THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3342, 3 April 1918, Page 7

THE APIARY.

By J. A

N.Z. CO-OPERATIVE HONEY-PRO-DUCERS' ASSOCIATION (LTD.). We have before us the fourth annual report and balance sheet of this, company. The directors, in presenting it, do so " with some measure ot pride," and they have our hearty congratulation that they are m a position to do so. The sales maclo have increased in value from £8257 last year to £17,860 this year. The directors claim that this is not all duo to increased value in the honey, as. a much larger quantity has been handled than in tne previous year. Wo do not wish to disparage the report at all, but we cannot help tooling that when the directors' claim .that the rise in prices on the local market are not in the least affected by war conditions, and that " honey prices have permanently advanced 50 per cent, as the result of olii organisation "—well, they claim too much. It the honev prices had remained in the English market at 35s to 45s per cwt, as in pre-war days, no organisation could ever nave raised them to 10d alb in New Zealand. It is because of the fact that English prices have gone up to 170 s per cwt that prices are as they are in New Zealand. At the same time a good deal of the proht that we in Now Zealand are getting is tho result of our organisation; otherwise it would have largely gone into the hands of tho export merchant, and we are on that account very pleased to read this report, and to realise that through organisation the beekeeners of the Dominion are in a fair way to get market values for their product." Tho balance sheet shows some weakness in the want of paid-up capital. The amount shown is £847. The nominal capital is £9OOO. As a deduction of id per lb on all honey handled is made in favour of capital, this position will gradually improve; but -while honey is at present prices tho deduction could well have been doubled, and made at least id per lb. What adds to the weakness of this position is that the association has been trying to help beekeepers by advancing loans to its members. This may be altogether a praiseworthy object; but two things in the case of our co-op. militate against it. One is that an apiary is not a sound security, because so much depends on the skill of the beekeeper, and the other is that our capital is too small to be used in this way at all. . A great improvement has .taken place this year in that on 1917 honey we have already received within the year bonuses to the extent of per lb, the first lid coming within six months from delivery of the honey, showing that our directors are in earnest to give returns as quickly as possible. Again, we congratulate _Mr Gilling and his co-directors on their slrowing. As managing director, Mr Gilling, has been very tenacious in his-object to establish this co-op., and it is probable that for the future the success of the company will rest on a wider basis than the faith of one man alone; but it is wonderful what tho faith of one man can do and, in this case, has done. There has been a great forward movement this year among beekeepers in supporting .the co-op., especially in the southern districts, and we hope that this will continue. We have a unique opportunity for controlling the marketing of our product, and also for catering to the needs of beekeepers in providing~supplies; and we feel sure that* beekeepers will not be slow to see where their interest lies, but will each contribute their share so as to strengthen the association. In doing this they will not only strengthen the hands of the co-op., but will materially help to forward the industry of beekeeping.

HIS FIRST POUND PACKAGES. As the 10-frame standard hivo was not largo enough to meet our needs, wo decided to change to the Jumbo hive; therefore wo sold a number of our hives and bees with them. This left us a little short of bees, and so, deciding to try out the pound package, wo sent to Ohio for 50 Jumbo hives and to California for 66 twopound packages of bees with queens. Of these latter we kept 50 and let our friends have the rest. These packages were shipped April 21, 1917, and arrived April 24. I was at the station to meet them on their arrival, and found them in fine condition. They were given all the syrup they would take, loaded into the auto, and given a 35-mile drive across the desert. As soon as the car started thev formed clusters, and arrived homo all O.K. We put them into the big Jumbo hives without any brood. They were each given two Jumbo frames with full sheets of foundation, one frame with drawn-out comb taken from tho extracting supers of the standard hive, and a fourth'frame which we made into a division-board by pasting over it a piece of paper reaching to the top, ends, and bottom of tho hive. Over ttje frames and under the inner cover we placed a shoot of paper, thus providing them with a snug little apartment at tho side of the hive. As the weather was cold and stormy wo fed about 751 b of sugar, using those cheap fibre plates about the size of a saucer. We found we could feed very fast by putting a plate on the bottom of each hive with the edge just under the divisionboard, which arrangement kept the bees from getting in the way, so, that, without uncovering* or exposing the bees to cold, wo could slip tho inner cover back a few inches, pour in the syrup, and replace the cover before the bees knew it. On April 24 the dandelions and apricots were in bloom, and by May 13 this first flow was strongly reinforced by that of the strawberries and fruit trees. So that from the arrival of tho bees until the main honeyflow there was always a little honey in : the fields, although at least two-thirds • of the timo bad weather prevented tho bees from gathering. At such times we fed syrup. . We soon learned that quoon-brcoders got plamed for weather conditions and the way the bees act, for some of our friends who received a part of the bees blamed me and the breeder for poor shipment because some of tho bees were dwindling and others Would not leave their cages at all. We 'explained to them and showed them how to shako tho bees from the cages: but nothing seemed to change their minds in the slightest until the main honoy-flow was in full blast. Then they appeared to be satisfied. It was not all joy with us, for we lost some queens, and some of tho queens were mismated. Tho first warm day wo had, wo made a hasty examination, and, finding four queens gone, we wrote the breeder. There were no 'ifs" and "ands" about it.

By return mail we received the four queens. Later, when lino weather came, we found more queens missing, but as it was getting late in the season, and we knew the breeder was rushed to tho limit, wo united the quecnless bees, thus leaving us 42 colonies out of tho 50 packages. . „ ' On July 10 wo extracted 100 gallons; July 22, 160 gallons; August 8, 90 gallons; and October 1, 130 gallons—that is, fro'" th( ? original 50 packages we obtained 66601 b of extracted honey, besides 7511 b of No. 1 wax, and one queen, for which I refused codol. We aro planning next spring to purchase pound packages again, as we believe this tho best investment we ever. made. — M. E. Skougard, in Gleanings.