly placed over every pit of brimstoned bees:"-- Here Rests, CUT OFF FROM USEFUL LABOUR, A COLONY OF INDUSTRIOUS BEES, BASELY MURDERED BY ITS =UNGRATEFUL AND IGNORANT OWNER=. And Thomson, the poet of "The Seasons," has recorded an eloquent poetic protest against the barbarous practice, for which, however, in his day there was no alternative:--