20 AUSTRALASIAN 
skill and perseverance of him who lays himself out to be not 
only a bee-keeper but a bee master. 
The question is continually asked—‘ What is the average 
yearly production of honey, and what the average profit from 
each hive?” 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 75lbs. 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 boardin -house- 
keeping and bee culture), I give bee-keeping the preference, re mee 
profitable, healthful, independent, and enjoyable. I find the labours 
of the apiary more endurable than working over a stove, and more 
