20 AUSTRALASIAN 



skill and perseverance of him who lays himself out to be not 

 only a bee-keeper but a lee master. 



The question is continually asked — " What is the average 

 yearly production of honey, and what the average profit from 

 each hive V The answer must be, the former depends 

 practically upon the skill of the apiarist (within certain limits 

 of course), and the latter mainly upon his commercial intelli- 

 gence. It is easy to show what results are attained in some 

 cases, but it is dangerous to apply these results as a measure 

 of success or failure in our own case. Such results as 300, 

 400, or even 500 lbs. of extracted honey from one hive in 

 a good season are not unknown nor even very rare. An 

 average of 200 lbs. per hive may be often attained under 

 favourable circumstances and good management; but 100 lbs. 

 of extracted, or 60 lbs. of comb honey per hive may be nearer 

 to the mark of what a prudent apiarist will look forward to 

 obtaining, and any one who can show such results as the 

 average of a number of successive seasons, may fairly count him- 

 self a successful bee-keeper, and his location a favoured one. 

 It must, however, be understood that it is a rule, with 

 perhaps no exceptions, that the larger the apiary the lower 

 the average production per hive ; so that supposing 100 lbs. of 

 extracted honey to be a fair average through an apiary of 100 

 hives I would consider 751bs. a good one per hive for 250 

 hives under the same conditions. 



ADAPTATION TO WOMEN. 



There is a feature in this industry which, I think, especially 

 recommends it to notice, viz., its adaptation to women. In 

 both England and America, at the present time, some of the 

 most successful apiarists are ladies, and several of the most 

 extensive bee-keepers in America are assisted by their wives 

 and daughters. Professor Cook states that Mrs. L. B. Baker, 

 of Landsing, Michigan, who has kept bees very successfully for 

 four years, read an admirable paper before the Michigan con- 

 vention of bee-keepers, in which she said : — 



"But I can say, having tried both (referring to boarding-house- 

 keeping and bee culture), I give bee-keeping the preference, as more 

 profitable, healthful, independent, and enjoyable. I find the labours 

 of the apiary more endurable than working over a stove, and more 



