THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 8

THE APIARY.

By J. A

A BEEKEEPER'S DIARY—SEASON, 1917-1918. January 9 to 13.—Boiling down old combs for wax: This is the least-liked job about the apiary. It is difficult to keep clean when handling melted beeswax. We put' through about &O 0 combs at this trip.' These were first put through the extractor, giving about half a ton of honey. Thi- wax yield was about 1901 b. They run slightly over 21b to the super of 10 combs; the balance of weight was got-from the cappings. They were tough old combs that had served in the brood-ncst for a long time, and probably the wax yield was not as good as would have been "the casefrom extracting combs. Our method of working is as follows:—We have a large y copper in the honey house. This is brought to a boil; then the combs are taken two in each hand by the end bars and dioped into the boiling water. They are worked with a gentle stirring motion in the water until the wax is completely melted off. Thev are then reversed, and the other end gets the same treatment. Th.? frames are put back into the. supers to get a turn through the boiler later in a strong solution of caustic soda. About 30 combs are melted at one time—more if they are extracting combs; but if, as in this case, they are brood combs with a good deal of pollen in them, we find about 30 is plenty. The melted combs float on the surface of the boiling water, and are dipped off with a quart dipper into the wax press, about three dipperfuls to the pressing. The press we use is the Root-Hatch press, and we first put in a square of scrim to receive the wax. We find it also an advantage to put in a second and much smaller square on top of the larger one, so that, Avhen the wax is pressed out, we have the slumgum in this smaller square, and our • large square clean We use this slumgum for fuel, and so jue't pile it away in the small square of scrim. Scrim is now, owing to the war conditions, very dear; but we got a roll of that used by the furniture people for packing furniture, and find it both better and much cheaper than the ordinary article used by the paperhanger. The wax, as it comes from the press, collects in a lOgal vat, with J a tap near the bottom on onejside. This tap enables us to draw the water frequently and to allow the wax to collect until we can clip enough to fill a kerosene tin When this is done it is set aside to cool, when it contracts and comes put of tho tin a square block of wax about 351 b in weight. _ . , , January 14 and 15.—Quito a change has taken place in the weather conditions, a moist heat prevailing. This is always good nectar weather. During the week our scale hive has put on 241 b, the best day being Tuesday, when 121 b came in. A few, supers were extracted, and some tidying done in preparation for field day. January 16.—Southland field meetingtook place to-day at our apiary. There was quite a large turn-out of beekeepers, coming from Bluff, Invercargill, Waianiwa, Winton. Kelso, Tapanui, Mataura, and Edonda.le. After an hour spent in a reunion chat lunch was served at 12 o'clock. After lunch a discussion took nlaco on cooperative work, and it seemed to be the general wish of the beekeepers to strongly supnort tho H.P.A. Telegrams showing that the last B. and D. Company shipment? had brought £l5O per ton in the Eno-lish market were read, and a number of applications were mado for shares iri tho company. At 1 • p.m. an adjournment was made to -the apiary, and demonstrations were given on—(1) Autumn and winter management; (2) spring and summer management; (3) summer work, supering, and ° extracting. These demonstrations wero led by Messrs J. Allan. R. Gibb, and E. A. Earn, and led to_ questions and ■ answers and a general > discussion, which must have proved very interesting to both new and old beekeepers. Wc will probably refer to the technical side of the discussions at some future date. Among the business items was a discussion as to having a bottlinff depot at the Bluff, and a resolution was agreed to unanimously that the

H.l'.A. should be asked to clo this. A poll of those present showed that 12 actual and seven intending shareholders were present. Another discussion, led by Mr Earp, apiary instructor, took place as to the advisability of appointing local inspectors The apiary districts are so large that it ■was felt that the work 'of the inspector, to be effective, must have support, by the appointing of local inspectors, and it was agreed to take steps to have such appointed. Me Earp also pointed 'to the danger of longer delaying the registration of apiaries. This is required bv the department, and does much to help the inspector's work. Tea was served about 4 p.m.. a very hearty vote of thanks being tendered to Mr and Mrs Joseph Allan for the. great trouble they had taken to make the meeting the thorough success that it certainly was by catering to the inner needs of the company, and also by making them heartily welcome to Oakleigh. After singing "God save the King" a very pleasant as well as profitable meeting was brought to an encl.