THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 9

THE APIARY.

By

J.

A. I. ROOT. The last mail brings tidings of the death of A. 1. Root, one of the greatest and best known of beekeepers. Ho was £4 years oi age. Though never a very robust roan, he was a great worker and led a very busy life. He began life as a watch-repairer and jeweller, and had developed a very large business, when he gave it up and took to beekeeping and the manufacture of bee supplies. He was *in his younger days a great enthusitst in beekeeping, and soon issued his tee paper, known as Gleanings in Bee Culture. Commencing in a small way, it soon developed into a very fine magazine, which has proved of the greatest possible help to many a beekeeper. It was commenced 50 years ago, and is to-day the leading bee magazine. Ilis supply business increased enormously, and to-da.y Root’s supplies are in demand over a great part of the world. The business is carried on by two sons, both leading writers in apiculture, and two sons-in-law, under the style of A. I. Root and Co. (Ltd.). The father many years ago gave over the active management to his sons, but continued to the end a very busy man. following out his hobby of growing garden stuff. Ho was much interested in plant development, and kept up that interest to the last. Besides business application, he was a good man and lived largely for the good he could do for his fellows. Right to the end he edited a, portion of Gleanings under tite style of "Herne Interests.” 'lbis invariably began with a talk suggested by seme text, and was always cf a personal nature .and very much of his own pet sonal experience entered into it, and more often he spoke of his own failures than of successes. Many a one of whose existence A. I. Root knew nothing (the writer among the number) has benefited by these personal reflections, and has learned even at. a distance to love the man. and many a ore will feel in his passing that they have lost a friend SWARM PREVENTION.—No. 3. Ibis week we propose to very shortly give a resume cf Ihe method used by Mr E. F. Atwater. .Mr Atwater is well and favourably known in U.S.A.. beekeepingcircles. Its reiterates that statement so o‘T repeated that more stores for wintering than are usually considered necessary arc of great- value. The iesult, that he expects, and usually gets, is that a proportion of his colonies swarm as early a.s fruitbloom, or what to us would be during Ihe month of October. These he deems of great value, and with their aid, if they are of good stock, he cuts up into as many nuclei as possible, giving them each a comb or two of honey and filling out with empty combs, with the one comb of broodcontaining cells to each. If the queen is worth it she is put back under her own colony; but Mr Atwater does not waste much time hunting for queens; he says "it is better to establish a few more nuclei and save the time.” In his own words: "These nuclei in regular hives are placed on the stands of strong colonies, and p wireclcth bee escape board is placed on top instead of a cover, and the colony which was moved back or aside to put the nuclei hive in place is now lifted off its bottom board and placed above the wirecloth escape hoard. I have a Tpn hole closed with a button on each hive, and this hole in the upper colony is placed to the rear, and constitutes the entrance. The field force goes back to the old entrance below, and makes ihe nucleus strong, and such nuclei are very successful in mating these early queens.” Ho continues: “Unless there is a heavy honey flow when the young quoen in the nucleus emerges. I have not found it necessary to destroy ail cells but one to prevent this little colony from swarming; and perhaps they so seldom swarm because there are so many old bees and only one frame of brood. If the old colony, placed above the escape, would have been in danger of swarming, there is now small danger until a much later date, sines, having lost its field force at the time it was placed above the escape or soon after, the bees spend their time in recuperating their strength, and the queen now lays even more freely than before.” The important point for us to consider in this arrangement is that- the field force, leaving the old hive at the back, are united to the prepared nucleus bolow, and thus the congestion of bees that would inevitable lead to preparation for swarming is drawn automatically to support the nucleus in its rearing and fertilising of a young queen—in reality doing good at both ends of the hive. (For the benefit of beginners let us explain that the wirecloth hoard prevents all communication downwards, but allows the same scent to prevail throughout the hive.) This position leaves the old queen at work above the wirecloth and the new one below, all on the same stand, and the next step is to reunite what is practically two colonies. This is done just when the honey-flow proper begins. Most of the young queen’s brood is taken away and her hive filled out with empty comb. In place of the wirecloth an excluder is put on, and. after removing the old queen, the old hive is put on top with a super of emptv combs between Mr Atwater reports good success with this method, and we should suppose that it would bo so. All the same, it would require to. be fitted into the location of those beekeepers who adopt, it. We cannot afford to depend on following the letter of any system; common sense is necessary. To us this system is distinctly new, and we hope to try it out next season.