Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1885. Bee Farming.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1771, 14 December 1885, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1885. Bee Farming.

The apiarian exhibits at the Greytown Horticultural and Industrial Show last week shows that the bee farming industry is gaining ground in the Wairaiapa. Mr J. Barnard, of Greytown, was one of the first to go in for bee keeping upon the improved principle with the Laugstroth hive, and the appliances shewn bj him, as also those shown by Mr Hebley and Mr Johnson, were examined and criticised by many visitors at the Show. Mr Hebley did not enter,, save for exhibition only, but his section boxes filled with beautiful honey in the comb gave the keepers of gin cases a wrinkle. Mr Johnson, of Matarawa, has taken up bee farming with much energy, and his appliances as put against those of Mr Barnard gave the judges some difficulty before they decided to award the prize for beat. Mr Barnard’s honey extractor and hive clamp turned the scale iu his favor. We hope that the settlers will consider well the advantages to be obtained by the improved system of bee keeping. The bar frames can be filled with sheets of thin wax and put into the Langstroth hive ; haying caught the swarm they are dropped in and they immediately commence boring out the cells with such diligence that we were told the other day that a person who shook a swarm among seven bar frames found that these little workers had in ten days made nearly the whole of the wax sheets into comb, part of which was already filled with honey. These wax sheets are a great saving of labor and time to the bees, and consequently profitable to the apiarian. Then there is the advantage of being able to lift out the frames one by one to examine the swarm or take the honey. The extractor, which was shown at the Exhibition, gave an idea of how the honey was thrown out of the cells by a rapid revolving motion, and the cells being emptied the comb, is put back again for the bees to fill. There is no need now to resort to the cruel practice of smoking the swarm to death to get the honey, and then to have an unpleasant mess of it all around in emptying the box. The whole work can be done in a shorter time, with less labor, by a cleaner method, and with a greater saving of honey and commensurate profit, by using the modern hives, and we sincerely hope that on every farm and in every garden we. shall see these little bee cottages dotted about and filled with busy workers. Bees cost nothing to keep ; they work for their living iu a way that puts some of the human species to shame, and at the end of the season they yield ail enormous amount of honey. It was said among the ancients that the eating of honey produced good temper. There are many persons afilicted with grievous tempers. By all means let them get a Langstroth hive, some artificial comb and a swarm of bees, and if one person has been beuefitted in temper even though not in pocket, our remarks will not have been made in vain.