THE APIARY

Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 7

THE APIARY

By J. A.

IS THE USE OF FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION ECONOMICAL? This is a question that naturally i 3 asked by every beekeeper. Foundation i 9 expensive at any time, but owing to war < conditions and the prices now ruling it. is specially so just at present. The pre-war value for medium brood was about 2s 3d per lb. It is not at all likely that the value for next season will be less than from 3s to 3s 6d per lb. .Medium brood foundation runs eight sheets to the lb, so that it takes about 4s to 4s 4d per 10-frame super to furnish it with full sheets. If the super is furnished with starters, then two sheets at a value of Sd each will furnish it; and this will mean a saving on actual cost of gd per super. Where supers are being filled by the hundred this soon mounts up, and, of course, leads the beekeeper on to ask the question, Which pays best? When full sheets are used the bees have enough wax in the sheet to draw out the cells a considerable part of their length, and consequently the amount of wax they have to furnish to complete the combs is not large. In the case of starters the major portion of the wax required has to be furnished by tho bees. If. then, we can get at the cost of the wax furnished naturally by the bees it would help us considerably to answer our question. We cannot arrive at this accurately, but we can get far enough into it to show that wax produced by the bees is probably even more costly than is that article, even at war prices, when "purchased on the open market. Wax, jas all beekeepers know, is not gathered in the field. It is a natural secretion from the body of the bee, and is formed in small flakes in tho pockets on the under portion of the abdomen of the bees These flakes arc taken by tho bees and built on to the comb, much as a bricklayer would lay bricks, and thus the cells are gradually drawn out until they reach their full length. When comb-build-ing is intended the bees fill their sacks with honey, and cluster, hanging in festoons, just below where they intend to build. It has been stated that tho bees will hang thus for about 24 hours before the flakes are ieady for use, so that there is quite a considerable loss of time in the operation. How much honey is consumed to produce lib of wax has never been accurately found out, though a great deal of experimenting has been done. It has been variously stated from 31b up to as high as 151 b, or even higher. Probably about midway between these two figures is as near as we can get it—say 101 b. The question of cost from the bees' side then resolves itself into a question of simple proportion. If lib of honey costs 6d, and it takes 101 b to produce lib of wax, then the cost of the wax must be ss. If we take into count the delay caused, at a time when honey is plentiful, then it must be still more. From these figures it is at once quite evident that full sheets rather than starters is economy. There are, however, other things that we must take into consideration that seem to make it still more evident that we cannot afford to use starters. In building the combs from starters the bees will almost invariably build a proportion of the combs to drone-sized cells. Sometimes the proportion is ft very large one, and the result later is the production of a large opulation of drones. These dronea, in their larval state and onwards until in the autumn they

are killed by the workers, have to be fed, ' while they give nothing in return. It would in all probability be no exaggeration to say that this cost to tho hive is several times greater than was the cost of production of tho wax which furnishes their cradles. More than tho cost of the foundation is it necessary for tho beekeeper to take into consideration tho prevention of this over-populating of the hives with drones and it is this which makes him dccido to use foundation in full sheets, no matter what the cost may be. There are still other things which influence the choice. Time saved is a matter of great importance, especially during the main honey flow. This ofte'.i lasts only a fortnight, and if the bee 3 have to build much comb during that period they oannot be expected to do so well as if they had plenty room and were ablo to go in full force to tho field. To havo to cluster for wax-building while the olover blossoms are heavy with nectar is not jriving the bees the fullest opportunity. To have tho combs shapely and well built is another argument for full sheets. When built from starters they are often wavy and irregular, and always they are of lighter construction. The commercial beokeopor who is out to make the most of his bees will always use full sheets, because they are cheaper than starters, because they savo time, because by their use he can get all worker combs, and because he gets his combs better constructed, stronger to handle, and more regular. A BEEKEEPER ON THREE CONTINENTS. lb is given to but few men to follow ! beekeeping around the world. W. B. Dickenson of Chico, California, was a beekeeper in England, later in Egypt, and now" in California. He has thus had experience in honey production oh three continents— I Europe, Africa, and North America. j As a young man he enlisted in the British army and served for five years, part of the time in East Africa, and ranked as a staff officer when he retired from army service. ■ Ho was then chosen as Government Apiarist and sent to Egypt as perhaps the first extension teacher of beekeeping. His field extended up and down the Nile "Valley j from Alexandria to Kartoum, a distance I of perhaps 1000 miles. The Egyptian bee- ■ keepers practice migratory beekeeping with their apiaries on boats floating down the rivex as the season advances. The methods practised are crude, and the time was not yet ripe for teaching of modern methods in Egypt among the mass of beekeepers. 1 Mr Dickenson has been in California for several years, and is now in charge of the apiary department of the Diamond Match Company of-Chico. He has been in charge since this concern established a separate department of bee supplies, and they now rank third in volume of manufacture of beekeeping equipment. Although the Diamond Match line of supplies has only been in the market about five years, it now goes to all parts of the world, and the volumo of sales is increasing at a phenomenal rate. —American Bee Journal.