Bee Farming.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 1 September 1910, Page 4

Bee Farming.

(Written for the "New Zealand , Dairyman.") Any fine day from now oji the bees will be stirring. liy now in the more northern parts the queens will have started to lay, and as the month advances this will be occulting all the way down south. Just now is a convenient time for cxaminin,r vour hives. Choose a uaim sunny'day, and carefully examine the frames in L'lie brood chanibci oi division. No larvae will ho there vet. Should any cells look like being capped over, carot'ullv open them, and probably you will lind them to umtain a; (lai 'kt stickv mass of matter. 11ns | i > ,'cul brood. It' you find a tewcells onlv, von mav cut them out with a sharp pocket knife, and burn them at once; but if there are many ieinove the frames altogether, and iesonic ii|>|»?i' stury ol a 'j'pC If tliev contain honey, all tlio bet ter if the.v don't, till one uith sj,up made by putting enough vato* into pure cane sugar as will maw> a thin sypup: anil men, after eturiiing tihe frames to the luvc, iostrict the opening, and aftci ah the bees have gone in quite dost the entrance till next day. Ims is to circumvent robbers. t spend much time over the operation. Do it all quickly, without anv roughness, carefully and speedily" You will not excite your bees and also will not attract robaers! Do a lew hives at a tune onlv and await another fine day to do'more; also do it in tihe alternoon, or just after 12 o'clock noon. Clean up any rubbish, leave notliiu<r about to induce robbing. W'atch your bees daily, and note where thev fly to, and iind out voui source of any honey or pollen at this time. this is worth knowing. When you know for certain where its source is, tell other beekeepers, so disseminate bee knowledge. Don't keep vour knowledge to yourself. but don't talk from guess, be certain. You'll find a lot of little things you want to do now to savi you "trouble later on. (Jet these done. You'll be very pleased at vourself later on. When you get a nice day--a very nice one- examine vour hives, rapidly, to see whether the queen is laying. _ If she is not, it is questionable if she is living. A good plan will be to unitiT any such hive to another—a small one—which you seo has a quoeMi. To unite, I generally mix a little sugar and water and peppermint togothei, so as to have a faint peppermint smell. This _ f sprinkle over each hive to be united, and then unite bhein. The reason is plain. It is to prevent detection of strangers, all will smell alike. You can then examine for eggs again. Don't have any queenles*"hives. They's no good to you. On examining your hives you ma.v find a lew slugs in tliein. This is often so if aiiy grass grows abimi the bee-yard'. Slugs get in at ver\ small openings. Von must jusl take them out and destroy all harbour about your hives. A little lime or tobacco powder spriiiKled about prevents them coming. Baits of pollard laid here and there will attract them, and if you can go out about 8 p.m. you may catch u great nianv .and can destroy them. " Keep ali neat about apiary, and have on .hand all needed' supplies. Von may soon have a lot ol old brood' comb to melt down to obtain the wax. This is the most unsatisfactory job of the apiary._ You :uav boil and boil away at it, anu press it all you can, but still a lot of wax remains in the "slumgum' that you can't get out. My method has been of late to simply put the comb liolus bolus into an o!a boiler, and having previously_put in a gallon or so ol water, 1 boil it ah .'own to a mass. This boiling-iiol mass 1 put into a pan with a wiremesh bottom (1-inch mesh). This fits on to another pan, like a stea mer tits on to a saucepan. The whole is then put into an over, unci allowed t:> get hot, and icniain so i'or a long time. liliis I find_ lets all the wax and what water is iii the mass through to the lower pan, and on the to-p pan only the practically dry waste and residue remains. I find the water prevents burning, and t'lio whole of tho wax is secured. If a contrivance after this idea could be made so tho wax could run out at a tap at bottom of oven into a receiver. I fcei sure the problem of old combs would be a thing of no longer any trouble. if possible do all your work in a building that is bee-proof. Boilin gwax attracts bees very much.

Now is a good time to remove bees if you have any to do. Bi sure you close them up tight. If any escape on tihe way, they are a bit of a nuisance. They follow . long way alter their hive, and often attack your horse. Tho writer's horse once ran away while hauling a load of bees from the very cause mentioned. Take experience offered to you for nothing. Don't try to buy it, for, my word, it is costly, so 1 found out. It cost me my bee*, my cart, and nearly tin life. I never went hack after tin scattered bees. Just ihow a loao of bees, scattered indiscriminately over three miles of road, worked out, I didn't reckon up. I went hove leading mv horse, feeling a bit sad, and a lot wiser man. When 1 start with bees now, I see they are safely secured. \ou do the same, it's worth the time and trouble taken. One way is penhaps to iie chosen for safety, and that is to travel at night. Bees don't worry you so much then. By the bye, a. bees work in a pitch dark hive," how is it they don't work outdoors in the dark? Conundrum. Well. I expect very soon the willows wili make a start, and other blossoms to follow on quickly, :t pjootl honoy flow from November to January, and a crop of honey for the season. See to it you get voui share.