APIARY NOTES FOR APRIL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 116, 16 April 1934, Page 10

APIARY NOTES FOR APRIL.

(Bv D. S. Robinson, Apiary Instructor, Department of Agriculture.) By the time these notes appear all surplus honey should have been removed from liives. but it must be remembered that the bees will reqiuie to have left between 30 and 401 bof honey for their winter stores. 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 aIL hives and the following facts noted: That all lnves are weatherproof; badly cracked supers or brood boxes should be replaced; badly fitting and leaky roofs must be replaced with weatherproof ones. Ascertain that sufficient stores are available for winter use. Wide entrances should now be diminished to about lialf width. Make sure that the hive is free from disease. If 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 all ashes and any honey that may have been spilt around the hive. Clear away from around the lnves all long grass, weeds, etc. See that the bottom board is raised at least 4 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. AH 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 dessertspoonful of napthaline placed in each super will keep away wax moths. The beekeper can now prepare honey for entry, in tho honey classes of the various winter shows. The wood of section honey should be carefully scraped and freed from propolis before tlie sections are offered for sale; sections carefully prepared and wrapped in cellophane wrappers are far better sellers 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 tho wrapper. RECIPES.

Honey and Nut Bran Aluffins. —J cup honey, 1 cup flour, 1 to i teaspoon soda, 2 cups bran, 1 tablespoon melted blitter, 1} cups milk, \ cup finely chopped walnuts, teaspoon salt. Sift together the flour, soda and salt and mix them with the bran. Add the other ingredients and bake for 25 or 30 minutes in a hot oven in gem tins.

Honey Bran Cookies.—2 tablespoons butter, i cup honey, 2 eggs, | to \ teaspoon soda, I cup flour, 1 cup bran, J teaspoon powdered aniseed. Rub together the hutter and honey; add tho eggs unbeaten and beat the mixture thoroughly. Sift together the Hour, soda and aniseed. Combine all the ingredients; drop fr%m a teaspoon on to a buttered tin and hake in a moderate oven.