but now of Melbourne, one of my very 

 eai-Jiest icuistomeris, called upon me while 

 on a visit to this country. This friend- 

 ship I prize very highly. 



INTRODUCTION OF ITALIAN BEES 

 INTO NEW ZEALAND. 



Writing Root in 1879 Te his sending me 

 one 'OT two colonies of pure Italian bees, 

 his reply, which I have before m'e, dated 

 June 3rd, 1879, advised me, as being the 

 most oouvenient and tsafeet for the bees, 

 to apply to Mr. R. Wilkin, San Buena- 

 ventiuTa, California, wiho could supply m€. 

 Tihie necessitated some delay wiiiJe cor- 

 nespondence passed between us, 'otherwiBe 

 I vpould have had Italia/n beeis early in 

 1880, OT most likely at the laitteT part of 

 1879. As it was, however, I did not re- 

 ceive my two ooloniea till after two 

 ooJonies had been landed from CalifoTnia 

 to the Girder of Mr. J, H. Harrison, of 

 Ooromandel, and the CanterbuTy Aecli- 

 matisation Society, one for eacih. 



My twio ooloniee, in the fliist place, cost 

 me 10 doUare ( £2 1/8) each art San 

 Buenaventura, to whioh muet be added 

 5 doUiairB 75 cents, freight and sundry 

 expenses faiom San Bue'na\"entuna to San 

 Franoiseo, and 10 doIlaTs' freight from 

 San Francisco to Auckiand e:aoh colony, 

 making in all £9 10/6, all of which had 

 to be paid ioi advance, but fortunately 

 the bees' arrived safely and in giood con- 

 dition. I, of couTse, staTted at once to 

 breed queens, and Italianise my apiary, 

 and by the close of the season 1881-2 I 

 bad 45 pure Italian colonies, and a num- 

 ber of hybrids ot croisscs. At that time 

 it wais difficult to get piuTely-mated 

 queens, as tbene were sio many black bees 

 about, and it was 'only by breeding 

 plenty . of queens and constantly weeding 

 out the mis-mated ones, that one could 

 get his apiary Italianisied. 



FIRST EDITION OF "THE NEW 

 ZEALAND BEE MANUAL." 

 Afteir ithe close of my Press artiotes, I 

 was requested to bring tliem out in book 

 form, -amd in September, 1881, the fiTst 

 edition of my "Beie Manual" wias pub- 

 lislhed. It took wdi, and just 13 months 

 after, a second edition was brought out. 

 The book had a large circulation in Aus- 

 tralia, and being as suitable for that 

 country as this, when the third edition 

 was called for I altered its name to that 

 of "The Australasian Bee Manual," under 

 which title it is regisitered. 



STARTING THE FIRST COMMERCIAL 

 BEE FARMS AT MATAMATA. 



My business grew very rapidly, the 

 demand for tlbe new beekeeping ap- 

 pliances kept my staff very busy. There 

 was also a large demand for colonies of 

 bees, and that for Italinn queens was 

 growing, but notwithstanding I had the 

 prospect of a large business in front of 

 me, my interest wias centred in bee- 

 farming on a large scale, not in the sup- 

 ply trade. I had frequently declared 

 that honey could be raised in tons under 

 the new method, and was laughed at for 

 talking nonsense; this made me deter- 

 mined to prove it at the earlieet oppor- 

 tunity, and that lopportunity came earlier 

 than I had anticipated. 



In the first months ocE 1882, the late 

 Majior T. L. Murray, who was then man- 

 agier of the Tham'CS branch of the Bank 

 of New Zealand, and who took special 

 interest in tflie new beekeeping, told me 

 about the magnificent crops> of white 

 clover blossoms ihe had recently seen at 

 Miatamata, extending for many miles in 

 all direotions. The whole country, he 

 eaid, when viewed from the neighbouring 

 hills looked as if covered with a thin 

 iayer of snow, and Bugg'ested my getting 

 permission to e&tablislh a bee farm on the 

 estate. The late Mr. Will, the then 

 editor of the "Auckland Weekly News," 

 ■who bad also visited Matamata, told me 

 about the clover, and he, unknown to me, 

 suggested to ,the late Mr. J. C. Firth, the 

 owner of the estate — which comprised in 

 all 87,000 aeres^ — that he should engage 

 me to establish one or miore bee farms on 

 hie property amidst the w*ite clover. 



The description given me of the large 

 area of white clover set me longing to be 

 there with my bees, as I pictured to my- 

 self the number of out-apiaries that 

 could be established; in fact, I concluded 

 that there would scarcely be any limit 

 to the number of colonies that might be 

 kept. While this was uppermosit in my 

 mind, I received a letter from Mr. Firth, 

 much to my surpa-ise and delight, stating 

 he would come to the Thames to see me 

 about establishing .a bee f*rm at Mata- 

 mata. When we met, I found him very 

 eager to start bee farming on his estate. 

 It then became a question to him of get- 

 ting bees and someone to manaige them, 

 and as I was the only pereon who had a 

 goodly number of colonies available in 

 frame hives, and being the only one who 

 understood the new system thoroughly, 



