SHIPPING BEES TO CALIFORNIA. 247 



hundred pounds to the hive during one season, which 

 has sold at retail very readily for one dollar per 

 pound. Good hives of bees have been disposed of 

 for one hundred dollars each. As the number in- 

 creases and the country becomes supplied, prices will 

 doubtless recede ; yet so great is the extent of country 

 to be supplied, that I apprehend that prices for first- 

 class stocks will not fall below fifty dollars for the 

 next three or four years. At this price, or as low as 

 twenty-five dollars per hive, bee-keeping on the 

 Pacific coast would be one of the very best invest- 

 ments and employments that a man could be en- 

 gaged in. 



The immense quantities of honey that will be 

 required to supply the vast mining population of 

 California and the fleets of steamers, clipper ships, 

 whalers and other vessels that obtain their supplies 

 of provisions at San Francisco and other ports on the 

 Pacific coast, will absorb all that can possibly be pro- 

 duced and find its way to market, and demand high 

 prices, although bees may be increased by importa- 

 tions and swarming as rapidly as possible, for several 

 years yet to come. 



I am also informed that a demand for bees is 

 springing up in the Sandwich Islands. Premiums 

 have been offered to those who would first introduce 

 these valuable insects into those salubrious and pro- 

 ductive islands, which are quite accessable from the 

 Pacific coast, being but twelve to fifteen days voyage 

 from San Francisco, by sailing vessels, and much less 

 by steamers; hence, I believe that the bee trade of 



