HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W.C. Cotton, m.a. (Continued.)

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 174, 29 January 1848, Page 3

HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W.C. Cotton, m.a. (Continued.)

Let tliit then be one of your standing rules — never press your honey comb, slice your (lark combs as I told you to do your virgin ones, and pure honey will run from thfm. If you preß* them, you get the bee bread anJ other impurities mixed up with it. When all has tun that will, let the bees pick up the remainder, and then put by the impure combs apart from the virgin ones, again-t you try down your wax. \\ heic apiaries are established on a very large scale, and honey is abundant, it will be found convenient to have a tin vi'ssel made, like the wood cut, to strain the honey in huge quantities directly it is taken from the hives — (n) is a. funnel of (in which will hold a hundred weight or two of combs, Which should be placed in it directly they are sliced, in such a position tint the honey will drain freely from them— (b) is a strong open strainer of perforated tin on which the combs rc6t, to prevent them pressing upon or clogging up the liner strainer — (c) made ofcoar6e muslin or gauze, stretched on an iron ring. The funnel contracts below the second strainer, and ends in a pipe which goes into the honey pot — (c) paced below to receive what (Huns from the pipis. Thw pipe should fit pretty closely in a hole cut in tlu top of a temporary wooden lid made for the honey pot, 01 tlie bees will soon be attracted by the smell, aud carry away the honey as fast as it drips. The tin vessel a<so should have a lid, then the whole pr. c«sB may be performed without dust, or anything else marring it. You will be surprised to find the great difference h the honey which your bees make at different times of the year. The bett, perhaps, that ever 1 tasted, was made in the neighborhood of a number of almond tre< s while they were in II jwer. It is one of the few cultivated plants winch materially affect the quality of the honey, and may be profitably grown to a great extent in this country. The honey also from clover paddocks is very plentiful and beautifully white. Many Native trees too are excellent honey producers, whilst gome few others impart to the honey a peculiar and to some people a dusagieeable twang. This sort should of course bo set apait forphysic, as nnsliness seems to!)e one of the essential virtues of medicine, and you will haye plenty of use for your nasiy honey as physic. In one place last year, sixty pounds of honey were uscl for cough mixture alone, Bees have not long enough been observed in this country, to say with certainty from what trees they get the different varietiei of honey. But there is one peculiarity in a great deal of the New Zealand honuy, which I must mention, via., itsgieat readiness to crystallize ; in some districts whole boxes will be found with the honey crjstallized in the cells, in one solid mass, a» difficult to cut through as a v, j ry solid cheese. The virgin combs filled with this species, of honey are evqitisitely white, and the honey of btich a good qmhty, that it may be caton quite as a confection. The comb when cut through, showi hardly any appearance of wax, it seems one solid mass of sugar, nnd yet the shape of the cell.s is clearly discernible. The whole comb mny be carefully diss«cted, likeu puzzle, or rather the separate hexagons of mgar which have been cast in the culls, though it would puzzle the cleverest geometrician m the word to reconstruct them. No one can imagine the beautitul appearance of such a comb, unless he see it, and it is equally pleasing to more senses than one. But yet thf bees cannot cat it ; place a piece before the most populous hive, and though the bees will carry away a sm ill portion of honey, which they munage to dissolve, still they leave behind a mass of sugar plums, which they can no more reconvert into syrup fit for their conbump'ion, than they could a solid lonf of sugar. So that I believe a hive amply itorel with this sort of honey would die of starvation if they could get no freih supplies. You can be in no deubt what to do with this sort of honeycomb. It will keep any length of time if the combs are wrapped up in white paper, and carefully packed away, or put a number of them together in a bo*, it i* one of the best upecimens of New Zaalund produce with which to surprise and please our friends at hoice. But it affects what lam now telling you about running your honey in tins wa-. It is difficult, n«y, impossible to get it from the impure combs, by any o: tlie oidmury ro«ihods — it wll not run, pressure is equally unless. The only method that I know is to put combs and all into a kettle, with just enough water to prevent their burning, simmer them gently, then run through a sieve— tins will stop the grosser impurities, though if the combs aie old, a great deal of iwstiiu'« will have been mued up with the soup itsdf; ler it st,»nd til l cold, and then the wax will have (o ma i»i cahe at the top hl*e half melted ice. Take this offcarjiully. and then ctanfy ihe honey which u beLw in the ort inuty way, fiat n, siminrr it sl>wly, adding mure o r Ifss water, according to the consistency you wiih to bn g,t to, skimming offthe scum as it rUe», To preyeni he honey burning, which will give it a dark culor,

it is u good plan to place the vessel wiili the honey you we clarifying, within another pot of wutar, fashion. The result of nil this trouble will not bu equal to the spontaneous production of the virgin combs, and yet I have never been able to hit upon a better plan ol treating the dark combs which have crystallized honey in them. You may keep this impure honey to feed your we-ik stock with, and to use as physic Dark com'ts which have liquid honey in them, you have on'y to bltce and let drain, as I told you above. And now for the second article of bee-produce, the wax. — it is by far the most valuable of the two, for this reuhon, because there will bo an unlimited demand for it. Solomon pays—" It is not good to eat much ho n v." — Praucrbt 25, 27. And as wuh individuals, so wi'h commerce, there is soon a glut of honey, but an almost infinite demand fot wax. Australian bee keepers have found that it barely pays to export homy to England, but wax as well as tallow will be one of rheii Htaples. I, for my part, wrhall ihe world wvie lighted with wax candles, and that the last of the snulTei s wrre preserved in lotne national museum. Si eh a happy day is, I fcur, fardi6tant — but still, we may live to see the time when every one in New Zealand will burn a wax cindlc of his own making. Tvebees we have at present in New Zealand, are only the seed of that vast crop, which will one day fill our " woods." When every hollow tree almost is tenanted, and the M aories hnvf learnt to track the bees to their homes, the quantity of wax which will be brought to our markets will be enormous. That which can be obtained from tame bees \i> comparatively smull — not much more than a pound can be &ot from the combs of a hive which if full would contain twentj or Unity pounds of lumey, still, " many a mickta makei a muckle," so no care'ul bcewife ought to waste a singls ounce of w>x. Have a box in your bee-hou^e, into which you may put all the soraps of comb, which would otherwise be loit, with alt the refuse from which the bees have licked tuehouey. Then, have two or three melting days in the course of the year, lieaides- the combs fiom which the honey has mn, you m<iy have a considerable qiuntiiy more if you c.irefully save up all belonging to hives which die oIF in the winter (and in a large apiary there will be many such, fiom the loss of the Queen and divers other causes) ; you may also cut out suveial empty combs fiom mostol your hives when you turn them up in the spring', for the puiposc of obtaining the bottom board and thoroughly examining into their state. All these combs should be divided into three, or at least two division 1 -— lir&t pure white comb, secondly comb of but one year old, which has indeed been bred in, but in which there is still more wax than refuse. Thirdly, old black comb, and thoie in which there is a great deal of bee hie id. The stiucture of th s black comb u very curiom. Luy a piece in the sun till it gets a little softened, you nviy then easily pick it to pieces cell by eell — you will find that each cell contains four or five layers of the silk which the giub spins in its transformation. These are moulded into the shape of the cell, and it seems to me, though lean haully believe it, that the bees have some means of taking up the wax of which their celW weie at first wholly composed, when the silky membrane is leady to take its place — " Waste not, want not," being one of the beii standing mottoes. The piactical mode of preparing the wax, I shall give ! in the words ot the same Sir John More, wluinlhave quoted above — ••• The manner of ordering the wax i<i as followeth : take the wax and dioss and set it over the h°<c in :i kettle or cauldron that may easily contain it, then pour in so much water as will make t lie wax swim, that it may boil without burning, and for this reason, while it is boiling gently over the fire stir it often; when it is thoroughly melted take it o(F the fire, andpuhcntly pour it out of the kettle into a strainer of fine thin mien, or of twisted hair ready placed upon a screw or press ; lay on ihe cover and pi ess out the liquor (as long as any wax comes), into a kiver of cold water, but first wee both the btg and the press to keep the wax from sticking— at the first cometh most water, at the lust most dross, and in the middle most wax. The wax growing hard, make it into balls, squeezing out the water with your bauds. When you have thus done, break all the bulls into crumblets, and in a skillot oi kettle, set it over a soft fire, while it is melting stir it und skim it with a spoon wet in cold water, and as soon as it is melted and skimmed clean, take if oil' and having provided the mould, first wnrm the bottom, especially U the cake be small, and besmear the sides with honey, und then initantly pour in the wax (being as cool as it will run), through a linen strain»r— .when jou come near the bottom, pour it gently till you see tbe dross come, which, stiain into some other mould by itself, and when it is cold, either try it a<{,nn, or having (wed away the bottom, kdep it as is, lor some use or other. When the wat is in the mould, if (here be any froth yet lemainiug on the top, blow it together at one side, und skim it oil' lightly with a wet spoon. This done, feet not the cuke abroad where it may cool too Hastily, but put it in a warm house, not too far from the fire, and if it be a large cake, co\er it ovei warm to keep the top from cooling, till tin; inward licit be allayed, and so let it stand, not moving the mould till the cake be cold ; if it stick, a litile warming of the vessel or mould will loosen it no that it will presently slip out." (To be continued.)