506 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



— the son of the 'old Bee-man,' of Carluke, in Lanarkshire — made a profit off 

 the business at the rate of 62, lis. 8d. per hive per annum on an average of six 

 years ; but he was noted as a skilful apiarist, and such a result must not be 

 expected everywhere. Mr Hunter, and other authorities, estimate that the 

 cost of a swarm of English Bees would be about 15s., and the cost of the wear 

 and tear of hives 2s. per annum. For this the return should be at least 25 

 lb. of honey, value 25s. ; 3 lb. or 4 lb. of wax, worth 4s., and a swarm of Bee*, 

 worth 15s. Thus the first year's outlay would be more than returned that 

 year, and in after years £2 per hive profit might be expected. In good years, 

 when two or more swarms turn out, or when the super of 50 lb. or 100 lb. 

 gladdens the eye of the jubilant Bee-keeper, the profits will be correspondingly 

 large. This profit ought to be sufficient to tempt a much larger number of 

 persons to keep Bees than at present do so ; and we advise all our readers 

 having a garden, or living near fields, or in rural districts, to see if they can- 

 not add a little to the natural productions of the country by assisting to save 

 that 'sweetness' which is at present 'wasted on the desert air.' The 

 amount of this waste is enormous. A 20-acre field of grass well sprinkled 

 with the flowers of the white clover will yield 100 lb. of honey per day, and a 

 piece of moorland the same size, with heather in flower, will yield 200 lb. of 

 honey per day, and yet in each case enough will be left to scent the air as 

 well. Pettigrew tells us that in one garden — and not a very large one — he has 

 seen fifty hives standing, the strongest of which has gathered 5 lb. of honey 

 per day, in fine weather, and the weakest 3 lb. There are three classes of 

 persons to whom we would recommend this industry : (1) capitalists ; (2) 

 farmers and cottagers and railway servants ; and (3) that large body of 

 business men who have 'a place a little way out.' We believe that a man 

 with a little capital would find it profitable in the districts of the moors, or of 

 good grass lands, to start colonies of Bees in which the hives number hundreds ; 

 aud a few such men would find little, if any, difficulty in getting a skilful 

 attendant at a reasonable cost to look after them." 



Recent comments on the subject of Strawberry-culture by the press, induces 

 us to give an extract from a late number of ' Chambers's Journal,' on the Scotch 

 Strawberry-farms in Perthshire. "On the Muir of Blair," says this journal, 

 "an extensive tract of land lying between Blairgowrie and Coupar-Angus, 

 there is a community of about twenty-five Strawberry -farmers who earn a 

 living for themselves and families at the business of Strawberry-growing. 

 The fruit is usually sold en masse to the preservers ; and in some years as 

 much as £46 an acre has been realised by the sale ; but the average income 

 from a Scottish Strawberry-farm is seldom more than £27 an acre. An acre 

 of Strawberries will sometimes yield the splendid return of £100! Apropos 

 of the Perthshire Strawberry-farms, it was reported two years ago that one of 

 the growers had been offered over £2000 for his lot of twenty-seven acres just 

 as it stood." 



It would almost seem as if the demand for horticultural information was at 

 least equal to the supply when that information is placed within reach of the 

 gardening public at a moderate price. We have now quite a number of 

 weekly and monthly gardening periodicals, not to speak of provincial papers 

 that furnish horticultural information in their pages regularly, and yet there 

 seems room for more. It is stated that the circulation of the penny ' Gardening 

 Illustrated,' started only a short time since, is now over 30,000 copies per 

 week, which speaks well for gardening among the lower orders, as well as for 

 the sagacity of the founder of the paper. PtEADER. 



