192 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTEALASIA 



the towns-people first, present my card, exhibit my 

 samples of honey and wax, sometimes a little literature 

 is left, and I rarely fail to book orders for honey and a 

 cake of wax for the irons of the women folk. This I 

 usually do first day; the second day I go around the 

 surrounding district, calling on the farming community, 

 and, generally having a good time. The orders of the 

 day are forwarded home each night and receive prompt 

 attention. This method of travelling I consider to be 

 the most profitable way for the bee-keeper to fill in 

 his spare time. First, it enables him to get into direct 

 contact with the consumers of honey, thus enabling him to 

 gauge better the people's likes and dislikes. Secondly it 

 obliterates the middleman and his generally extortionate 

 commission charges." 



He further fills in the winter doing odd jobs about 

 the honey-house. His work during the winter is given here 

 in his own language : — ' ' Usually, after cleaning up the last 

 extracting, I attend to all the super-combs and frames, 

 scraping the latter clean, and cutting out all broken and 

 misshapen combs, collecting all scraps of wax and making 

 same marketable; some of the wax I mould into small 

 cakes, to be sold at 6d. per cake as described later on. 

 All the wax disposed of, I then give my attention to the 

 frames, repairing same, and wiring, with foundation, 

 leaves the combs and frames clear of my mind until next 

 spring. Then supers, hive-bodies, floor-boards, and 

 covers are repaired and painted ; in fact, leave everything 

 just right for work next season." 



A FLOW OF HONEY IN THE WINTER. 



Sometimes the honey flow continues throughout the 

 winter and then, of course, the apiarist will have plenty 

 to do extracting honey and attending to the necessary 

 routine of the bee-farm. The winter flowering-trees that 

 sometimes yield a surplus of honey during the wet months 

 are the "Ironbark," and "White" box; occasionally 

 the "Cider" Eucalpyt and one or two others. Whether 



