THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3015, 27 December 1911, Page 12

THE APIARY.

By J. A.

Last week there was some improvement in the weather. It was dryer, but the temperature up to the 20th was low, and it was still necessary to feed. Almost the only flora available for the bees in the south is in the bush. There is probably less clover now than there was a week ago, and but little growth. Still, we are looking forward to every new day as probably the start of better things in the apiary. Tho result so far has only been hope deferred. B'ut a, change must come some time, and it is very probable that now we have, as it wore, turned the corner of the yeargot past the longest day—that it will come soon. Swarming time will necessarily be very late; we have heard of very few swarms at all so far. At Oakleigh every fine blink gives one or two swarms, but there has not been more than about eight altogether this season. FOUL BROOD.

We have been severely blamed for advocating last year a system of our own for cleaning ou! foul brood. We are told that the bee inspector is finding that the system we advocated i® being generally followed —with results anything but successful, —and that it is proving to' some extent a fiindirance to him in hjs work. The sore point is that the M'Evoy system is regarded! as a certain cure —and the only certain cure, —and therefore the advocating of any other method instead of being a benefit is only a hindrance to the work. We must admit to some extent the force of this argument; probably it would, have been better, more especially in view of the kind of season we had last year, to have advocated only the M'Evoy system. We have, however, a few things to say. . First as to the M'Evoy method: We have on at least four different occasions practiced this method, and on every occasion seemingly with success for one summer, but on every occasion disease has -reappeared the second summer, and' its reappearance has not been a gradual thing, but, rather, just as one would expect if infection -were to come in from some source within reach of the whole apiary. It appeared here, there, and everywhere. In an apiary of 200 colonies the M'Evoy method means the loss of 40GO combs. It also means- the destruction of all the brood, and to be a success at all it must be done during the honey flow. The amount of labour entailed too is rather appalling, VVe would not, however, stick at all that if with that we could! reach the end so far as the disease is concerned. Our trouble is that we have not been able to do that.

It was the fact that we were being as successful with our own method as with the M'Evoy method at less expense to the bees, that led us to write about it. We are not, however, going to advise anyone else to experiment along those lines; rather we will point out some of the difficulties ahead there also. In the first place, we advocated last year not to try in where the disease was advanced, as it would then be only- a waste of time. Now we point out that the double shift must be made while honey is coming in. In a season such as last this could- not be done, as after the first week in January no honey came in, and robbing reached dimensions that . made work in the apiary unsatisfactory. Consequently "the infection still remained in the hives. This season, which finds us at the longest day with starving bees, will not give time either for our programme. We could only urd r th-se circumstances prevent the diseaso From developing its worst stage. This seems to leave us no option but to adopt the M'Evoy method. And in "a season such as this is probably the best time to do so will be just when the clover is at its best or just past its best. _ USING THE SMOKER.

"I am a beginner, and want you to tell me how to use. smoke, when working with my bees, so as to secure the best results."

"Undoubtedly we old fellows do not sympathise with beginners in bee-keeping as we ought, inasmuch as 40 odd years have carried us so far from the beginning that some of the troubles we had when we commenced have been forgotten. But I can remember the time when a Doo-little fellow first looked into a hive containing a colony of live bees. I see him now with the sleeves of his coat tied at the wrists, mittens with long wrists tied in the same way, trousers fastened at the bottom, and nat with a veil that reached to the waist (the veil also tied down). With the mercury up to 85deg in the shade, this hundledup lad; stood in the sun, and used all of his lung power to blow, in the direction of the bees, thg smoke arising from some chins scattered over a pan of live coals. Even a beginner in the year 1911 may see the advantages he has now over those of 50 years ago. Surely, in the line of smoke for bees '*be world do move'; and I will add that, bundled up as lie was, the boy got stung.

"I soon learned to take off my coat, then the mittens, to use a veil which came only to the shoulders, and bicycle clips instead of strings at the bottom of the trousers. Some bee-keepers throw away the veil and dips; but I advise- the beginner to use them and also a smoker. The practical apiarist who handles colonies of bees every day can toil, before he goes to work, about the quantity of smoke the bees will need. I do not smoke one colony in 20, other than over the frames as the cover is raised. "Some apiarists, whom the bees do not sting much, use no smoke at all; and one man thinks it strange that I always carry a smoker with me. I went to his apiary years ago, with two other bee-keepers; and ds soon as he opened; the first hive no bees seemed to hover about him; but half a dozen started toward me at once; and as I had no veil with me I beat a hasty retreat, only to be laughed at. But a moment or two afterwards the other two were seen leaving also, to' the amusement of the bee-keeper whom bees rarely stung. There are a few men in the world' who, for itihaccountable reasons, seem to be sting-

proof. _ Others can not come near bece without being stung. "An old neighbour of ours, who kept bees when I was a little boy, boasted that he was never stung by bees, and I could hardly believe him. When I had been in the business four or five years he came into the apiary ,as I was taking off box honey just after the b asswo bloom, at •a time "when bees are generally inclined to resent being molested. The man who worked: the farm was with me, well bundled up. This sting-proof neighbour was over 80 years old; and as he came walking in among the hives this man shouted to him that the bees would sting him. The. old man. said, as I had heard him many times before, 'Bees never sting me.' Just about the time he came near uj - J happened (?) to drop a wide frame of sections' on the frames below, and did not resort to the smoker. A cloud of angry bees arose in the air, and soon the bundled-up man was beating a hasty retreat, which caused the old man to laugh. I would willingly have followed, but I wished to put my neighbour to a test. As I saw no bees looking at him, I requested him to hold a frame of partly-filled sections while I did some reaching down into the hive. In doing this I drew the next wide frame of sections up past another which was covered with bees so as to mangle and kill scores of the little fellows, making the air so full of vicious bees that I was getting a most unmerciful stinging on my bands and through my clothing. I now looked at him, standing there bolt upright, holding that wide frame of sections, with not a bee even hovering about hisi, any more than they were about a fence pest standing near. I now took the sections from him and closed the hive about as quickly as possible, but not on his account. As we walked out of the apiary my clothes were full of hissing bees, with a swarm of angry ones about my head, while not a bee had looked at him.

"Now, the beginner who is sting-proof needs little advice about how to smoke bees; but for such as I was it will not be out of place. Before opening a hive containing a full colony, blow a little smoke in at the entrance —enough so that a. little murmur is heard from the colony within. Then, as the cover is carefully raised, blow a little over the tops of the frames, causing most of the bees to retreat down between the combs out of sight, when, if the frames are handled with care, all necessary operations can be pea-formed without _ arousing the bees. However, if they begin to get nervous, and buzz about, use more smoke, .blowing it over the frames as before.

"The old bees are generally the most vindictive when the hive is disturbed. When the weather is fine, most of these arc in the field's, and at midday there is less need of smoke than at any other time. If the blossoms yield nectar the bees are so intent on honey-gathering that very little smoke is needed; and sometimes in the busv &p<rt of the day hives may be carefully handled, without the use of smoke. But in the morning or evening, when the old bees are all at home, it is never a good plan to ocen a hive without first smoking those that guard the entrance. Especially is this true when tibe>re is a sudden stoppage of nectar from any source from which the bees have beem obtaining an" abundance. Experience will soon dictate whether little or much smoke should be used. —G. M. Doolittle, in Gleanings.