THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3103, 3 September 1913, Page 12

THE APIARY.

(By J.A.)

SEASONABLE HINTS.

Last week I closed my remarks under this heading about feeding by saying that the business of the apiary during the spring months was not so much honey-gathering as the manufacture of iioney-gatnerers. All beekeepers will admit this as an axiom in beekeeping. Now, this week I wish to give some furtlier hints on feeding, principally as regards method. In doing this we require to keep steadily in view what we have stated above, for, all other things being equal, the greatest success will come to the beekeeper who has the most workers at honey-flow time. There are two principal plans in feeding, each having a variety in method. The tirst of these is to keep the colonics well supplied, but working normally. The other is to create an artificial position and to force brood-rearing. Dealing with the first of these plans, perhaps the best method of feeding is just to plan so as to have the colonies heavy enough that spring storms will not impose any chock upon them, and, secure in the abundance of their stores, breeding will go on normally without any feeding at all. That sounds paradoxical, but it is the kind of feeding which can usually be depended upon to produce the best results. Another method is to store away a sufficient number of well-filled and sealed combs of honey, and in the spring to use these as required, simply taking out empty combs and replacing them with full ones. This is easily and quickly done, and is very satisfactory. Still another method is to rise sugar-syrup. The syrup is made by mixing two of sugar to one of water. This should be fed inside the hive, so that only the colony which is being fed has access to it. It can be done by an Alexander or Simplicity feeder put on top of the mat, in which a hole is cut to let the bees up; or by a Doolittle feeder, which is in the form of a frame, and can be hung at one side of the hive. Besides these there are many others which we cannot enumerate here; but whichever is used do not make the mistake of feeding in dribbles, giving in a vessel that will hold only a tablespoonful at a time. If colonies are bare at this time of the year feed at least 151 b of syrilp at a time, and get them to take it in as quickly as possible. The food should be given in the evening, and it will be taken in more quickly if it is warm.

Now I shall say a few words with regard to the second plan of feeding—that is. to force brood-roaring. Beekeepers are not by any means unanimous as to the advisability of doing this. Some report great success, while others have not had success. The idea is to feed a small quantity of thin syrup daily, or, at least, on those days that no nectar is coming in. Under th:e treatment the bees will act as if there was a continuous honey-flow, and the brood nest will expand more - rapidly than it would otherwise do. We do not advise the novice to do much in this line ; it is, at all events, well to experiment first. One of the principal difficulties in connection with it is that we cannot, tell when the honey-flow will be on, and to encourage the bees to use their stores up in the production of bees weeks before they are wanted is wasteful. The usual method adopted in stimulative feeding is to arrange feeders as accessible as possible, so as to save time, then to pass round each evening with a bucket of two of water and ojic of sugar-syrup, omitting those days on which the bees have been able to get nectar in the field. It is well not to begin too early—not earlier in the south than, say. October 20. —and when cnee begun it must be continued until good work is lining done in the field. There is another way to simulate, and that is bv uncapping every now and then a portion of the sealed stores m the hive. This will push the work, but its wisdom is doubtful. IMPROVING THE BEES. “Mr Doolittle, the ideas you advanced in regard to longevity of bees, and selecting stock along that line, are well worth Undying and putting into practice. But arc

there r ot other lines of improvement which should be worked out as well as this one? Be kind enough to tell about come of the other things which go toward making better bees, and how you were led to your present standard of excellence.”

‘‘ Without question, the prime idea of all who keep bees is tlie profit they will give. I think I should be quite safe in saying that, if they cease to yield a profit to their owner ior several years in succcss.on they would ceaso to have owners That there is a vast difference in the profits from the different colonies in the same apiary was something I found out fully 4U years ago when I had noth.ng but the old black bees to work with. One colony, or a majority of the colonies in the same ' apiary, would often give satisfactory .returns at the end of the honey season, while others just as favourably situated, and in equally good condition in the spring, so far as I could see, gave little or no profit. This trouble was laid at the door of the German or black bees when the high praise of the Italians was first being sung in the sixties , and early seventies. But a careful trial of i the Italians showed that, while they were a more profitable bee than the blacks, yet they were no less subject to this variableness in yield at the end of the season, j “ A similar difference in stock is also noted by our dairymen. Certain cows in their herd cannot be bought at any price, while others are an absolute bill of expense to their owners unless their carcasses can tie turned into beef; hence an effort is constantly made to propagate the good qualities and eliminate the bad. Now. this is just what every apiarist should do with the bee. And it is something which the majority of beekeepers have sadly neglected, although much more thought and effort have been put forth along this line in the last few years. ‘‘We should start with the best race of bees. The Italian I take as the best domestciated honey-bee yet brought to public notice, which, I think, is the verdict of the world’s best apiaries of the present time. They are quite largely proof against the wax-moth and its larva, and very successfully hold out against the ravages of European foul brood They rarely desert their hives in early spring, no matter how mouldy or foul their hives may have become through a disastrous winter. In one case, some 35 years ago, when colonies of black .bees wex - e deserting their hives by the score, not an Italian colony did this; I had a colony of these which numbered just 82 bees and the queen, by actual count, on Mav 15. ar.d yet they held their hive with filthy combs, and protected their stores from robbers.’building up so as to give quite a surplus of oomb-honey from buckwheat, while fairly strong colonies of black bees deserted combs and hives which were comparatively sweet and clean, or suffered their stores to be curried off by robbers. “ However, the main point of excellence in the Italian bees lice in the fact that, whenever a small amount of honey is obtainable, they src up and at it, often making a gain in stores while other races of bees require feeding to keep them alive. And as the profit side of beekeeping must come largely by way. of the stores gained, after experimenting for years with all other races of bees, and proving that, for this locality, none others were equal to the Italians, I have decided that they arc the beet bees to use in carrying out any improvement. “ And now' we come to ‘ the different lines of improvement’ you ask about In my late article I put longevity at the head, and above prolificness of queen, which was considered during the past to bo the highest point to be worked for. Having the longevity part established, then efforts toward an extra prolificness of such queens’ will be in order Then I would prune out every colony showing traces of black or other inferior, blood. Next I would kill all queens which produce vicious bees. I consider the keeping of vicious bees only on a par with keeping a vicious cow or horse. Any of them are a danger and a constant nuisance. i ‘‘Another class of colonics to be disposed of is that which fails to winter well or to give satisfactory results along the lines we ate working, though in appearance and temper the boso may be faultless. These

should have their queens replaced by others which we have reason to believe will be more to our advantage. In a large apiary it is often hard to acco'unt for the failure of some colonics in coming up to the fctandard we have set. But with such cases it is always safe to abolish the queen, providing one instead which was bred from the mother of the colony which has given the best results in all points under consideration.- ’ —G. M. Doolittle.