APIARY NOTES.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 6, 16 June 1913, Page 650

APIARY NOTES.

F. A. Jacobsen.

Bee-paralysis. ' This is not a prominent disease-in New Zealand, but it .is well to be prepared for it. The symptoms are a distended abdomen, with quivering wings. The only definite cure is dequeening the hive for about a fortnight, and the introducing of a young queen. A 'partial cure is effected by sprinkling the combs with sulphur. It is a summer trouble, and the- true cause not being yet ascertained it is impossible to give any preventive advice. Foul-brood. Ants may eventually prove a feature in the work of controlling foulbrood. It is well known they increase rapidly whenever an' apiary is established, and are fond of stealing honey. Could they not be made to clean out ; combs of foul-brood, and the combs afterwards exposed to the sunlight as a further effort in the destruction of germs? Experiments are to be conducted on these lines next spring. Moths and Insects. An excellent preventive against moths and insects of all descriptions is the use of carbon bisulphide. The supers of combs should be stacked in a pile, and a saucer full of the liquid placed on the top of the stack, this being protected with a hive-cover. The density of the evaporated fluid compels it to sink slowly through the combs to the bottom super, thus killing insect-life at all stages. A Serious Epidemic. In some parts of Australia beekeepers suffered severely last season through what has been termed the “ disappearing disease.” Whole apiaries were wiped out in the autumn by the bees simply disappearing, the colonies dwindling down till none were left. Some beekeepers reported that their colonies were reduced to such a weakened condition that they have had great difficulty ...in keeping any of them alive. The cause of the wholesale destruction is unknown, ’but. steps, are being 'taken to investigate the matter.-

Winter Remedies

During winter keep your bees as warm as possible, and avoid an excessive amount of stores being consumed by the bees. The colder they are the more food they • require to keep them warm, so use warm mats on top of the frames, and provide for each hive a substantial roof that will not leak. Do not leave empty supers over your colonies during the winter, but put your bees down in the brood-chamber. This is to obviate the bees unnecessarily keeping a large instead of a small space at a living-temp . ' Do not let the bees starve, but observe closely the amount of stores consumed by colonies through the winter months, and. feed where necessary. The winter Shows provide an excellent opportunity for comparing notes with fellow-beekeepers. We can always learn from the experiences of others. '

“ So work the honey bees, Creatures that, by a rule of nature, teach The art of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king and officers of sorts, Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds, Which pillage they, with merry march, bring home To the tent royal of their emperor, Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold ; • - The civil citizens kneeding up the honey; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ; The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, . Delivering o’er, to. executors pale, The lazy, yawning drone.” . —Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1, Scene 11.

, The export trade. in honey has received, a great fillip this season ,by reason of growers in Canterbury and in Taranaki co-operating .in the shipment of large uniform lines to the British market. At the request of' the shippers, officers; of the Department of' Agriculture, Industries, and Commerce graded the honey prior to shipment, an arrangement of distinct advantage to both the growers and the industry. •