18 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 3, 1889. 
apiary, the result is such as might he expected from one who is 
untidy and neglectful, and loses whatever enthusiasm he may 
possess immediately after the close of the busy season of the year. 
—Felix. 
IS BEE-KEEPING PROFITABLE? 
“ Are bees worth keeping in so changeable a climate as ours ?” 
is a question asked me in a private letter from a gentleman, and 
the same question, or a similar one, has appeared in different papers. 
There is no difficulty whatever in answering the question in the 
affirmative ; but a little amplification may be necessary. This is 
not the only changeable country, regarding the weather under the 
sun, where bees require the aid of man to preserve and keep them 
alive, and where large yields of honey are often obtained ; but 
none we have tasted equals our home produce. Some people keep 
bees solely from a profitable point of view, and such people are 
commonly those who become disappointed. Such people see beauty 
in nothing but a full purse, going through the world in a selfish 
manner, with but one object in view, and when they leave it there 
is little, if any, blank. It might as well have been asked, Is a 
Tulip or a Rose worth growing ? There are lessons to be had 
from bees and flowers of far greater value to the w’orld than is 
gold. Bees and flowers are inseparable, the connecting links that 
perpetuate beauty and fruitfulness for the uses of man. 
If we look at bees in a commercial light alone, and ponder over 
their habits, together with the pleasure and profitable lessons they 
give during the time spent, counting the pastime as remuneration, 
it cannot but be admitted that the per-centage derived from bees, 
even in the worst years, when properly managed, is a high one, 
although the yield be no more than 5 lbs. of honey from each hive, 
which need not be a greater outlay than 20s., including bees to start 
with. 
Whether this honey be sold or consumed by the bee-keeper or 
his family, it must be admitted that the return is a good one for 
capital sunk in bees, and more than what could be realised from 
most other outlays. The wax alone from bees is good interest, and 
is of greater value than any wax imported into this country. 
Taking one year with another, the average yield from bees is not 
under 20 lbs. of honey from each hive, the maximum being some¬ 
times as high as 100 lbs., and sometimes more. So with these facts 
before us the subject may be dismissed with the answer that bees do 
pay even in this chang able climate. 
Much may, however, be said on sellingand marketing honey to the 
best advantage for the labouring classes. We have read much that 
has been done for their advantage, but we have failed to see where 
the cottager has benefited by any scheme that has yet been floated. 
There has always been that middleman’s profit to be deducted, which 
owing to the increased yield of honey at a lower price than it was 
in former times cannot be afforded, and ought to be done away 
with. The only feasible suggestion I have seen was that advanced 
by “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper,” but bee-keepers for whose benefit 
it was proposed have remained inactive, and without their aid it is 
necessarily a dead letter. Even in this scarce year of honey the 
market seems to be glutted, at least there is little demand for honey. 
APIARIAN SOCIETIES. 
It was supposed at one time these societies would have done 
some real good work for bee-keepers generally, but beyond a very 
few bee-keepers that may have derived slight benefits, to the great 
majority they have been a complete failure. So far as I have been 
concerned in them, every attempt of mine to adopt some inex¬ 
pensive system of disposing of members’ honey has been strongly 
opposed, and that, too, by those who had a difficulty in disposing of 
their own honey. Another thing that I considered wrong was 
awarding prizes to particular dealers for bought or borrowed 
articles instead of bona fide productions, and with donations, too, 
intended for the benefit of the agricultural labouring class ; but 
until we see the directors of shows ceasing to be competitors no 
change may be expected ; but donors would do well if they would 
put their foot on such malpractices by withdrawing their support. 
I have been long of the opinion that farmers’ wives and their 
daughters should be encouraged in the art of bee husbandry by 
offering them special prizes. But in all my attempts to have this 
introduced, farmers’ wives and daughters were invariably struck 
out,andladies substituted, the prizes being mostly carried away by the 
wives or daughters of practical bee-keepers, whom I know never 
had aught to do with the management of the bees. The only 
remedy I see for this state of affairs is to withdraw support. 
Whenever anything that ostensibly appears to be for the public 
good, and only a few interested individuals reap the benefit, the 
sooner a thing of that kind becomes extinct the better. In addition 
to the foregoing, I would like to see. and it would be for the 
benefit of everyone, if the uses of honey were not only better 
known, but more effort made to have it in greater and more varied 
forms as a diet in daily use, and where sugar could not take its 
place—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
James Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, King’s Road Chelsea.— 
Catalogue of Seeds, 1SS9 (illustrated). 
Charles Sharpe & Co., Sleaford.— Catalogue of Garden and Farm 
Seeds , 1889. 
Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge.— Spring Catalogue, 1SS9 . 
(Illustrated with coloured plates). 
H. & F. Sharpe, Wisbech.— Catalogue of Garden and Agricultural 
Seeds, 188S-89. 
Dickson & Robinson, 12, Old Millgate, Manchester.— Catalogue of 
Vegetable and Flmoer Seeds, 1889. 
Stuart & Mein, Kelso.— Amateurs' Gardening Guide, 1889. 
Cooper, Taber & Co., Limited, 90, Southwark Street.— Catalogue of 
Seeds, 1889. 
Robert Veitch & Son, Exeter.— Catalogue of Kitchen Garden and 
Flower Seeds, 1889. 
Oakshott & Millard, Reading.— Spring Catalogue, 1SS9, illustrated 
with coloured plates. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
Editor” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. 
Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet question? 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica* 
tions. 
Mild Weather (Gardener ).— The issue for the 27th ult. was 
printed when your note arrived or it would have been inserted, though 
a much higher temp°rature was registered in many places on the same 
day and others succeeding. 
Gas Lime (B. C .).— For insuring satisfactory replies in the current 
issue, questions should arrive some days before the date of publication. 
Gas lime is both good for land and dangerous to vegetation. Rightly 
used it is more enriching than common lime, but fresh gas lime should 
not be applied to land within three months of sowing, and 3 to 4 tons 
per acre is a good dressing. Your letter cannot be properly answered 
without information respecting the nature of your soil and the method 
of procedure you are intending to adopt. 
Trees and Shrubs (T. G. M .).— We know no works that, so far 
as we can judge from your letter, will exactly meet your requirements. 
The most complete work on forest trees, including Conifers and other 
evergreens, is Brown’s “ Forester,” published by Messrs. W. Blackwood 
and Sons. It is a large volume. We do not remember the price, but 
you can ascertain it from a good bookseller in the town in which you 
reside. It is a question if an inexperienced man would succeed in the 
object you appear to have in view wholly from printed instructions. 
Zinc Labels (J. B.). —You ask if any evil results from tying to 
fruit trees zinc labels with copper wire? We are not able to say 
whether the fruit trees would suffer, but the zinc would, more or less, 
according to the acid in the air, there being more of this near towns 
than in remote country districts, but a little everywhere brought down 
by the rain. The trees would probably be injured if in actual contact 
with the two metals. We have had flat yielding strips of zinc round 
the branches of trees for ten years without any injury resulting in a 
district where the air is pure. 
Pruning- Apple Tree (F. A."). — We should not wait till next year 
before pruning the growths from the scions, as obvious'y that would 
