88 BEE-FARMING. 



As to the profit of keeping bees, Wallace states that 

 the pasturage of the United Kingdom is sufficient to pro- 

 duce 12,000,000 pounds of honey and 3,000,000 pounds 

 of wax annually: the income derived from this, cal- 

 culating the honey at i^. bd. per pound, and the wax at 

 2J-. per pound, is 1,200,000/. Bearing in mind the very 

 moderate cost or outlay in keeping the bees to secure this 

 immense revenue, it is really a question of no small 

 importance, not only to the well-to-do farmer, but to the 

 humble labourer and cottager, if there is not here opened 

 out a very fair prospect of assistance in gaining daily 

 bread. 



The same writer supposes a person to start with two 

 hives, which he calculates at 3/. lOs. (of course they may 

 be purchased for less than half that amount) ; allowing the 

 hives to double their number annually, they would in- 

 crease to such an extent that at the tenth year 1,024 hives 

 would be the result, which, taking their produce at 35J-. 

 each hive, would give 1,792/. as their total value. 



How many stocks may be kept in a given area, with- 

 out overstocking, is a question often asked. We can only 

 reply that we have never yet known any district over- 

 stocked. Wagner tells us the number of stocks kept on 

 each square mile in the following countries: viz. Hanover, 

 141 stocks; province of Atica, in Greece, containing 45 

 square miles, 20,000 hives ; a province in Holland, 2,000 

 stocks per square mile. No square mile in the British 

 Islands can equal the above estimate, therefore we are 

 justified in stating that we are not likely at our present 

 slow rate of progress to over-populate any given area. 



We should be glad if we could prevail upon our 

 people to pay far more attention to bees. In both Italy 

 and Spain they are extensively cultivated. We have read 

 of a farmer in Spain who had 5,000 hives. 



