THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3231, 16 February 1916, Page 9

THE APIARY.

By J A

A BEEKEEPER'S DIARY. (Continued.) .February 3. —Weather same as yesterday. The afternoon thunder shower drew the bees home earlier, consequently shortening tiro day. Scale hime, 31b. Succeeded in {jetting only a short spell at tiie extractor in the evening, putting out 4051 b. Swarms are not in favour now. The last one is still under an apple tree in a swarming box. The beekeeper was simply too busy to bother putting it on frames. February 4-.—Another good day. The usual thunder shower did not come till knock-off time, so that the bees got full time. Scale hive put on lllb. In order to complete our first round of the apiary, we made a long day, and put out i4oo:b of honey. The round has given a total of 3 tons Bcwt. To-day the bees snowed more inclination than they have yet done this season to follow the wet combs. In a very short time now they will get very bothersomo and also very nippy. That swarm is stiil under the apple tree, and another one is hanging to a macrocarpa. Perhaps, to-morrow they may get attention. February 5. —A quite noticeable fall in the temperature and mist and rain made this an off day for the bees, and beekeeper also.

February 6. —Sunday began with a beautiful morning, and the bees were off to the field early, !>ut by mid-forenoon they were driven in again by a thunder shower, and the afternoon was also showery. Tho bees did not do raoio than make good tho shrinkage. Com.ng home from B;blo Class in the evening, Hue beekeeper was rejoicing in the fact that there would be no swarms, and that all tho attention needed in tho apiary would just be a look through to see that all was well. His eye, however, Boon got sight of a swarm in tho macrocarpa hedge, and, following that hedge round, discovered no less than five of them. There was nothing for it but don the uniform and shake them. E'ebruary 7. —Another good day, with temperature about 7Cdeg. Remarkably good work was done, scale hive putting on 121 b. Had a rather dangerous expeihnce to-day. Was cutting weeds with a one-horse mower in line of flight of tho bees, when the bees attacked the horse. He at once became unmanageable with the reins, so, watching my chance, I got to his head, and, covering'it with my coat, picked out some of tho bee* from about his ears and mane. My trouble was to get him away, as tho bees were becoming more numerous every moment, and were very angry. Keeping his head protected as well as I could, I "made for the gate towards the stable, and succeeded in getting him off with no moro damage than just a bad stinging. It was. just that kind of occasion in which one did not require to lose his head. It was impossible to get him out of tho reaper, and to let himjofT with a mower_ behind him — well, it would have been s-rious either for horse or mower. This little experienco brought to memory a former one which was perhaps even moro dangerous for tho horse. Ho was. passing the apiary in a loaded dray when attacked, and the driver, keeping control of him, hurried him to a gateway, where was a culvert, and over one end of which went one of the wheels of the dray. This brought the horse to a stand, still in tho line of flight of the bees, which, exasperated by the smell. of their own stings, were attacking him in ever-increasing numbers. To save tho horse it was necessary to act very quickly. The only movable bit of tho harness was the bottom strap of the names. This was unhitched, and then, standing back, tho writer gave the horse a smart cut with tho whip. With one plunge he was out of tho shafts, and very soon was far enough away from the bees. It was not possible until evening to royoke him, as the bees remained in angry mood. No extracting to-day. February B.—Another ideal day. Scale hive again put on 121 b. Still no extracting, as we are making an effort to get all the tansy bloom out of sight before tho bees get on it. They do not usually pay it much attontion until the clover begins to fail, which will probably be very soon now. I cannot prove it, but I am almost certain that tansy (or ragwort) yields nectar when the temperature is lower thin docs clover. February 9. —Heavy easterly rain. All is quiet in tho apiary.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED. Dear Sir, —I would be very grateful if you would answer four queries for me through the Witness. 1. I have a swarm that came out on 2nd December, and it did very well until a fortnight ago, the queen laying regularly in every cell. When I looked through them or. Wednesday, 19th, I noticed a great lot of cells with two and three and a few with four eggs in each cell. I do not think it is a laying worker, as the cell:! are not drawn out. Tho bees are very quiet, but are filling up all available cells with hor.cy. The combs are good, and only one drone coll that I have seen has been lengthened, and it had emerged. The bees arc nearly Italians, and I have a super on it with nine frames of partly-filled combs. 2. After tho season is over I have a good many frames with honey not capped, and some paitly capped. Would the honey keep long after extracting, or would it be better k<->nt for soring feeding? 3. A friend of mine has a h-.ying worker (at least ho thinks, bo), as aU the oells are drawn out, and are all capped the same as drones'. He would kk<? so know how he can get rid of her without losing the colony. 4. Why will my be**s not go orr to tho lucerne? The humble bee is very strong on it. I would be very much obliged if you could answer these queries for me through the Witness. The weather has been very dry up here and not much honey ia coming fa; but this last week tho bona have been very busy owing to tho rain freshening the clover and oape weed up. Do you think the Government would accept a sample of honey for analysing purposes, as I do not think a samplo has been sent from the Ettrick district, and to whom should I send ft? Hoping this puts you to no inconvenience,—l remain, yours faithfully, R. W. Hamilton. Ettrick. 1. The fact that you havo two, three, or •ven four eggs laid in some cells is no

proof that there is a laying worker; while tho fact that there is worker brood in the hive is a proof that thero is no laving worker. It is. a very frequent thing, especially in early spring, for a good queen to lay more eggs than one in each celi, and is tho result, I think, of a too small popu lation failing to give the necessary room for the queen. 2. Your uncapped honey will be all right—just as good, in fact, as what is capped. If you keep combs for feeding, ke-p well-sealed combs, as uncapped honey will absorb moisture and depreciate more in th ■ comb than it would extracted and kept from tho air in a tin. 3. Your friend's trouble is not likely to be a laying worker, but rather either a worked-out queen or one that has failed to meet a drone for fertilisation. In either case only drone brood would be produced. Probably the simplest -way out of tho difficulty is just to run in a newlyhatched virgin. In most cases she will succeed in establishing herself as queen, and when fertilised will be all right. Usually such eo'oniee are not worth bothering with. 4. I cannot tell you. In some districts they do all right.' In Marlborough, for instance, bees <\o well on lucerne. In tho United States bees do well on lucerne in tho irrigated districts, but will seldom do any good on it in the rain belt. It produces a very fine, honey where the bees work it, but it is notorious that in many places they will not touch it. With regard to a sample of your honey for analysis. I think if you were to send it to Mr E-irp, Horticultural Department, Dunedin, ho would attend to it, and give vou what information ho could about it. J. A.