and tts Economic Management. 9 
certain of what he is about ; and I do not, by any means, 
intend the estimated returns to be taken as implying a 
certainty. 
Dear reader, throughout these pages will be found my 
utmost desire to save you from the mistakes made in the 
past by myself and mafy others. Experience is of course 
the best teacher, and its lessons nearly always leave on 
record instances of failure, of a more or less serious nature, 
which has to be met before final success can be ensured. 
Experience thus gained is of value to others starting out 
upon the same course, just in proportion to their willingness 
to be guided by the advice given. Right here I must 
insist upon 
One Point of the Greatest Importance. 
When you have decided to make a start upon a large 
scale, purchase your bees, in one lot if possible, during 
the month of April or May, and have them removed to 
your own place at once. I do not contemplate that the 
transaction will take place at any other time, and can 
certainly give no advice for obtaining them at another 
date, where the highest possible returns are desired from 
the first season’s work. If you begin earlier or later, 
earlier in particular, the first great mistake is made, and 
very likely one which will be the cause of ultimate 
failure. 
I have known apiaries purchased during mid-winter, 
and sent many miles by rail, to be simply wiped out 
before the summer arrived ; the seller thereafter being 
sued for damages, and made to refund a large proportion 
of the value, because the purchaser could shew that some 
of the stocks were slightly diseased, and considered that 
was the trouble ; whereas the fault was mostly his own for 
making the purchase and moving them at that unseason- 
