474 



Bee-keeping for Small Farmers. 



" Bee-Pest "), to which bees are subject Those who do not 

 grudge the necessary trouble required in order to keep their 

 bees healthy can do so, as has been proved by the experience of 

 well-known men in the craft ; but without care disaster is 

 certain to follow. 



In this and many other sections of our subject we must rely 

 on readers seeking, in the pages of a text-book, for fuller details 

 regarding such items of practical bee-management as have not 

 been made sufficiently clear. It is impossible in a short paper 

 to do more than indicate the work needing to be done, without 

 detailing fully how to do it. Especially is this true with regard 

 to foul brood, which, being an infectious disease, must be 

 studied in order that the best method of treatment and the 

 nature of the remedies recommended may be fully understood 

 and the disease successfully coped with.* 



Our few closing remarks may be devoted to a glance at the 

 financial aspect of the case, for this is the main point to be 

 considered. The question, " Does bee-keeping pay? " has been 

 made familiar by its frequency among those desirous of 

 making a start, and the replies have, of course, been pro and 

 con. But if the two indispensable conditions named at the out- 

 set are assured beforehand, we unhesitatingly assert that, for 

 the small farmer, bee-keeping will pay well. The amount of 

 capital required would in any case be less than for the purchase 

 of a horse or a cow, while the percentage of profit would more 

 than double that of any other department of the farm. In the 

 case of a working farmer of small means, he can make a start 

 with one or two hives without investing any appreciable capital 

 at all. 



The published reports from bee-men who keep an accurate 

 account of income and expenditure show that a good profit 

 can be made ; but, in taking up bee-keeping as a purely 

 business matter, it needs, as we have said, a good location. 

 No imaginative statements have been made regarding what 

 has been done by others. The facts are recorded in print, for, 



^Leaflet No. 32, on " The Treatment of Foul Brood may be obtained free of 

 charge on application to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 4, Whitehall Place, 

 London, S.W. 



