THE HONEY-BEE IN NEW ZEALAND. 
35 
clover paddocks, knows how rapidly liis hives increase in 
weight when the white clover is in flower; indeed the bees 
gather more honey, and of a better quality, from this plant, 
than any other I know. 
But what do they in return ? Before bees were brought 
into this land, the white clover did not seed at all, or very 
scantily. Every bushel sown was brought from England 
at a heavy cost, and at great risk of being useless when it 
arrived. 
But now, as much can be gathered in the country as is 
wanted • and this being fresh, is certain to grow : so that 
every one who has some paddocks well and carefully laid 
down, free from weeds and other plants, may get sufficient 
seed for his own use, and have a surplus to dispose of to 
his neighbours. 
Every one, too, who has an orchard, will find his 
advantage in having a hive of bees near. The difference 
in the yield of a tree before and after it gets this help is 
very remarkable 5 so that it seems to me that floweis are 
furnished with nectaries from which honey is secreted, not 
so much that it may be gathered for the use of man, as 
that the bees, when busy rifling the hidden sweets, ma> 
aid in fertilising the seeds of that flower from which they 
increase their store. ... 
There is no form of hive from which it is impossible to 
take honey without killing the bees. Bees will make 
honey anywhere, but the form and construction of the lnve 
is of importance, because purer honey, and m greater 
quantities, may be taken from those of a good construction 
than from those that are faulty. _ 
In taking honey, to do the thing well, some 1 e 
preparation must be made. A surgeon, when about to 
perform an operation, gets all his instruments ready, ays 
them out carefully, that he may know where to put his 
hand on each, and not have them to seek at the moment 
when he wants to use them; he also has his assistants, m 
whose steadiness he can trust, and in their knowledge too 
as far as it goes. A surgeon’s tools cost a good round 
sum ; but the only instruments wanted by the honey taker, 
are, a knife, made to the following pattern it is a rod ot 
