FARM AND DAIRY.
BEE-KEEPING FOR FARMERS, Taranaki is gradually forcing herself I into tin* consideration of the commercial men of England. Butter and diec.se are now so well known that no trouble is experienced in .selling all (hat car; be made at top prices. The old historian tells us of the valuable lands of his day and of the wealth of the people when he savs, "He was rich in flocks and herds." "A !awl flowing with milk and honey." Surely the writer was prophetic, and haj Taranaki in mind as the promised land! Many years ago it was a common thing to find a hive of bees in a garden. Ten years ago, when the writer made tli-i place his home, he had great difficulty in getting a swarm, and was pitied for his want of sense in taking on a dying industry. To-day there are hundreds of hives in the province, several beekeepers having over a hundred each, while numbers of farmers have a few hives. There is plenty of room for many more lots of hives in the farms. Honey is a product which is now on the .market ;n quarter and half-ton lots, and at 4-Jd to 5d per lb. No industry of the same value gives greater-returns for the capital cost, the honey being a waste unless it is gathered by" the bees. The old plan of boxes and the sulphur pit is now a thing of the past. Like the milk business, the bee business must be»run on modern lines, else it will not pay. The bar-framed hive is to beekeeping what the separator is ta the milking.
There is no reason why most farms should not have, say, a doaen. hives in the garden, and modern methods enable the owner to keep that number without any difficulty, and at a email outlay. The writer knows of several farmers who have started with a swarm and gradually worked up a nice apiary of bees, sufficient to keep the home in honey and to give the good wife a little pocket money. It stands to reason that a little knowledge of modern methods is required. The Taranaki Education Board has a technical teacher who gives instruction to all who care to make use of his services, and no doubt the Director will be only too pleased to arrange, that his service? may be used where required. The winter shows at New Plymouth and Hawera have shown that honey of first-class quality is to be got from Taranaki clover, while the contract with the Bristol Food Distributing Co. to take up to 500 tons per year ensures a market for the honey. The writer knows of one retailer in New Plymouth who sells about two tons over the counter each year. Beeswax is a by-product. It is worth Is 4d to Is fid per lb, and there is now a factory at Hawera where you can send your va'x l and get it made no into foundation comb for Sd per lb. The cost is about £1 per hive for the first twelve. After that number the cost decreases, as the accessories, extractor, etc.. are the same for two or three times the number of hives. Should it be decided to keep the comb honey only, the cost of extractor, uncapping cans, etc., is saved, but the total yield is not so great. Labor is less where comb honey is provided for. Not (-very person is fitted to be a bee-keeper, but there are numbers who can and should keep bees so that our land may be made to prove. Taranaki the richest in New Zealand.
Farmers, read the bee-keeping eoliimn in your own paper—study it. get a hive, and interest your children, and you will soon find more interest taken in your paddocks and cows. There are many homes where there is no common interest in what is being done. Why not? He-cause the youngsters aro up against the unpleasant drudgery of the milkyard every hour of their lives. Why not a garden and bees? I saw a good object leson at Lcpperton last week—large dairy, nice tidy garden and home, a dozen hives well kept, and father, mother, soldier-son, two schoolboys, and baby girl of about three years,, all keenly interested while the writer gave a small demonstration and lesson on a few points which they did not. understand. Hive after hive was opened, only two veils being used by the timid ones (and they were not required). A clean, well-kept apiary, vipen a favorable season, will yield anythinp up to half a ton of honey, and it is being looked after by the mother and her boys. I had known one of the boys, ths soldier son who fights for, them, for a year or two, and last week gave me the key to his love for the homo and farm, viz., co-operation of parents and children.
Farmer friends, get busy on garden and bees, and let your -hiklren run them. They will make slight mistakes. So do you. NOTES. One of the many good remedies for scour in calves is the following:—As soon as the symptoms appear, mix two or four tablespoonfuls of castor oil with half a pint of milk and give it to the calf. Follow this up iu from four to si.v hours by giving one tea c poonful of a mixture of one part salol and two parts of sub-nitrate of bismuth. This dose can also be given with one-half pint of new milk or the powder can In placed on the tongue and wnshed down with a small quantity of milk. The ingredients can be obtained from any chemist and mixed as required.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19161109.2.9
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1916, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
956FARM AND DAIRY. Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1916, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.