THE APIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3898, 27 November 1928, Page 11

THE APIARY.

By

J. A.

HONEY SELLING IN THE STATES, In U.S.A, an organisation called the American Honey Institute has been formed by the large supply houses. Its object is to bring to light the true value of honey as a food and also its place in the cooking and preparation of other foods. We are told in the October number of Gleanings in Bee Culture that Dr H. E, Barnard, president of the institute, “is making a vigorous drive to increase the use df honey in the baking trade. He has already collected a large number of formulas and recipes for commercial honey cakes and bread, and will endeavour to put these into the hands of bakers throughout the United States. In addition to this, he is calling the attention of bakers to the advantages of honey in certain types of baked goods. This should stimulate an increase in the amounts of honey used by bakers throughout the country. “ The cake section of the American Bakers’ Association recently sent a questionnaire to its members as to why certain ingredients are used in cakes. One of the questions was, What will honey do in a cake mix? Some of the answers by different bakers operating in 24 States were: ‘lt retains moisture’; ‘lt colours rapidly ’; ‘lt keeps the cake soft and moist ’; ‘lt has a distinctive sweetness ’; ‘lt increases the volume of the cake’; ‘lt has a good spreading action ‘lt develops a “ chewy ” mix.’ “ The American Honey Institute is now preparing formulas for cakes, with the idea of helping bakers better to use honey in their mixes. German bakers have long recognised the value of honey in baking. Many of the formulas for using honey in baking now used in this country were originated in Germany. In this connection it is interesting to note K that of the 9,943,6151 b of honey exported from the United States during the year ending June 20, 1928, Germany took 6,776,2461 b, or more than two-thirds of the entire amount.” The writer of the above adds: “It is certainly high time that more uses for honey be developed in this country, so that a greater proportion of our production shall be consumed within our borders.” .

That sentiment should find a re-echo in this Dominion also. We have an ideal selling organisation in our Honey Producers’ Association and Fruit Board, and, while we should no doubt seek to enrich our country by the returns from honey exported, it is also our duty to exploit its use in our own land as an economical as well as a health-giving food. Probably these formulas and recipes being issued by the American Honey Institute could be easily obtained and tried out here, and an interesting as well as a profitable connection worked up between the baking trade and our H.P.A. TIME TO GO SOUTH.

At present I am giving the “ last touches ” to my Nelson apiary, preparatory to going south to Roslyn Bush. The endeavour is to get the swarming season over, so that those left at home on the orchard may not be troubled by having to attend to them. This is done by the Alexander method, the colonies being increased from 18 to 30. About 20 of these are supered with sections for comb honey and the remaining 10 with ordinary combs. The surplus of these last 10 is not, however, for extracting, but will be used as a reserve for pushing the colonies forward for the bloom period of next spring. This apiary has still the end in view Afor which it was started, that is to fertilise the fruit blopm. If in doing that it can supply a marketing surplus in the form of comb honey—well, so much the better. So far the apiary has been raised on a petrol case basis, and as far as appearances go is not anything to be proud of. Should, however, the sale of comb honey warrant it, a shift to something more substantial will be made. The petrol case hive does not, unless painted, have a very long life. I expect to be at the Roslyn Bush apiary on December 3, and shall be glad if anyone corresponding on apiary matters will note the address. The southern apiary, according to latest advices, is in good form and about 100 colonies in strength. For several years now no foulbrood has shown. This result has been obtained by rather harsh measures in the treatment of the few colonies in which it did appear. It is, however, safe to say that even those harsh measures could not have secured immunity but for the cleaning up of the district by the bee inspectors. It was the systematic work that has been done during the last three seasons, and which we hope will be carefully followed up in the years to come, which has made a clean apiary possible. I am looking forward to the coming clover season in the south with a similar interest to that which I have experienced every year since 1884, and am hoping, as usual, for a good season with white fields everywhere. The building up of the colonies in preparation for it is intensely interesting, and one is always gaining new experiences. Each season gives its own particular lessons, and one hopes and prays for the gumption to profit by them.