PREFACE. V 



on the other haad, if we regard honey as an agricul- 

 tural product, it presents as such a still more striking 

 contrast to the economists' theory of what are the 

 " requisites of production." Not only is there no outlay 

 needed for wages, and none for raw material, but 

 there is nothing to be paid for " use of a natural 

 agent." Every square yard of land in the United 

 Kingdom may come to be cultivated, as in China, 

 but no proprietor will ever be able to claim " rent " 

 for those " waste products " of the flowers and leaves 

 which none but the winged workers of the hive can 

 ever utilize. 



The recent domestication in England of the Ligurian 

 or " Italian Alp " bee adds a new and additional source 

 of interest to bee-culture. We have, therefore, gone 

 pretty fully into this part of the subject ; and believe that 

 what is here published with regard to their introduc- 

 tion embodies the most recent and reliable information 

 respecting them that is possessed by English apiarians.* 



* Some of our apiarian friends may be inclined to be dis- 

 couraged from cultivating the Ligurian bees in consequence of 

 the liability to their becoming hybridised when located in prox- 

 imity to the black bees. We can dispel these fears by stating 

 that we have not unfrequently found that hybrid queens possess 



