35 



it' all these chauces be taken iuto accouut it will be evident that out of 

 the 4 lb. or 5 lb. of honey assumed to be collected by bees from one acre 

 of pasturage probably not one-tenth, and possibly not even one-twentieth, 

 part could under any circumstances have been consumed by the grazing 

 animals — so that it becomes a question of a few ounces of fattening- 

 matter, more or less, for all the stock fed upon an acre during the whole 

 season; a matter so ridiculously trivial in itself, and so out of ail pro- 

 portion to the services rendered to the pasture by the bees, that it may 

 be safely left out of consideration altogether. 



BEEKEEPING AS A BRANCH OF FARMING. 



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

 turist or landowner • "If the working of bees is so beneficial to my 

 crops, and if such a large quantity of valuable matter may be taken, 

 in addition to the ordinary crops, without impoverishing my laud, 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 agi iculturist 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 recollect that the 

 profits of beekeeping are not generally so large as to afiord more than 

 a fair remuneration for the capital, skill, and time required to be 

 devoted to the pursuit. In any case, he cannot confine 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 agri- 

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

 in that way himself he should be glad to see it done by any other person. 



By Authority : John Mackay, Government Printer. — 1907. 



[10,000/9/07—9537 



