4 THE BOOK OF BEE-KEEPING. 



One feels invigorated after a few hours' work in the apiary. 

 A plant cannot thrive without sunlight ; no man can obtain 

 thoroughly good health without it. Fresh air resuscitates our 

 energies, and acts as a sedative upon the nervous person ; our 

 whole tone is brought to a healthy standard, which cannot be 

 so if we occupy ourselves in close, ill-ventilated, and shaded 

 apartments. Bee-keeping is a preventive ; it is a poor man's 

 doctor, or, rather, anti-doctor. 



8. A Financial Success. — We say, without fear of con- 

 tradiction, that no description of stock-keeping is such a financial 

 success as bee-keeping. The old straw skep of our forefathers 

 was a considerable source of income ; how much more so 

 must the modern hive be, replete with all the improvements 

 introduced by intelligent and ingenious bee - keepers ? One 

 experiences a feeling of astonishment as quantities and quanti- 

 ties of golden honey or snow-white sections are removed from 

 the hive, each ounce having a marketable value and forming a 

 handsome total. We recently met a bee-keeper who, in one 

 season, took 200 sections from one hive; 135 he sold at one 

 shilling each, the remaining 65 (heather) at eighteenpence each. 

 Although this is quite an exceptional case in England, scores 

 and scores of modern bee-keepers take on an average 6olb. 

 from a colony. Even at sixpence per pound this will show a 

 fine profit on the outlay — thirty shillings per year is not to be 

 despised, as a man engaged in his ordinary avocations can easily 

 attend to ten colonies. In our Colonies, notably Australia, 

 a crop of 20olb. from one colony would be looked upon as 

 rather insignificant or below the average. The honey produce 

 is not the only source of profit ; wax finds a ready sale, and 

 when one does get a swarm, a good price is usually obtainable 

 for them upon the market. 



9. An Assistance to the Working Man. — Perhaps a 

 few quotations of accounts that we know have been paid 

 working men for the produce of their bees, will not here be out 

 of place. One we ourselves have paid on an average of £6 per 

 year for some time past, and are not his only customers by far. 

 Another, £% in a lump sum. A working man we met in North 

 Wales (Llanwrst) showed us his account book, and, after auditing 

 it, we found him £2^ to the good in one season. Another, in 

 Northumberland (Felton), last season obtained a profit of ^25. 

 There are one or two we know, notably a plate-layer on a 

 southern railway, who, keeping his bees on the railway bank, nets 

 quite a handsome income from them. We met him last season 

 taking a holiday in London, and a more intelligent man it would 

 be impossible to meet ; bee-keeping, to him, he owns, has 

 raised him both intellectually and financially above his co- 

 workers. A lady we are acquainted with netted £2 los. from 

 one hive in 1885. We think that the foregoing is a positive 



