THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3102, 27 August 1913, Page 12

THE APIARY.

(By J.A.)

SEASONABLE HINTS. Last week I wrote under the heading of spring-cleaning outside and inside the hives. Ibis week 1 wish to say a few words about feeding. At this season of the year there is no subject connected with the apiary of so much importance as this one ot feeding. Many a colony of bees that might hate been saved had its owner been watchful has been left to die simply because no did not know and did not watch. The , greatest danger is always during the spring jcer.tJis. In winter time the boos are quiet. ; s «° brood-rearing going on, and j .-f.-isvquontiy tne consumption of lioncy is I v ory light, often not exceeding 11b in weight for a mouth. It is because of this that so few bees die, comparatively speaking, during the winter months. Even a \eiy light coiony will come through to August all right. About the beginning of spnng, however, a change takes place. 1 hoie is more activity; brood-rearing begins. The old bees will soon die off. and there must, be a new army of workers, ft is the work of rearing these that makes the honey disappear. This usually takes place so early that either through stress of weather conditions or want of. b’oom little or nothing is coming in from the oiiifield. It is this condition of things that makes it necessary for the beekeeper to be u• L alert and watchful. It mav bo that even very light colonies, getting hue weather in August and September, will require little or no feeding. On the other hand, good heavy colonies will often die because of a prolonged spell of bad weather. There is, however, another side of the question that to tile export beekeeper is even of more importance than that of merely keeping his colonics alive, and that is to have them strong and able to take advantage of the flow when it comes. It would be quite possible to feed a given number of colonics so as to keep them all alive when it would have given a better financial result to let one-half of them die and use all the food to make the other half strong. That is perhaps a poor way of putting it. Rather it would have been better to have doubled the supply of food and saved them all good and strong. Let me put the position in another way. Instinct seems to guide the bee to some extent in the matter of the use of their food supply. They will regulate their output of brood in accordance (to some extent) with their supplies; consequently the well fed cclony w ill grow strong rapidly, while the poorly-fed one will only exist. Again, a colony that is going well will, during a prolonged spell of wet weather, finding its food disappearing fast, stop brood-rear.ng, and should famine threaten, it will pull out. forward brood. Often this immature brood may be found about the doorway of a colony that is hard-pressed. Of course, such a happening means serious loss to the beekeeper. Nothing of the kind, however, will happen if we attend to our business. Wo must sec that no colony runs so low in stores as to hamper it in its work. M L is. means that, we must know what is in the pantry of every colony; also that we must bo observant as to possibilities from the field, and particularly that wo must be watchful during a prolonged spell of bad weather. I shall next week say a word or two as to methods of feeding, but for the present I sum up the position in this way: Success in honey-gather-ing does not depend on the number of colonics, _ but on the number of bees, and the work of spring is not gathering honey, but. rather producing honey-gatherers. POLLINATING OF FRUIT BLOOM. At this season of the year the pollinating of fruit bloom is specially interesting. The following paragraph from Gleanings should therefore bo of special interest, as it gives the opinion of a very high authority on fruit-culture:—“Wo arrived a little late for the first session, but in time to hear the address of Professor F. A. Waugh, of the Massachusetts Agricultural Colli go, on the pollination of fruits. In this connection it may be well to mention that Professor Waugh is a national authority on fruit-growing. He is the author of a practical work on the American appleorchard, and also a producer of fruit himself. The readers of the A B C and X Y Z of Bee-culture will remember a quotation from him on the subject of spraying fruit trees, and his caution against appyling such sprays when the trees are in bloom. We asked Professor Waugh to give us his complete address at some future time; but at this time we may state that he gave some conclusive evidence showing that the honey-bee was the principal and almost the only agent in the pollination of fruit trees. Fie referred to the claim to the effect that there are other agencies than bees for doing this work, principally among which is (he wind. Ho had taken pieces of glass, coated them with vaseline, and secured them on the windward side of fruit trees in full bloom, at a distance that would bo about equal to another trea that is supposed to leccive wind pollination. Ho found that these glass plates, smeared as they were with grease, received almost no pollen dust, even when the wind blew through the trees in full bloom in the direction of tlie plates. Ho further stated that there are practically no insects except bees that are flying when fruit trees are in bloom, and that nearly all the cross-pollination that is effected at all is through the agency of the bees. There are some varieties, he said, that are self-pollinating; but even these varieties have more and bettor fruit when bees are present. Professor Waugh’s address was all the more convincing and conclusive from the fact that he said ho was not a beekeeper, never had been one, and never expected to bo. His statement is especially valuable when wo remember he is regarded as one of the greatest authorities on fruit-culture in the United States. OPEN-AIR FEEDING. fßy Major Shallard.) I have been much interested in your plan of feeding, given in the A B C and X Y Z. by hanging kerosene-tins with perforated bottoms up in the air. But you stale in the same place, “If the syrup were fed in open cans thousands of bees would be drowned.” This is not so. I once had an apiary of 250 colonies whore the crop had gone off right in the middle of the season. The hives were short of trees, and the queens were ceasing to lay. I knew this would not do. As it was an out-apiary, I had no time to go to feed each colony individually. so I put out three of the largest galvanised iron washing-tubs, put the end

of a kerosene-case in each for a float, spread a large sheet of hessian (coarse sacking) over the whole lot, leaving enough sag to allow it to go right to the bottom of the tub when it was empty. I filled the tubs to the top with honey and water, half aaid half.

I never saw more than a dozen or two dead bees in any of the tubs at any time. The hessian would float on the board, and the capillary attraction would wot in right up to the edge of the tub, even if the latter was half empty; consequently the bees had a large surface to alight on, and they did not get drowned. For that matter there was no place to get drowned, as there Wets no pool of honey anywere, except the damp hessian. There was no robbing, although the tubs were put right among the hives. Before I had quite finished giving them the amount I had arranged for, the honey-flow started, and the tubs were dell paid me well; and while I had a good population in each hive, and got a good crop, my neighbours’ bees built up only strong enough to go into winter quarters, and got no surplus at all. You will probably say they would have robbed if the flow had not come on. I do not think so. I think they would if the tubs wore removed; but. if loft there they would simply visit them until they were thoroughly satisfied there was no more honey there, and then they would settle down. If a comb of honey is left out and the Bees begin robbing it properly, remove that comb and you will cause robbing; but leave it there and let the hers empty it, and when they arc satisfied that tiie honey is all gone, they will abandon it and will oettlo down quickly. If a half-story of honey is left out and forgotten while taking off the honey to extract, and I find the bees starting to rob it, I get it a way quickly; but I pur,“another half-story, with a little honey on it, in its place. Let them satisfy themselves that there is no more, and they will go away; but take it away, and they go looking for it and start robbing the other hives. —South VVoodburn, N.S.W., Australia.