Bee-keeping Industry in Victoria. 



There is a good demand in the cities for comb-honey in 1-lb. sections 

 at from 6s. to 9s. per dozen ; but not much is produced, as apiarist/S 

 prefer the production of "extracted " which requires less skill, is easier 

 to store, and less liable to damage in transit over long distances. 



State Encouragement of Bee- culture. — Bee Ranges 



As bee-keeping in Victoria is capable of being carried on as an 

 independent occupation, provision has been made for the permanency 

 and encouragement of the industry in the land laws of the State. 



On any State forest or other Crown lands a bee-keeper may, on 

 application and the payment of certain fees, obtain a bee-farm site of 

 from 1 to 3 acres, and a range of 2,012 acres. The annual rent is 

 2s. 6d. per acre for the bee-farm site, and ^d. per acre for the be^ 

 range. One person may hold three bee-farm sites and three bee ranges. 



The bee-farm site is always the centre of the bee range which has 

 a radius of 1 mile, and as, therefore, the nearest site held by any other- 

 bee-keeper is 2 miles dis.tant the exclusive use of the bee forage is secured 

 to each holder and protection afforded against infection from diseased 

 hives, as no bee-farm site is grantfetTwithout a bee range. 



The present holders of the bee ranges devote themselves almost exclu- 

 sively to homey production, the grazing lease of the area being often held 

 by some one else. When the grazing lease over the country comprising 

 his bee range or ranges can also be obtained by the bee-keeper, he can 

 add to his income by running sheep. The grazing capacity of bee coun- 

 try is not great, but on an average, perhaps, £50 per annum, for wool 

 oould be obtained on a bee range. The grazing lease carries with it the 

 condition to fence the area, while in the case of the bee range the boun- 

 dary is merely the limit of the bees' flight in search of nectar. 



Inspection of Apiaries and' Instruction of Bee-keepers. 



There is but little of the disease known as foul brood in this State, 

 the climate being unfavorable to 4ts propagation, but a Bee Diseases 

 Law is in force, which protects the intelligent and careful bee-keeper 

 against the ignorance or carelessness of neighbours. Large districts in 

 which box hive bee-keeping has been abandoned in favour of the 

 modern frame-hive system are entirely free from disease, while with the 

 gradual compulsory abolition of the remaining box hives under the pro- 

 visions of the Bee Diseases Act, foul brood will be further reduced or 

 entirely suppressed. 



Of the colonies examined by the inspector under the Bee Diseases 

 Act during the first year of its opetration only 1.8 per cent, were found 

 infected and only in a mild fornr curable by the usual treatment with- 

 out destruction of the bees. 



Instruction and advice are given by the inspector on all apicultural 

 subjects, during his visit to apiaries, by meains of lectures in bee-keep- 

 ing centres, and in the office by correspondence. 



An experimental apiary has been established at Burnley, near Mel- 

 bourne, by the Live Stock Division of the Department of Agriculture. 

 Experiments are conducted there which cannot be undertaken by 



