THE ADVANCE OF BEES UNDER DOMESTICATION. 165 



and for export, world-wide repute. Why not do the same for 

 honey ? The honey crop of New South Wales should be as im- 

 portant as many others that are continually being trumpeted 

 forth. In addition to the quotations I have given re the pro- 

 duction of honey in California, the Australian Farm and Home, 

 referring to the great strides honey-production has made during 

 late years says: "The bee business is evidently destined to ex- 

 pand into one of the greatest of Californian industries, and is 

 already rivalling the production of fruit as a source of profit." 



California is constantly being held up to us as a model in 

 fruit-culture, and the newspapers, etc., are constantly inviting 

 us to "go and do likewise," but in the Australian States the 

 value of the bee is little known or, at least, it is greatly under- 

 rated. There are those amongst orchardists and other tillers of 

 the soil who still believe that they are a prolific source of scat- 

 tering the germs of disease that fruit-trees are subject to through- 

 out our fruit districts ; nothing can be more fallacious. 



As a fruit preservative honey is equal to sugar. In pound 

 for pound it is more economical. In cookery it answers the same 

 purpose as sugar, and, in some sweet dishes, it is even superior. 

 Medicinally it formerly entered largely into various domestic 

 compounds. 



What is now required is to educate people in the many uses 

 of honey and the keeping of bees, as universally as that of 

 poultry. 



