Bee-heejiing in Victoria. 



Bee-keeping, if adopted as a calling by any one having an aptitude and 

 love for It, combined with good business methods, is a profitable and 

 fascinating occupation. If carried on in connexion with some other rural 

 industry, it is a valuable side issue; if pursued as a hobby, it is highly 

 interesting. ]3ee culture is, above all things, a healthy outdoor occupation 

 of a not too laborious kind, to which many more might turn with whom 

 city life and an indoor occupation do not agree, and who either do not 

 possess the physical strength or the inclination to engage in some other 

 more monotonous and laborious rural occupation. 



Selection of Locality. 



For the purpose of becoming conversant with the habits of bees, to get 

 «ome practice in handling them, and to gain the knowledge and experience 

 not obtainable from literature, bee-keeping may be commenced almost 



A Bee Farm in East Gippsland — Aii Ideal Situation for an Apiary. 



anywhere. When, however, it is taken up as a business, a suitable district 

 is essential to success. In selecting a site, due consideration should be given 

 to the two main factors ; namely, the amount and variety of bee flora within 

 a radius of two or three miles of the site chosen. The permanency of the 

 bee flora is, however, the most important consideration, and the intending 

 bee-keeper should locate on, or close to, some permanent forest or other 

 reserve, so as to avoid the risk of having his honey resources destroyed by 

 the ring-barking of the trees. 



In some of the best honey country in Victoria, consisting almost entirely 

 of yellow box and red gum for many miles in extent, there is a deficiency 

 of pollen-producing plants befofe and after the honey-flow. With a 

 scarcity of pollen, colonies cannot attain their maximum development, and 

 therefore the best results can only be obtained where the bees, prior to the 

 honey-fiO'W, are kept elsewhere. Thus, a practice has sprung up amongst 



