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If all these chances be taken into account it will be evident that out of the 4 lb. or 5 lb. of honey assumed to be collected by bees from one acre of pasturage probably not one-tenth, and possibly not even one-twentieth, part could under any circumstances have been consumed by the grazing animals—so that it becomes a question of a few ounces of fattening-matter, more or less, for all the stock fed upon an acre during the whole season; a matter so ridiculously trivial in itself, and so out of all proportion to the services rendered to the pasture by the bees, that it may be safely left out of consideration altogether.
BEEKEEPING AS A BRANCH OF FARMING.
There is still one point which may possibly be raised by the agriculturist or landowner: ‘‘If the working of bees is so beneficial to my crops, and if such a large quantity of valuable matter may be taken, in addition to the ordinary crops, without impoverishing my land, why should I not take it instead of another person who has by right no interest in my crop or my land?’’ The answer to this is obvious. It is, of course, quite open to the agriculturist to keep any number of bees he may think fit; only, he must consider well in how far it will pay him to add the care of an apiary to his other duties. No doubt everyone farming land may with advantage keep a few stands of hives to supply his own wants in honey—the care of them will not take up too much of his time, or interfere much with his other labours; but if he starts a large apiary with the expectation that it shall pay for itself, he must either give up the greater portion of his own time to it or employ skilled labour for that special purpose; and he must recollect that the profits of beekeeping are not generally so large as to afford more than a fair remuneration for the capital, skill, and time required to be devoted to the pursuit. In any case, he cannot confine the bees to work exclusively on his own property, unless the latter is very extensive. When such is the case, he may find it greatly to his advantage to establish one or more apiaries to be worked under proper management, as a separate branch of his undertaking; but in every case, whether he may incur or share the risks of profit and loss in working an apiary or not, the thing itself can only be a source of unmixed advantage to his agricultural operations, and consequently if he does not occupy the ground in that way himself he should be glad to see it done by any other person.
By Authority : John Mackay, Government Printer.—1907.
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