ADVANTAGES. 5 



proof as to the financial superiority of bees above other descrip- 

 tions of stock kept by the working man. 



10, An Adjunct to Farming and Gardening. — We 



have been amused, on several occasions, at the ideas of a few 

 farmers, who deprecate bee-keeping as being detrimental to their 

 crops. In what manner are they so ? The answer has always 

 been : " They take the saccharine matter from the clover, and 

 so rob the hay of its sweetness." Let us look at this in its true 

 light. What is the nectar in the clover flower produced for? 

 As an attraction to the bees and other insects who, whilst col- 

 lecting same, carry the pollen from the male to the female 

 flower, or from the male to the female portions of different 

 flowers, and so fertilise them. By this we obtain the production 

 of seeds ; a great impetus is given the plant in order to produce 

 them; and they — the seeds — contain the chief elements necessary 

 for the formation of flesh upon the cattle fed thereon. Without 

 the seeds the hay would, in comparison, be of small value. 

 Let us take the instance of hay that has Ijeen threshed for its 

 seed : would a farmer give as much per ton for such hay? 

 No. Would his stock fatten as well on such hay as that with 

 the seeds in? No. Any stock-keeper would substantiate this. 

 Without the bees the flowers would not be fertilised, and would 

 produce no seeds. If this is so, the bees are a source of profit 

 to the farmer, the stock-keeper, and the bee-keeper ; the 

 consumer of the meat even reaping a benefit therefrom. This 

 is only one instance, as applied to clover ; but it also applies 

 to all descriptions of seed stuffs which are fertilised by insects. 

 With the gardener or fruit-grower the above facts must be 

 self-evident. Without bees, their cherry, apple, raspberry, plum, 

 and currant orchards would be far less productive, and the 

 market gardener would obtain less quantities of edible seeds 

 and seed-pods. An apple-grower of our acquaintance, when 

 asked the question, "Why do you keep so many bees?" replied, 

 with a smile, "Why, I tried doing without them a few years 

 ago, and it didn't answer ; my crops of apples were hardly worth 

 gathering." A widow woman in Hertfordshire, who depended, 

 in a great measure, upon her cherry orchard for a subsistence, 

 was obliged to obtain a fresh supply of bees after she had sold 

 her original hives, as her orchard was not nearly so productive ; 

 this quickly righted itself after the introduction of the bees. 

 These facts speak for themselves. 



11. Honey as a Nutritions Food. — To those who can 

 eat honey at any time — and there are but a few who cannot — 

 it is a nourishment of the most agreeable form. It is the 

 quintessence of food. As a mild aperient it ranks as one of 

 the best. Its sweetening properties, as compared with sugar, 

 are far superior in their action upon the health. We cannot 

 do better than quote from the opinions of several eminent 



