30 



upon an acre during the whole season ; a matter so ridiculously 

 trivial in itself, and so out of all proportion to the services rendered 

 to the pasture by the bees, that it may be safely to be left out of 

 consideration altogether. 



Beekeeping as a Branch of Farming. 

 There is still one point which may possibly be raised by the 

 agriculturist or landowner : " If the working of bees is so benefi- 

 cial to my crops, and if such a large quantity of valuable matter 

 may be taken, in addition to the ordinary crops, without impoverish- 

 ing my land, why should I not take it instead of another person 

 who has by right no interest in my crop or my land ? " The 

 answer to this is obvious. It is, of course, quite open to the agri- 

 culturist to keep any number of bees he may think fit ; only, he 

 must consider well in how far it will pay him to add the care of 

 an apiary to his other duties. No doubt every one farming land 

 may with advantage keep a few stands of hives to supply his own 

 wants in honey ; the care of them will not take up too much of his 

 time, or interfere much with his other labours ; but if he starts a 

 large apiary with the expectation that it shall pay for itself, he must 

 either give up the greater portion of his own time to it or 

 employ skilled labour for that special purpose ; and he must recol- 

 lect that the profits of beekeeping are not generally so large as to 

 afford more than a fair remuneration for the capital, skill, and time 

 required to be devoted to the pursuit. In any case, he cannot con- 

 fine the bees to work exclusively on his own property, unless the 

 latter is very extensive. When such is the case, he may find it 

 greatly to his advantage to establish one or more apiaries to be 

 worked under proper management, as a separate branch of his 

 undertaking ; but in every case, whether he may incur or share the 

 risks of profit and loss in working an apiary or not, the thing itself 

 can only be a source of unmixed advantage to his agricultural 

 operations, and consequently if he does not occupy the ground in 

 that way himself he should only be glad to see it done by any other 

 person. 



By Authority : John Mackay, Government Printer.— 1905. 



[10,000/5/1905-3789 



