THE APIARY

Otago Witness, Issue 3352, 12 June 1918, Page 15

THE APIARY

By J. A.

In a letter just received from Mr F. 0. Baines, tne editor of the New Zealand Beo Journal, and secretary of the National, ho writos:—"You are a bit unfair to mo in the Witness, as you have stated there Ehat 1 have not given notice of the conference. Both last week and this the same compliint has appeared, and ae tlie news is untrue, I think you ought in fairness to me to put the" matter straight. In the March issue, in the account of the executive meeting, there are the dates in largo type, and you put this account in tho Witness verbatim, so you see it is a bit annoying to me that your readers should be given the idea that I have not done my work properly, when the omission is on your part. Well now, lam travelling, and I have not the Witness by pie; but if my memory serves mo right, I said that I bad not received any notice, not that notice had not been given. You may call that a distinction without a difference; but just then I wanted that date, and I looked the Journal from cover to cover for it. and also the New Zealand Farmer, without success. That it had been given three months previously in the March Journal had slipped my memory." I yield to no one in admiration of the work Mr Baines is doing for our industry jt?st now, and I know something of his thoroughness and of the confidence which our beekeepers have in him, and I am sorry that this lapse on my part has caused him. annoyance But I hope that friend Baines will remember that tho Witness is also striving for the good of the industry, and some gentle reminders about conference time would be welcome. BIG BEEKEEPER'S BIG IDEA.

' Under the above heading an article is contributed by Mr Fj. F. Atwater to Gleanings. Ho begins by saying: "If I could step into your yard and in five minutes explain and demonstrate how to put lOdol, iOOdol, or ICOOdol into your pocket-book every year, you might be interested. - Aside from the actual visit to your yard, I can do that very thing. Hero it is: Ten dollars. lOOdol, or lOOOdol free to those •who arc prepared with an open mind. No joke, no hoax, for I know exactly the value of the plan, the economy of labour, the results in booming colonies to gather honey—booming colonies to gather honey,' the most important, oft-neglected factor in all beekeeping." We have, as a matter of course, to make allowance for Amercian methods of expression; but I think, though, it is simplicity itself that Mr Atwater's plan as given by him is distinctly good. It is as follows: —"In spring, or all winter, every good colony must be in a two-story hive, with brood nes't above, super below. When breeding has made a good start in several frames, take all combs containing honey and no brood from the brood-nest, and put them below in the lower story. Contract the entrances, and fill in the vacant space in the upper story with the very best empty, all-worker combs which you own. That's all, except that in unusually bad weather you can set off the Upper story, scratch the cappings on a comb of sealed honey, and replace without disturbing the actual brood-nest —seldom necessary." Mr Atwater makes the two points—that by placing the honey in this position the bees naturally will remove it, and in doing so stimulate brood-rearing, with the result of strong colonies, and that the placing of good empty, all-worker combs in the brood-nest gives unhampered room to the bees and queen. As every experienced beekeeper will readily acknowledge, the principle in this is good, and the scratching of sealed combe in the broodnest has often been done so as to compel the bees to remove it. To put the honey in a super below, the brood-nest is the new part of the suggestion, and is w.ell worth a trial. Mr Holterman, one of America's great beemen, in reviewing the article, While favourable 'to the idea, says that with him the amount, of honey in the brood-nest is seldom sufficient to make it worth while to put it below., Most of us in New Zealand will endorse that, and it is necessary that Ave should be careful in the matter. In the States the summer is shorter for bees than it is with us, and there is a much shorter time in which colonics may build up for the honey-flow. So 'that to force the position is more necessary with them than it is with us. The fact is that here there is a danger in forcing, of having our bees and exhausting' our queens too soon, and, consequently, rearing an army- that can only be consumers. There is a way in, which I feel sure that this " big idea" can bo made of great use to ue, and in which it will certainly help to put the dollars in our pocketbook. It is this: In the autumn, when extracting, lay aside two combs of wellsealed stores for each colony that it is intended to winter. Then in the spring, as late as possible towards the end of October or beginning of November, carry out Mr Atwater's plan, with the addition of these two combs of sealed brood. The beekeeper can use his discretion in doing this, and where he finds a heavy colonv give it less, and in the case of one more" needful, give it more. In some cases whore the bees are in clanger of starving, it may be necessary 'to give them a comb earlier, but in that case I would place it right to the side of the brood-nest. I would do nothing during September or the early part of October to stimulate the queen's work. This applies more particularly to the southern districts, where we do not usually get much clover honey before Christmas. A STUDENT'S TEN COMMANDMENTS OF BEEKEEPING. At the conclusion of the first half-year's instruction in apiculture at the University of California a little examination was given, the tenth question in this examination being: " What are some of the things essential to success in beekeeping?" One of my students gave the following answer, which might be adopted as the Ten Commandments of beekeeping: " (1) Good beekeeper (knowledge and dependability) ; (2) good bees (Italian); (3) good hives; (4) good bee pasture; (5) good equipment—smoker, hive tool, extractor, wax-extractor, storage facilities, honey packages, and an enclosed place to work; (5) good apiary site, with wind-protection, even temperature, _ and convenient; (7) honest,, agreeable neighbours; (8) a love of the •work; (9) a good market; (10) some other capital, or business, to tide one over a year of small returns." I predict that he will be a successful beekeeper.—-Geo. A. Coleman, in Gleanings.