172 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



the very least, it would supply home luxuries for the table, and 

 thus save the storekeeper's bill. 



Will it pay? Yes, if only for home consumption. Any site 

 is more or less adaptable. At Tamworth, a gentleman engaged in 

 business keeps bees on top of his house under a covered turret, and 

 this supplies him with beautiful sections of honey. He is most 

 liberal to his friends in supplying them with similar ones. At 

 Maitland, Mr. Tipper, editor of the Bee Bulletin, for years kept 

 bees on the open roof of his office, situated in the principal street, 

 without inconvenience to anyone, and it paid. 



In many of our country towns people living in the outskirts 

 could keep bees far more than they do. 



Flower-culture and gardening is taking a hold at last on the 

 people living in the bush and away from the city, thanks to the 

 agricultural committees that have added flower sections to their 

 shows. Competition has produced emulation, and, to excel, bush 

 and glass houses have been added to out-door gardens. In country 

 agricultural shows the flower-stalls are among the most attractive 

 sights; but the exhibits that attract the greatest concourse of 

 spectators, apart from the jumping contests, are the apicultural. 

 Those who are in the habit of attending these shows will remember 

 that for some years past, both at Wellington and Muswellbrook, 

 the difficulty has been to elbow your way through the crowd of 

 interested sightseers in the pavilion where the honey and bee 

 appliances are shown. Competition was so keen at a recent show 

 held at Muswellbrook, that the judge was occupied two days in 

 going through the list of exhibits catalogued. The agricultural 

 committee at the last-named town practically let the pavilion com- 

 mittee have a free hand to give the bee section choice of place and 

 almost unlimited space wherein to exhibit their produce. 



Flower-culture and bees are hand-maidens. Whatever locality- 

 is adaptable for flower-culture is also suited for bees, and it is 

 easy to combine the bush-house for useful and ornamental pur- 

 poses, the bees adding profit to ornament. 



For ladies, the hive placed within the bush-house gives an 

 extra safety from stings. The hives should be placed so that the 

 ferns and other decorations should not interfere with the working 

 of the hive when the supers are placed in position. It is necessary 

 in the construction of the hive that the alighting-board should be 

 made sufficiently wide to protrude some inches beyond the walls of 

 the house. An ordinary sized house could contain ten or twelve 



