FOREST WATCHDOGS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 86, 5 January 1940, Page 3

FOREST WATCHDOGS

Wandering Beekeepers

The editor of the “Australasian Beekeeper” says that many beekeepers of the Commonwealth deserve the name of “■Watchdogs of the Forest.”

“For migratory beekeepers, and there are few who have not adopted the modern methods of honey production, the forests are their haven,” he writes. “They ‘follow the flow’ of honey, sometimes travelling with their bees hundreds of miles from home. Forests they must have, and they are constantly on the alert, watching for buds to set ou the trees and waiting for them to burst into bloom and yield a harvest of sweet nectar for their bees to gather and convert into honey.

“The beekeeper and the forester have much in common, and a close bond of friendship exists in many places. As a ‘Watchdog of the Forest’ the beekeeper allies himself with the Government’s Forest Officer and is ever watchful and thoughtful of the forests, and direct sources of his livelihood. It is common to find a beekeeper and a forester yarning together in the bush, and you can be sure the subject is ‘trees.’ The discussions will hinge around the peculiarities of forest growth, budding, flowering and seeding periods, regeneration of different species, coppicing, re-afforestation, soils and rainfall, and such discussions form a close relationship between the guardian of the forest and the watchdog.”