APPENDICES. 343 
produced and sold annually. The tendency in this, as in 
other occupations, has been for the trade to be carried on 
by persons having large capital. The bee-keepers have fre- 
quently from 2500 to 5000 swarms of bees, and some far 
larger numbers. Messrs. Thurber and Co., for instance, have 
about 12,000 swarms of bees. Of course it is only by a 
thorough organisation that such large numbers of these little 
workers, who toil without pay, can be looked after and cared 
for. The system in the United States is to farm out the 
swarms. Arrangements are made with farmers, and those 
who own orchards in suitable localities, to allow an apiary, 
of perhaps a hundred swarms, to be placed in their grounds. 
At a distance of three or four miles another apiary will be 
placed with some other farmer. For this accommodation 
either a fixed rent or a share of the honey produced is 
paid; and the bee-owner sends expert workmen to clean 
out the hives, to take out the boxes of surplus honey as 
they are filled, and to destroy the moths, grubs, and other 
creatures that take advantage of the bees’ frugality. As show- 
ing the lucrative character of this business, it is said that 
a firm of shippers paid to one bee-keeper, for his season’s 
crop of honey, a sum larger than the salary of the President 
of the United States. It is estimated that on an average one 
acre will support twenty-five swarms of bees, and, as the yield 
of a swarm is generally about 50lb. of honey, it is evident that 
this trade may yet be greatly developed. Already the firm above 
mentioned, in addition to a corps of experienced bee men 
to tend the hives, find occupation for nine men and two 
steam saws during five weeks of the year, in cutting up the 
timber for the 72,000 boxes used to hold the comb honey. 
The glass-makers also find some custom from the honey-dealers, 
144,000 panes of glass being required to make the slides and 
ends of these boxes. 
Much attention has been paid in the United States to the 
improvement of the breed of bees, and queen bees have been 
imported from Italy, Cyprus, and elsewhere, for the purpose 
of improving the stock. Some years ago fine Italian queen 
bees were sold for as much as £10 each in New York; but 
