THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3193, 26 May 1915, Page 9

THE APIARY.

Rv ,T A

SOUTHLAND BEEKEEPERS’ ASSOCJ. VTION.

The annual meeting of the Southland Beekeepers' Association was held at Invercargill on Tuesday, 18th inst. The attendance was very small, and may be taken as a fair indication of the backset that beekeeping has received the abnormal season. The president (Air Robert Gibb, of West Plains) was m the chair, and, after the transaction of formal business, several questions of general interest were dealt with. First among these was that of making the Bluff a grading port for honey. At present the port of Dunedin is the neaiest for Southlanders where.honey can bo received for grading, and consequently all honey lor shipments must necessarily go throtlgii that port. This was felt to be a hardship, as the Bluff is the natural outlet for all Southland produce, and is likely to receive, when opened, a larger quantity of honey than Dunedin. It was suggested .that a still greater boon to beekeepers at the present time would be to get honey classed as is clone with dairy produce for railway-carriage purposes. At present honey has to pay a much higher freight rate than dairy produce. While honey was being carried only in small quantities, such as hundredweight lots, this was only reasonable, hut now that it is going to the port of shipment by the ton and consignors in most cases compelled to pay for a long mileage on the railway it is considered an unfair handicap. After some discussion, it was agreed to appoint Air James Allan, Wyndham, delegate to the National Conference at Wellington in June, and to asi*. him to bring up at conference these two questions —that of making the Bluff a honey port and also that of gett ng honey rated on the railway similar to dairy produce. The question was asked, Did the meeting consider it a wise thing to continue the Beekeepers’ Journal? The question was answered in the affirmative, the commenu on the journal being entirely favourable, and it was regarded as a necessity to the National Association that it should be kept going. Air Earp, the department s instructor °being present, stated that he had that morning "judged the honey exhibits in the Southland Winter Show. He regretted there were so few of them, and suggested that it would be a good thing for the association to encourage show work by subsidising the prize list. There could, in his opinion, be no more effective way of bringing honey prominently before the public. The president remarked that the paucity of exhibits was probably due to the poor season. HONEY-GRADING.

The Southland Beekeepers’ Association is indebted to Mr Earp for the very fine objectlesson in honey-grading which ho gave at their annual meeting. Mr Earp remarked that the grading of honey was done in the interests of the producers, to place the honey before the Homo purchasers in a reliable way, giving them a reliable description of all honey shipped, and also preventing the shipment of such as would bring discredit on the market generally. Mr Earp produced five tins_ of granulated honey bought in Invercargill. These he proceeded to grade. His kit of tools consisted of a small spirit lamp and some glass tubes to liquefy a small portion of each sample, and a tryer with which to take a sample. The first t*n opened -when tested by smell showed signs of fermentation, and when tried it showed mushy and soft. This sample was at once placed aside as unfit for export. The second tin when opened was firm and dry. A sample was taken, which showed a very fine grain melting in the mouth without any roughness, and was at once awarded full points for gram (It may be as well to mention that, in grading, the honey is divided into four classes—white, light amber, medium amber, and dark, — and that the following maximum points are allowed in each class .-—Flavour, 40; colour, 10; condition, 15; grain, 12; aroma, 8; freedom from scum, 10; casing, _ 5. Honey securin'* 94 points and upwards is graded as special,°Bß to 93i "points is graded as prime, 80 to 87g points as good, and below 80 points os for manufacturing purposes only.) A small part of sample 2 was then put in a glass tube and liquefied by heat on the spirit lamp, when it showed a light amber tint, and was placed accordingly in that class. This tin lost some points in flavour, and when the evenness in colour (granulated), the condition, and the aroma (m which latter it was unsatisfactory) were taken into account it was graded as “Prime.” The third tin wdien sampled and portion melted showed medium amber colour, and was classed as such. It showed some softness, and lost points-Jn condition. The flavour and pinky-brown colour indicated its source as rata and manuka: still, the grader indicated! that in its class it would be graded as “Prime.” Tins 4 and 8 were somewhat similar to each other; they torere classed as light amber. The aroma |ntd flavour were good, but the grain was

gritty, “and there they tost' points. Both wore good samples of prime grade hghtcoloured honey. In tho five tins there was nothing that could earn special grade, "line one had to be rejected altogether as unlit for export. Tho meeting recorded its thanks to Mr Earp, the instructor, for his interesting and instructive lesson on grading.

DIVIDING COLONIES BEFORE THE SURPLUS HONEY-FLOW. (By R. F. Holtermann.) When we undertake to combat an idea wo ought to make quite sure that the man w© connect with that idea holds it, else wo aro apt to find that we are aiming at an imaginary target. ~ „ I want to endorse fully what Dr Miller has stated in Gleanings, in effect, that, with a white or alsike clover-flow prospect, it is unwise to divide colonies before that flow. For quite a number of years, now in tho distant* past, I had the management of a bee-supply business; and let me say in an askle that my experience in that line, knowing what the not profits were from year to year, has made me quite willing to let tho supply-dealer have what he can make out of that business; but during that experience, and since, I have seen that one of the rocks upon which many a beginner in tho beekeeping business makes shipwreck is the intense desire for increase. It is like the case of the hen to which the owner gave about 30 eggs to sit on. When asked why he gave her so many, he said, “X just wanted to see the old fool spread herself.” I am not relating this story for fun, nor with the expectation that the readers of Gleanings have not hoard it before, but because it is applicable to the subject in hand. We as beginners want to spread ourselves, and we often do it to an extent that we undertake more than we are able to bring to a successful issue. There may be occasions when increase is desirable, sacrificing the honey crop; but as a rule, the first few years at least, it is better to make a very moderate increase and secure a honey crop.

On page 137 (February 15) Dr Alillor points out the difference between expecting a honey-flow from which one can reasonably''expect a surplus, beg nning May 27, and when such a, flow begins 27 days later. He stated that he had known the white clover harvest to be over by July 4. I too have had such an experience. I venture to say that many a beekeeper has had no surplus honey, or very little, from ono colony when he might have had 501 b to the colony if these colonies had been in prime condition a.t the beginning of the honey*flow. I know what I am talking about, because I have had personal experience along that line. Who, unless he has equalised colonics, or unless he has a very limited number of colonies, has_ not had in the apiary some which have given about one superful of honey before or by the time another needed a super at all? In such a case as Dr Alillor states, if the flow should be short, or if it should cease at the time specified above, one can not see the great difference in yield. It is all very well for people to talk about having every colony practically the same. In rare instances it may be so; but more people judge their own with partial eyes, and I fancy I would require a microscope to find the percentage having the apiary in such condition.

Aly practice, so far as the magnitude of my operations will allow, is to build up the bees so that they will occupy with brood, bees, pollen, and honey the 12-frame brood-chamber. I then take out of the strongest colonies several combs of brood as nearly mature as I can find it, and give these to colonies which will not quite reach that stage by the time the surplus flow comes on. This praot.cally makes them full colonics also, and so in this way I get the largest number of full colonics for surplus honey. Every bee emerging from the transferred combs is in a full worker colony, and the brood developed in the frames put into the strong colonies will be much greater than that which would have developed in. the weaker colonies. In the place of the combs of brood taken out of the full colonies I insert frames with foundation • unless I have all the comb I want, for no better place could be found for this work. If I put in drawn comb I seek to use that which has been used in the brood-chambers. Let me say here that there are, perhaps, many beekeepprs who put combs into broodchambers built on sheets of foundation which have absolutely no business in a brood-chamber. If the foundation stretches, the comb built thereon is unsuitable for brood-rearing. The queen dislikes it, and it is a hindrance to the rapid development of brood. If comb has been in the super with wide spacing, as is generally the case, making it a deep cell, it is objectionable, and the bees have to remove a portion of the side wall before it is useful for brood. Such a comb should be thinned down with a sharp knife before using in a brood-chamber.

It is a very difficult problem with me what to do in case the brood-chamber is crowded and a good honey-flow is on. Generally when a comb of brood is taken out and we insert an empty comb the bees are more than likely to fill it with honey; and where that is recommended I sometimes wonder if the beekeeper has tried it very much; or, if so, whether he had time to note the result; or if the colony was really a strong one or if the honey-flow was really a good one. dhis may bo an honest case where the nature of the honey-flow may make a difference in results.

After trying the Alexander method of increase—if by that is meant putting a weak colony on top of a strong one —I have not found that method as advantageous as the way I have described. It appears to me that the weak colony must be built up at the expense of the stronger; and until the stronger has more bees, heat, working force, and the queen has reached her limit in egg production. I see no gain in giving them the added responsibility. P. O. Chadwick well states (page 139): “I infer that Dr Miller believes in one large force of bees to a hive, rather than a slightly greater number divided into two hives, and in this I believe ho is entirely right.” So say I. For years I had the bees on clover ground during the early part of the summer, and about August 1 I moved thera > to buckwheat. I did not (hen consider it wise to risk a portion of the white-honey crop with the object of being the gainer on the dark flow. There may not be any dark honey, and it is worth less per pound 1 . Increasing during the honey-flow, or before a prospective flow, is in my estimation unwise tmless one has the practical experience to warrant keeping more bees and if

ho cannot purchase them at prevailing prices. Brantford, Canada. A. I. ROOT. (By Grace Allen.) Alone I sing so slight a song, I m like a single bee, Her humming all unnoticed in the blossoms of the tree; But when the petals quiver and the fragrant air is stirred By murmurs of a thousand bees, ah! then the song is heard. So, beemen near and beemcn far, come swell my simple song, And let it surge from sea to sea and echo true and long; “The world will be a fairer, cleaner, better place for all When more men live like A. I. Root and let their souls grow tall.” Through all his years he’s stood for right, for honesty and truth, And see him now, in autumn time, as eager as a youth To fight the evils of to-day, and in this pulsing Now ■ To meet new issues and new hopes with forward-fronting brow. So, beemen near and beemen far, come join in my refrain. And sweep the hearty echoes over moun-tain-top and plain : “ The world will bo more like the place to which our dreams have clung When men grow old like A. I. Root by simply staying young.” We love It’s little stories and the happy life they moan, That first stray swarm, the windmill days, tho chickens and dashoen. The faith and works, the lesson learned, tho earnest, hopeful prayer. And how he helped, one brother here, another brother there. So join with me, O beefolk all, and let the echoes ring—We're standing upright through the land as from our hearts we sing: “The world is finer, sweeter, and God’s Kingdom scorns more near. Because a man named A. I. Rcot is (living 1 with us here.”