APIARY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 171, 17 April 1934, Page 14

APIARY NOTES

Work During April , (By D. S. Kobtuson, Apiary Instructor.) By his time all surplus honey should have been removed from hives, but it must be remembered that the bees will require to have left between 30-Wlb. of honey for their winter stores. Any hives that have failed to gather sufficient honey to carry them through the winter should be fed without delay and their stores brought up to the figures mentioned. A careful inspection should be made of nil hives and the following facts noted — That all hives are weather proof; any badly cracked supers or brood boxes should be replaced; badly fitting and leaky roofs must be replaced with wea-ther-proof ones. Ascertain that sufficient stokes are available for winter use. Wide entrances should now be diminished to about half width. Make sure that the hive is free from disease. Jf found diseased in a mild form treat without delay. If the disease is bad, the bees should be destroyed and the hive burnt, care being taken to cover with soil nil ashes and any honey that may have been spilt around the hive. Clear away from around the hives all long grass and weeds. See that the bottom board is raised at least four inches from the ground. If extracting is finished, the extractor and all appliances used in connection with it should be thoroughly washed and dried and to preserve them from rusting should be given a coating of vaseline, paraffin wax or beeswax. All supers containing dry combs should be stored away with a sheet of newspaper between each super and a few carbon balls in each super, or a dessert spoonful of napthaline placed in each super will keep away wax moths. The beekeeper can now prepare honey for entry in the honey classes of the various winter shows. This form of advertising should receive far more attention from the beekeepers than it does at present. It is a little too early for schedules of winter shows to be obtainable yet. but copies of 1033 schedules can no doubt be obtained. These will give the beekeeper a lead of what is required. The wood of section honey should be carefully scraped and freed from propolis before the sections are offered for sale; sections carefully prepared and wrappeil ers than those taken straight from the hive to the counter, and most storekeepers will willingly pay an extra price, which more than covers the cost of the wrapper. This month's honey recipes:—

Honey and,Nut Bran Muffins: 1 eup honey. 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 cup flour, 1| cups milk, J- to i teaspoon soda. } cup finely-chopped walnuts. 2 cups bran, J teaspoon salt. Sift together the flour, soda, and salt, and mix them with the bran. Add the other ingreilients and bake for 25 or 30 minutes in a hot oven in gem tins. Honey Bran Cookies: 2 tablespoons butter. } cup flour, J cup honey. 1 cup bran, 2 eggs. 1-8 teaspoon powdered aniseed. J to j teaspoon soda. Rub together the butter and honey; add the eggs unlioaten and beat, tlie mixture thoroughly. Sift together the flour, soda, and aniseed. Combine all the ingredients; drop from a teaspoon on to a buttered tin and bake in a moderate oven.