BEES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6622, 7 February 1883, Page 3

BEES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Will 3omc of your readers kindly tell me through your columns what size of hive (inside measure), that they have proved to be the best for use in New Zealand? Of course, all good bee-keepers use the bar and frame hive, or Laugstroih principle, but with regard to size of hives there is a great diversity of opiniou. For instance, thv Quiuby hive frame is ISA x 11J; the Laugstroth 17y x 9i ; and the American 12 x 12 inches. I have read that in Poland they use hives three to four feet high, broad at the base, running up to eight or nine inches at tie top, and that these hives giveenormousswarms. When abee-keeper is commenc.ng an apiary, climate and locality ought to be cousinered, but through various circumstances it is often neglected, as some places willy : eld little food and others a rich harvest. That brings me to the cous-.deratiou of a ze of hives for New Zealand. The cold winters and short summers of America and England seem to me very different to the winter and summer of New Zealand. Hence the thought, do we cousider the habits and wants of bees sufficiently by giving them the same size of hive hire that we did at Home? I should like to have the advice of some older bee-keeper in New Zealand than myself on this point. Two years ago I bought two stocks with this place. Th»y were in small, common boxes, to'ally unfit to keep bees in. Last year we took about 701b. of honey, and last winter I lost five stocks by mice. Now I have 16 strong stocks, all in bar and frame hiTes, of which I hope to (jive you some account hereafter. In Scotland, Egypt, and other places, they remove bee-hives from one district to anoilier as the bee food becomes more plentiful, but the price obtained for houey would not pay the bee-keeper for that extra labour in New Zealand. Our speculating bee-keepers are so anxiously on the look-out for novelties tliat I feel rather surprised they have not tried to introduce the Apis unicolor of Madagascar and the Isle of trance. It is a domesticated bee, and yields an esteemed houey of a green colour. I saw in a late issue Mr. T. Murray's remarks as to bees being as prejudicial to the country as the introduction of small birds. I can only say that 1 have kept bees over 30 years, and this is the first complaint I ever heard of their being injurious to the farming interests. As to their being wild in myriad.?, it is well known that they are so now in some parts of New Zealand. Black Bee.