THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 13

THE APIARY.

fßr J-A.)

To-day, July 7, the bees were working on wallflower and pansy blooms. The sight made one beekeeper’s pulse beat quicker. Passing a few days ago some konini trees in the bush they were in bloom, and that, too, awakened interest. Of course, these are only indications of what is yet a long way off. Now, however, that wc are pdst midwinter, and the days are beginning to lengthen, the interest easily awakened begins to increase, and we begin to “count our chickens.” It is a good thing for us to count what wo require in the way of supplies. It is a poor policy to leave this to the last moment. To get in our order to the supply dealer early usually means prompt attention and a full list. And it, is good policy, too, to use times when outdoor work is impossible to get everything nailed up and ready. The beekeeper is a very happy person, who has all ho needs quite ready when the bees themselves call for his help in the spring. MR WATT’S PATENT HIVE. At the recent conference Mr Watt, a beekeeper from the vicinity of Auckland, demonstrated with a new hive which he has patented in New Zealand a#; well os in some other countries. The hive is a double one, and practically all that is new in it is in the brood chamber. In describing an ordinary Langstroth hive we speak of the length of the hive as being from front to back, or as the rames hang. In Mr Watt’s hive the length is the other way, the frames hanging a’ross it from front to back. In length, Mr Watt’s hive is capable of taking in 32 frames, a permanent division in the centre dividing them into two lots of 16 each. Thu.-, each queen may have the run of 16 combs. Each side may bo again divided by cutting off four or five frames on the outs.de by a movable division board, thus using the frames so cut off as a nucleus for queen-rearing purposes.- This is one of the strong points about the hive. Each hive having its own nucleus always handy, the rearing of a queen is more easily done. Then when the queen is fertilised she may be left to lay up her combs, and if a perforated division board is used she and the old queen may be kept laying as long as the bees would comb for the honey harvest; the brood combs, 16 in number, being divided as seemed best to the beekeeper, and bees from both queens working through to the same super. This is the old Wells system, much talked about many years ago in the British 800 Journal. It was then found that two queens could be made to work in colony if divided by a wirecloth or perforated division board* and that they would work together in the same super without danger to either queen. Three gutters made of galvanised iron are Used to take any drip from the supers, thus making the hive quite waterproof. Each colony is tiered with the ordinary Langstroth supers, so that the new hive docs not mean- a complete change of material. The writer had one of these hives sent” to him last spring, and is getting 10 more of them for the incoming season. Last year’s test was, owing to minor accidents to queens, inconclusive, so that I do not wish to be regarded as making any recommendation as to its use. It suits my plan of working colonies in pairs, and I have the feeling that it ought to succeed; but all the same the amount of success I had last year was not sufficient to warrant mo in saying more than that I am going to purchase 10 of them and make a more thorough test next season. Mr Watt contends that his hive is so simple that the amateur can do better work with it, and manage considerably more bees, while the queen-rearing arrangements will reduce the price of nuoens. He also believes that his hive ' will make swarm control easier. TI-TREE HONEY IN SCOTLAND. A regular contributor to the' British Bee Journal. Mr D. M. Macdonald, who is well known for his able and up-to-date communications to that paper, has apparently (says' the New Zealand Farmer) been suffering from a dreadful nightmare after reading the report of th° conferences of New Zealand beekeepers, held at Wellington last year. Two items appear in the report in conncc tion with the suggestion that our t'-troe honey, which is similar in flavour and consistency to Scotch heather honev. should be shipped to Scotland, as it is believed it wifi pay well to do so. These innocent suggestions form the basis of a ferocious attack upon New Zealand beekeepers for some imagined dishonesty in daring to send our ti-tree and “heather” honev. which wo grade as third class, to Britain, in the expectation that it will sell well on Britain’s markets Now, those who have tasted Scotch heather honey and ti-tree honev are well ewaro that thev are similar in flavour, the chief characteristics of both being dark, dense, and strong flavoured, as compared with clover honey. Ti-tree honey is hy no means bad flavoured, and could it be extracted from the combs b'ke tint from clover, by the extractor, it would rank easily as second grade. But having to put the combs under pressure, and so got a good deal of fine particles of wax mixed with the honev, Which, with the pollen grains naturally in the honey, cannot he separated from the latter, reduces it in value at least, one grade. One_ speaker at the’ conference had the temerity (at least, that is how Mr Macdonald must have viewed it)'to declare that “if some of the far-famed Scotch heather honey were sent out here it would not realise 3id” (per Ih). It was this daring and heretical statement no doubt that caused this doughty Scotsman to become so annoyed. I onito concur with the above statement, for I know both ti-troe and heather honey very -well, and reckon them Pf emu 1 value. The comical part of Mr Macdonald’s communication is his threat, after working himself up into a ferment over the supposed coming invasion of h : s heather honey markets. with what he imagines to be n vile article, he threatens that if we attempt to

send this ti-trec honey to Scotland he will invoke the aid of the British Board ot Trade, “eminent analysts, to test the honey, “leading judges,” and the New Zealand Government to expose the nefarious business. , , That the flavour of . ti-tree honey and Scotch heather honey is similar we h a- v® the testimony of our late Governor, Bora Islington, who declared so, and when l° New Zealand, ordered some cases of the former to be sent to his English address. [The above should cause a boom m ti-treo honey.- It is notoriously hard to extract, and it is brown in colour; but in flavour it is good, and has an aroma all its own that grows on the consumer. In section honey it is particularly good, the capping being white, and the aroma better preserved. —J. A.]

WHERE TO LOCATE OUT YARDS. As this number is devoted to the subject of moving bees, the matter of locating yards is so closely connected with it that a few words on the subject will not come amiss, even though they may savour somewhat of a repetition of former statements. First, as far as possible apiaries should be located on a stone or gravel road to avoid mud in wet ■> weather. While a team can draw bees and supplies over bad roads, a largo amount of time is consumed; whereas with good roads better time can be made, especially if the automobile truck is used. Second, the yard should be located where moderate shade can be secured, remote from the general highway, and not next to or adjoining a cultivated field. A young appleorchard, surrounded by pasture, with a driveway leading up to it from the road, makes an ideal place. Third, the yard should bo located two or three miles from any other yard to get the best results; and sometimes it will be necessary, on account of conditions, to put them as close as a mile and a-half apart, and sometimes five miles Fourth, locate the yard on the farm of some man well known to you—a friend if possible, but always one who is broadminded enough bo know that bees are a great benefit to some kinds of farm crops, especially the legumes, and .all fruit-orchards. Never iocate on the farm of a narrowminded, close-fisted man, and one hard to get along with. Bees may sometimes be a little cross. Their flight may encounter the pathway of teams or stock. Bees may, when short of natural pollen, make themselves a general nuisance around the feed-boxes of stock. A narrow-minded, crusty sort of chap will make no end of trouble ; whereas an up-to-date farmer will, be willing to put up with some inconveniences for the sake of the benefit the bees may be to 'him. ‘ It is very seldom that bees make any trouble whatever; and to avoid difficulty it is best to locate the becyard a little back from the roadway, and from the house and farm buildings. Avoid a clump of woods that leave only narrow openings in places for the bees to enter. Returning bees want a clear wide space for entrance into a grove. If these openings are contracted they will concentrate their flight in places, with the 1 result that there will be thousands of bees flying back and forth at these concentrated points. If teams or cattle get into these lines of flight they may be stung. Apiaries should be located s 0 that the bees, may have a free and unobstructed entrance to the yard from all points of the compass. A piece of high ground is better than low ground, both> on account of danger of floods in the spring of the year and on account of the fact that the flight of the bees will bo above teams or stock on lower ground. Orchards are usually locajcd on high ground to avod frost. As bees are a direct benefit to the orchard, locations in such places are desirable in every way. Lastly, avoid a location next to a railroad track. We had one such location, and maintained it for a couple of years; but we were compelled to abandon it on account of fire from cinders lodging in the grass. We had two colonics burned up, and it is a wonder that the whole yard was not burned out. Where one does not own an automobile it is desirable to locate the yards along trolley lines, so a man can, for a nickel or a dime, go to his yards at very little expense.—Gleanings. It was stated at the monthly meeting of the Oamaru Beekeepers’ Association on the 4th that an effort had been made by southern beekeepers to induce the Government (says the Mail) to rail honey at the same price as fruit, but the authorities said that they wore not prepared at present to rail honey at 561 b for 6d.