"WATCHDOGS OF THE FOREST"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 105, 3 January 1940, Page 6

"WATCHDOGS OF THE FOREST"

WANDERING BEEKEEPERS The editor of the "Australasian Beekeeper" says that many beekeepers of the Commonwealth deserve' the name of ''Watchdogs of the Forest." ''For migratory beekeepers, and there are few who have not adopted the modern methods of honey production, the forests are their haven'' he writes. "They 'follow the ilow" of honey, sometimes travelling with their bees hundreds of miles from homo. Forests they must have, and they are constantly 011 the alert, watching for buds to set on the trees and waiting for them to burst into bloom and yield a harvest o\ sweet nectar for their bees to gather and convert into honey. "The beekeeper and the forester have much in common, and a close bond ol friendship exists in many places. As a 'Watchdog of the Forest' the beekeeper allies himself with the Government's Forest Officer and is ever watchful and thought ful of the forests, the dix-ect sources of his livelihood. It is common to locate a beekeeper and a forester, yarning together in the bush, and .you can be sure the subject is trees. The discussions wiil hinge around the pecularities of forest growth, budding, flowering and seeding periods, regeneration of different species, coppicing, re-afforestation, soil.*;, rainfall, etc., and such discussions form a close relationship between the guardian oJ tht forest and the watchdog."