USEFUL HINTS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 17 May 1912, Page 3

USEFUL HINTS

At this time of the year it is as well to see that every hive has enough food for the winter, and to look round the bee-yard and collect all the odd pieces of hives, etc., about the place, and put them away in the dry. A spare roof and outer case will hold quite a number of things, and if they be nicely cleaned before being put away, it will* be a real comfort in the spring to find them ready; to hand and fit for use.

Old Combs. —These should be carefully collected, and if, they are out of i .shape.;or too much drone comb in them,' or the slightest suspicion of disease in them, they should be boiled up. If no better means be at hand, put them into a potato steamer, nearly fill the saucenan with water, and give them half an hour's:.steaming, stand-the whole aside to .cool, and when cold the wax will be foundjin a cake, in the saucepan. ■ If it were not necessary for the ;bee to haAre almost as much ventilation-in

the winter as in the summer, at the entrance of the hive we could block up the same and so keep mice out> so that "the b>st ways is to; put. something over the entrance so that the mice cannot get into the ,hive, and leaving plenty of room for the bees. This can be done byypunchin;g a few holes in a piece of zinc, or thin tin large enough for the bee to "pass out, raise the body of the hive, and place it over the entrance, if a colonial; tack "it on the'front, if an American.

"The-Abolition of the Box Hive" is the title of an interesting article writ-' tan; recently by( Mr L. Hopkins, Government .apiarist,, a man well and widely recognised for.his expert knowledge of befesr, He says: "New Zealand stands unique in the bee-keeping world as being the first country to legislate against the box-hive. By "box hive" is meant any receptacle in which the combs are immovable without cutting them, be it a common packing-box, straw-skip, keg, 'or *yny other article capable of hiving ;bees;, %vhe'rein the*combs are fixed." The writer then goes on to show the harm done, by such careless, slipshod farmers, to whom the idea of care, attention, and due feeding were absolutely foreign. He writes very strongly of the harm done" by them years ago, when the industry was in its childhood, and needed all the help it could get. No result of their carelessness was more reprehensible than the fact that they were one. if not the chief, cause of the spread of disease, especially. of foul brood. "Away back in the }80's of the last century, when disease began to make havoc among the liees in this country, the New Zealand Beekeepers' Association did its best to make the box hive beekeepers sensible of the harm they were doing by their slipshod method of beekeeping. We showed them the disease (foul brood) in their own boxes, supplied them with drugs free for treatment, and. .in some cases treated their bees: but all the trouble and outlay came to nothing in the end. We were convinced at last that nothing short of drastic legislation would have any effect in dealing with the evil. Disease was spreading and apiary after apiary was blotted out of existence in spite of all the owners did to save their bees; no headway could be made against disease while the box-hives were spreading it. "It was then I made up my mind that if ever the opportunity came I would do my best to have the box-hive abolished from New Zealand. The opportunity oame in 1907, with the result we all know, and New Zealand then set an example to tha rest of the bee world by making it illegal to keep bees in anything else but movable frame hives. "It was not very long after our \piaries Act was passed before it became known all over the English-speaking beeworld, when congratulations were" received from England,. America, and Australia, and prominent beekeepers in each of those countries are now moving to o-et similar legislation." His concluding words are very decided, and show what he thinks of the subject: "It is only a matter of time when all States and Countries must, in the interest of-bee-culture, and the saving of our principal fruit fertilising agents, join in the universal abolition of the box hive."