188- IMPORTANCE OF BEE-KEEPING. 



thirty pounds of honey, and two pounds of wax.' And, 

 again, that 'in 1857 the yield of honey and wax in 

 the empire of Austria was estimated to be worth over 

 seven millions of dollars.' And that ' a province of 

 Holland, containing 1200 square miles, maintains an 

 average of 2000 colonies per square mile.' 



But it is in America that bee-keeping is now 

 carried on most extensively. In that great country, 

 where, owing to the difference of climate of the vast 

 tracts of land through which some great river passes, 

 the flowers of several districts bloom in succession, 

 the plan has been tried, although not with much success, 

 of placing many hives on a barge, which night by 

 night is towed to fresh pastures, where the bees roam 

 by day, and then, returning to the hives at evening, 

 are carried on to fresh fields before the next morning. 

 We read of even 400 or 500 hives, being so placed on 

 a couple of barges, and towed by a steamer up the 

 river from New Orleans. Not that this is altogether 

 a new plan, for it was practised to some extent even 

 in ancient Egypt ; and in France and elsewhere has 

 been an old custom, showing, if not an example for 

 ourselves in this country, yet, at all events, a proof of 

 the enterprise of foreign bee-keepers. 



In America, again, bee-farms are established on the 

 . largest scale, and are managed on the most scientific 

 principles. A large apiary in California is said to have 

 given sixty-seven tons of surplus honey in one year, 

 and an apiary of 500 stocks is by no means an unusual 

 thing. 



And if such things are possible elsewhere, and 

 there is honey sufficient for such large numbers, we 



