BEE-KEEPING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 83

BEE-KEEPING.

By A Country Maid. ,

Not very long ago it was the custom to wut a swarm of bees into an empty box arid let them begin building and housekeeping on their own account. At the end of the season a hole was made in the ground, a quantity of sulphur was set fire to in the hole, and the box placed on top and covered over to smother all the bees. The cornDS were then put into a bag, with P«*"*«JK brood and all, and left to run the honey out Now all beekeepers have to be under Government inspection a,a keep tte ta in boxes that can be conveniently looked into lw the inspector My father uses the LangBtaoS hives They are fitted up with frames for the comb, and V sheet of foundation comb is put in each, frame and wired m. XWfl keeps the combs staight as well as eaves the beefa lot of work; and it also keens down the Quantity of drone comb that would othextise*T mW The foundation comb » bought all ready to put in the hives. When Tslarm comes off it is Wit into one of these prepared boxes and the bees start cell-build-?n| P right aw*,y. The hives are in two storeys? and the queen is confined to the lower one by means of an excluder. This is mlde ™ *A with holes just • for the workers to go through In this way the top box is kept clear of brood, and is filled with pure honey. Three or more storey* may be used on the one times a number of swarms go together and then thev want lots of room. But it is a waste of bS for at the end of the season the? are Reduced to the size of an ordinary St» there is only erne «•»£**,£ matter how many swarms go together ine chief trouble that beeWoers have IB wh«tM called foul brood, a that attacks the g brood in the cells, and it is fectious. The die-ase gets into the honey and everything, and one hive will sometimes snoil the lot. People will sometimes find tub- bees dead in the spring, although the boxes mav have plenty of honey in them they sometimes can't make out what went wrong In nine cases out of ten it will be caused bv foul br*od, there being no young Ves to take th- plac- of the older ones •PVKen the. bees have their top box full of honey and sealed no. it is time to extract it. i work for two people. They put on : veils to protect their feces, and, armed with I n «moker in which are a few smouldering 1 rues, start work. The hive is then opened i oujptlv and seme smoke blown on the bess. This 4ems to stnmfy them for the time being. Tfc« frames are then lifted cmi one by one, and all the bees brushed clean off the combs and put in an emnty bcx. The combs are tb<m covered up at once to keen the bees eff'tbem. and then it is taken to the extracting hou=e The «x*ractor is a machine resembling 9- 30-?aHon milk-can with two wire fr<nne* for holding th* combs and one can dr've this machine while the other gets readv tHe frames. You want two extracting knives, verv sbr-cp. and two tins of very hot water to keep the knives in. You then hold the frame" on end with the bottom to von. and cutoff thp sealing, changing your We often fc the hot one in tbe water. When two combs are ready you drop them-,end on into the extractor, anri Wp driving round, not too fast. You will then see the honey nominjr cut round the sides of the can. Then the romb« a.nd wines Ox toe machine are reversed, and the honey is driven out of the oth«r side of th«> comb. Tt runs ou+ at a tar> at the bottom of the machine into honey tins. It is strained then ready fcr use.