THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3487, 11 January 1921, Page 7

THE APIARY.

By

J. A.

OUR NELSON APIARY. It is not worthy the name of an apiary. That queen about which we have written on several previous occasipns bad worked herself out before she was brought to Nelson. All this summer she and her bees have existed, unable to cover more than two frames, half or more of her brood consisting of drones. We had hoped to see her superceded by the bees themselves, but this has not been done. The colony is stiil clean so far as foul brood is concerned, and they are also free from moth, showing that Italians, even in very weak condition, are still more resistant to moth than are the blacks. It will be remembered that the colony was placed there ■ to test the Italians’ ability under what seemed to us specially severe conditions to resist the moth, and it is gratifying to find that it can do so. Our apiary has unexpectedly increased by 100 per cent. Near to the Italians we had left two supers of frames, and these have been occupied by a run-away swarm, and this is_ working good and strong)!" We think now that, although a large portion of our bee time is spent in Southland, we can see the possibility of working up a fairly good apiary in our orchard here, and this we purpose to do. This will keep us in closer touch with the bees all the year round. It is not, nowever, with the intention of doing much in honey production, but rather to make sure of the fertilisation of the orchard. FIRE BLIGHT. The news that was telegraphed to the papers from the south that fire blight had broken out in Otago sent a cold shiver of fear through Nelson. Our isolated position seems to give us some hope that, with a strong vigilance committee, this enemy might be kept from getting a hold on this side of the Strait. To hear of its sudden appearance in Otago seemed to break at one snap the barrier of the Strait, and leave us witn a dreaded enemy appearing from two sides. Under these circumstances the news a day or two later that it was a false alarm proved a welcome relief. In Nelson we have woolly aphis, red mite, several scales, browse beetle, leaf-roller, codlin moth, pear slug, black spot, mildew, and several other enemies, witii others appearing from time to time, and we are told by our experts that we are well off, that there are 20 pests for every one that we have got, in the world. At present we are practically sluicing down our whole district every few weeks at a pressure of 2001 b with various mixture of lime sulphur, Bordeaux mixture, atomic sulphur, arsenate of lead, nicotine sulphate, and many others, at a cost of thousands of Pounds, but we are succeeding. We are producing absolutely clean fruit, and growmg fine healthy trees, and we are looking forward to a rich harvest when our trees are old enough and settle down to producing lull crops. We are told, however, that tire blight yields to none of these decoctions no medicine that we have got is any use, so far; there is nothing for it but the surgeon’s Knife, and even the uprooting and burning of every tree that is attacked is being recommended. In our district, where we are specialising on the production of pip fruits, this would be calamitous. From descriptions we have had it seems that the nectar gathering insects are the means of spreading the disease, and that it is going to largely affect the beekeeper. At present it °has shut up the Auckland district, so that no one is allowed to send bees out of the district without isolating. Had the outbreak in Otago proved to be fire blight, the same restrictions would have been imposed there. That, however, is only a small thing computed to the uprooting of hawthorn hedges and orchards in such a district as the Taieri, where the outbreak was reported. We hope that tho Horticultural Department will strain every nerve in the fight against this dreaded disease-. —[A perusal of our last week’s issue will show our correspondent and others that fire blight has been successfully treated in Tasmania.— Ed. O.W.] THE HOLIDAYS. The holidays are over, and this week we will be off to work again at Roslyn Bush. The weather in Nelson for the holidays was all that the most fastidious could desire. Wo go south overland and spend a night with Mr Renteul. What a bee talk there is in prospect ! Some Southland friends would like to listen, and one at least would ask a lot of questions, and some of them would he posers. We would also have liked to cal! on Mr Watson, our national president, but fear that the call of the bees will no't permit unlil we are again on the homeward track Well, holidays are all verywell. but it is work now, both for bees and beekeepers, and we hope that the weather

will prove suitable and the crop prove a good one.