POVERTY BAY BEE-KEEPER’S ASSOCIATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2125, 26 February 1908, Page 2

POVERTY BAY BEE-KEEPER’S ASSOCIATION.

Now that tlie 'bee-keepers of this district have banded together for mutual benefit, there is every reason to hope that the local industry will soon attain much more important dimensions than has been the case in the past. Probably there is no department of production that lias been permitted to exist under such slipshod conditions, as that of honey raising, yet there is none that will give better returns for the capital invested, provided reasonable skill and care are exercised. The old-fashioned method of attracting a swarm of bees by hammering on a kerosene can and then locating them in a. dirty old candle box, in which to carry on their marvellous operations, is still the rule on many a farm. The box is often dumped down on the ground or, at most, placed on a narrow hoard, with the result that grass and weeds almost hide tho hive from view and barely leave room for the little workers to find their way in and out. Persons who keep bees under such conditions have no right to expect success, yet when one or two .good seasons are followed by several bad ones, and they find the honey supply almost reduced to a minimum they are the first to cry out that hee-keoping docs not pay. As a matter of fact they apparently overlook the first vital principle to be recognised in this occupation, namely that bees, like other forms of life, are liable to disease and by reason of their close proximity in the hives arc particularly liable to destruction by epidemics. Thus a dirty hive or ono that is either damp or insufficiently ventilated will assuredly bring disease and before the bee-keeper realises what is happening, he finds that his colonies of bees have been decimated. In this connection it should be noted that the most prevalent disease, known as foul brbod, is extremely contagious, so much so that it is easily communicated from tlie hives of one bee-keeper to those of his neighbors. It- is in this fact that the greatest drawbacks to the industry exists. A farmer may make proper preparations to raise honey on a large scale, provide his bees with the most convenient and healthiest form of hives, so that under ordinary circumstances they will bo immune from disease, and then have -all bis efforts undone through the introduction of foul brood from the hives of a neighbor who clings to the old methods. This ,is wliero the advantage of the Apiaries Act comes in, for it auch vises tlho Government inspectors to compel every person who desires to keep bees to have them in modern hives and under healthy conditions. The recently formed Poverty Ilay Bee-keepers’ Association should ne able to accomplish excellent v ork in assisting the agricultural department to sco that the Act is enforced in this district, and tlie committee should miss no opportunity of educating tho bee-keeping public as to the best and most profitable methods of carrying on the industry. In this connection it is worth noting that the Government Apiarist, Mr Isaac Hopkins, is duo to visit Napier this week to address the quarterly meeting of the Hawkes’ Bay Bee-keepers Association. Probably if the local association were to forward an invitation Mr Hopkins could bo persuaded to also visit 'Gisborne. This would certainly bo a good move as the Government Apiarist is ono of tho best informed anon in Australasia on boo culture and he could he of very great service to the now association. There is no country in the world where the raising of honey can be carried on under more advantageous conditions than in Now Zealand and. there is always a first class markot for tho product provided the quality is of a high standard.