THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 11

THE APIARY.

By

J. A.

In the articles of last week and the previous one I sought to point out the necessity of winter comfort for the colonies, and talked of protecting them from dampness, from want of air space underneath, and from wet on top through leaky covers. There are other things which are of great importance in preserving the comfort of the apiary, and one of these is the site. To place bees on an open fla.t with no shelter is not good, and it is even worse to place them beside a plantation with an open bottom. At Roslyn Bush the apiary is situated on the eastern side of a plantation. This plantation is fairly close but for an opening of a few yards, through which the westerlies drive right acrcss the apiary. The result has proved disastrous to a few colonies that were in line with this gap. To eave further trouble I closed up about 20ft with boards, making a shelter 6ft or 7ft high, and making things much more comfortable, and from this experience realised just how hopeless it would be to try to winter bees where the bottom branches of the trees in the plantation had been broken down by stock. The shelter for an apiary requires to be close right down to the ground. It should be fairly high on the western and southern sides, with a lower shelter on the eastern side, and may be quite open to the north. If the site itself has a slope to the north or northeast it will help from a protective point of view, although it is better from a working standpoint .to be nearly level. What slope there is should certainly be to the north. A good deal can be done to help an apiary through the winter by choosing a well-sheltered site. Where the site is already a fixture the apiarist will not be wasting his time if he studies ways and means of shutting out storms and making the hives as comfortable as possible. LAYING OUT AN APIARY.

Some apiarists prefer facing their hives to the eastwards, others prefer a northerly direction. The entrance gets the sun best if it faces the midday sun. I prefer a northern aspect, but if there is a gentle slope in the land that will mostly decide. The hives require a droop to the front, and if there is a natural fall in the ground it is perhaps. best to face the hives in the direction of the slone. The placing,of the honey house is another difficulty. The wheeling of the honey uuhill must be avoided and so also, must the placing of the honey house in such a position that it would shade from the sun. No suggestion can be made that would have a general application, as so much depends on such surroundings as the roadway and the lie of the ground. The saving of labour and travelling to and from the honey house to all parts of the apiary must be taken into account. As previously stated, in laying out the position for the stands I prefer the double stand, placing the colonies in pairs at r 6ft to Bft apart in the rows and the .me distance between the rows. Aidvantage should be taken of any distinguishing marks that would enable returning bees, and especially queens returning from mating, to distinguish their own hives. Where hives resemble each other too closely, and one row looks very like another, there may be loss through returning queens entering the wrong hives. A few small trees planted through the apiary help in this respect, and so also does the use of variety in colour in the painting of the hives. CHOOSING A SITE. In choosing a site the beekeeper should remember that the site will be the centre of the three-mile radius which his bees will have as their field of work, and his effort should be to secure a location which embraces as large an area as possible of good pasture for the bees. To be located at the seaside, for instance, would cut the radius in two and give only half of the area that would be available bv going three miles back from the sea. If there is pasture on land that is a river deposit and grows clover luxuriantly it is well to get the apiary site right into it rather than to one side of it. Then, again, it is well to remember that clover does not bloom till nearly midsummer. and if possible an area of something that will yield earlier than the clover is good. For this purpose a corner of native bush is invaluable. Wattle and willows and some varieties of gums are a great help. All these should be taken into account, and the beekeeper should further take stock of the nature of the soil. A sour, poor soil, which in its natural state has grown red tussock, is no place for an apiary until, by the .use of lime -and drainage, it has been sweetened. Whore lime is being freelv used, or in a district which naturally has a normal content of lime, where both wheat and clover grow well, that is the place for bees. Generally it may be assumed that where dairying succeeds bee culture will also

I succeed. The two fit into one another, | as the fertilising of the clover by the bees i is a very decided advantage to the dairy Hi ere is another aspect of the question, | and that is the possible improvement of ! a locality. If this were done for bee . culture alone, it would not pay, but, scei ing tnat the sweetening and improving of ' th© soil and the introduction of leguminI ants pl ' oflt ali branches, much may FOUL BROOD IN BEES. W. G. Birtell pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court at Oamaru on Wednesday to having failed to destroy foul brood w ins colonies of bees. The Inspector of Apiaries stated that notice had been served on the defendant to destroy foul brood. He could have procured material to destroy the disease, but had neglected to do so. i Defendant said he was in poor health, and could not afford to buy the material tor destroying the disease. ~ Inspector of Apiaries stated that the defendant had increased the number of his hives from 21 to 35. Defendant said he was only a beginner, and did not know much about the busies. . , throu sh shortness of money that he had done nothing. He was willing to destroy the lot rather than carry disease to other people’s bees. . His Worship, taking into consideration the defendant s position, fined him ss, and told bun he must- carry out the inspector s instructions. BEE CULTURE. During the hearing of a case in tho Magistrates Court, Oamaru, on Wednesday Mr P. C. Rhodes (Government apiarist) stated that a part-time inspector had been appointed for North Otago, where bee culture was now carried on fairly extensively. An inspection had been made of the various colonies in the district and where foul brood was discovered directions were given as to the best methods of eradicating it. The most suitable part of the year for taking action was the month of November. A formula had been provided which would cost not more than 5s per hive to apply.