22 AUSTRALASIAN 



gaining some little experience procure either an Italian queen 

 or a nucleus colony of Italian bees, and Italianise the black 

 stocks, according to directions given in another chapter. By 

 adopting this plan much expense and risk will be saved at the 

 commencement. The beginner should of course adopt all the 

 latest improvements in bee-culture, and, if possible, visit an 

 apiary where the modern system of management has been 

 introduced. Let me also impress on him the necessity and 

 advantage of only having one kind and size of hive throughout 

 the apiary. The reason of this is so obvious that it needs no 

 further comment. Let him also remember that "practice 

 makes perfect ; " that no matter how fully any book may enter 

 on a given subject, yet without experience the reader, practi- 

 cally, will be like a ship without a rudder, for it is only by 

 practical experience that we gain lasting knowledge and success. 

 He should become a member of the nearest bee-keepers' asso- 

 ciation and a subscriber to a local bee journal, which will keep 

 him posted up in everything relating to the progress of the 

 industry in these colonies, and serve as a means of communi- 

 cation between him and his fellow bee-keepers. He should follow 

 the simple instructions given in this Manual, and avoid trying 

 new experiments until he feels that he is master of the rudi- 

 ments of the art ; he may afterwards with advantage study all 

 that has been written on the subject of apiculture, and form 

 his own judgment on points (not a few) where he finds that 

 " the doctors differ." 



STATE AID TO APICULTURE. 



Germany and other continental states have long felt it to be 

 one of the duties of a paternal government to promote the 

 diffusion of a knowledge of the principles of bee-culture by 

 means of suitable publications and by placing at the disposal 

 of agricultural societies an annual contribution in aid of their 

 objects. The United Sates of America have, at their Agricul- 

 tural Colleges, professors of entomology and of bee-culture, who 

 give both theoretical and practical instruction to the students ; 

 and in England a movement has been for some time in progress, 

 which has now received the sanction of the Education Depart- 

 ment, to place among the " extra subjects," the optional study 

 of which is provided for by the Education Act, the branch 



